From birth to 5 years, your child should reach milestones in how he plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves. Track your child’s development and act early if you see a concern.
Sathish Chandra Segar, MSc, OT — Clinical Director, QISH, Doha provides answers to commonly asked questions...
Why movement is important in child development?
It’s very important for parents to know the importance of movement for child development.
Movement is essential for babies to grow healthily because children communicate through movement. Movement allows them to relate to their environment and grow both physically and mentally.
What are the neurological reasons behind the movement?
Movement wires up the neural pathways in the brain, it encourages kinesthetic memory and spatial orientation. It also supports balance, coordination, and strength and it encourages children to express their emotions.
What to do for my child’s healthy development?
The first and most important thing you can do is — Put your baby on the floor — to encourage floor play and tummy time. Tummy time and floor play are both important for physical development.
Why does my baby need tummy time?
To develop the core muscles of the neck, back, and shoulder muscles, to meet developmental milestones and to possibly help prevent early motor delays and conditions, such as flat head syndrome (positional plagiocephaly) and twisted neck (positional torticollis).
When should my baby start tummy time?
As a newborn baby, as soon as they come home from the hospital.
How long should I do tummy time?
Aim to achieve at least an hour of tummy time total per day by 3 months of age. This hour of tummy time can be broken up into smaller parts. From newborn age, start with a few minutes at a time and build up to longer sessions.
How often should I do tummy time?
Start with small increments of a few minutes at a time, several times a day. Eventually, try to do longer tummy time sessions, eventually building up to a full hour.
At what age should baby stop tummy time?
Once the baby begins crawling, around 7-9 months, they will be getting the developmental benefits of tummy time while moving, and it is not as essential to have them do tummy time.
However, it still beneficial to have the baby spend some time in the tummy time position (also known as prone position) during play.
What if my child has crossed that age but had missed/delayed developmental milestones?
Give them the gift of a second chance. If we repeat the early childhood movement patterns that they either missed out on or did not do enough of, for whatever reason, the child’s brain still will develop new pathways.
Try the following developmental activities on a daily basis at home. Rolling like a log, Rocking on all fours, creeping like a soldier (army crawl), Crawling, side sitting, cross leg sitting, straight leg sitting, kneeling, half kneeling, walking, etc.
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