Watching a baby move by themselves is fascinating. Besides being adorable, they give such great insight to how we learn to move in gravity. You might even say that they are lazy! (Lazy in regards to gravity.) They do the LEAST amount of effort to get the maximum result. Have you ever seen a baby sit up by themselves by jackknifing at the waist? Nope. Why not? Because it's darn hard to do! Babies use GRAVITY and counter balance of the weight of their heads and pelvis and limbs in order to move with the least amount of effort. NOT purely muscular effort. It makes sense. Anat Baniel Demo
In the clip below, watch Anat as she rolls the child through his side.
So why DO we need to 'strengthen' their core or their necks/back? Hey... some muscular tone is important... but that's just the tip of the iceberg to how babies learn to move. Wouldn't it make more sense to let them explore their own body weights in space and gravity? Giving babies the freedom and space to self explore is the key to healthy movements. Babies experiment in gravity with the weights of their bodies to find the LEAST resistant path. This is important! It bears repeating! Experiment and least resistant. When you insist on your baby to perform a task in the way YOU (or society, or your mom) thinks it should be performed, you are robbing them of THEIR OWN rich experience of variations that will naturally get them to the intended outcome. We are born to move. We are born to learn. Interfering is unnecessary and even disastrous for healthy systems. If baby has difficulties with movement or lacks a healthy system due to birth trauma or other issues, NeuroMovement can facilitate their own learning experience through gentle touch. So next time you have the urge to pull a baby into sitting straight up through their midline..... resist. Then gently roll them through their side, rounding them into a little ball of goodness then give them a big old kiss. Comments are closed.
|
AuthorJen Stewart is a mommy of 3 amazing kids and a practitioner of NeuroMovement™ Let's Connect!Categories
All
Archives
April 2017
|