Motor exercises to help develop a child’s motor activity are important from the moment of birth. Find out how to safely help your infant!
The primary activity you can do together with your infant is walking. Systematic walks help your baby learn about the world, observe new things, smell new smells and become accustomed to the environment. What’s more, studies show that being outdoors has a beneficial effect on a baby’s nascent immune system. Additional sunlight provides the child with vitamin D, which is helpful in building bone tissue, regulates calcium and phosphate metabolism, and strengthens the immune system.
Specialists recommend vitamin D supplementation in newborns, especially between September and April. Systematic walks in sunny weather can significantly fill a child’s daily requirement of this mineral. Walking is also a beneficial physical activity for mothers in the postpartum period. Movement helps strengthen the body, return to its former form, oxygenate all the cells of the body and improve overall well-being.
For young children, an important aspect of activation is to create a safe space for them. This includes not only preserving the issue of a properly prepared place to play, but also creating in the child a curiosity about the surrounding things and toys. The first issue is primarily about maintaining the necessary safety measures, that is, building a space where the child will not hurt himself.
Placing a toddler in a playpen, a crib or on a special mat does not limit his abilities, but only ensures his safety, at least until a certain age, before the child learns to move independently. The second aspect of safe play concerns creating an attractive environment for the child to play. Setting up a small plastic mirror or sensory toys should interest the child and occupy his attention for a while. It is also important to change the baby’s position, especially placing him on his stomach. This position helps strengthen the muscles of the spine and properly develop the baby’s body alignment.
One activity that has a particularly positive effect on toddler development is swimming. Baby pool classes are one of the most popular pastimes for the whole family in recent years. This type of activity is recommended from the age of 3 months. Experts point out that systematically exercising with children in water helps them strengthen the muscles of the entire body, develop correct body alignment, improves motor coordination and stimulates the child’s brain function. New stimuli interacting with the toddler during classes increase his interest in the world, engage both hemispheres of the brain to work and build in the child the courage for new experiences. This type of infant classes are usually held in groups of several people and under the guidance of a trained instructor. The classes can usually involve not only the parent exercising with the child, but also the other family member.
main photo: unsplash.com/Raj Rana
