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free movement gives confidence

{free movement gives confidence}
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In the ‘Confident Baby” parent-infant classes that I teach in Tampa, FL babies are placed on their backs on a blanket, with a few simple objects placed around them. Parents often ask why letting their baby just move around freely in a safe play space on the floor can be enough to help them gain confidence and independence. If active movement has many benefits for the large, complex, and aging minds and bodies of adults, why wouldn’t it be even more crucial for children?

Most health care professionals recognize how vital the link between mental and physical well being is in keeping adults healthy. We’ve all heard of “mind over matter” and that mental stress is known to cause physical diseases, like high blood pressure, ulcers, and heart disease. Mental health practitioners give further proof to this reciprocal relationship by recommending regular physical exercise to boost the endorphins in our brain, which in turn combat mental depression. Yet little babies spend huge amounts of time physically restrained in bouncy seats, carriers, swings, and walkers, prevented from doing what they are really good at - wiggle, squirm, and roll.

Allowing babies the time and space to learn the physical milestones such as rolling, crawling, and cruising at their own pace without adult intervention, is called Free Gross Motor Development and “…is crucial for their neurological, physiological and psychological development” confirms Dr. Paula Giusto, BS, DC, a South Tampa chiropractor with a large clientele of families with young children. To best support baby’s Free Gross Motor Development, the parent provides a safe and developmentally appropriate space for the baby to move in and refrains from propping, turning, or pulling baby into positions she could not get into on her own.

There are several underlying principles behind Free Gross Motor Development. These principles were developed and proven through years of research at the Emmi Pikler Institute and Children’s Home in Budapest, Hungary. Early Childhood Specialists at the Institute have documented in painstaking detail since 1946 the positive effects of allowing babies unimpeded, natural movement, neither hurried nor hindered by the adults in their lives. The Pikler Institute’s innovative practices spread to educators here in the United States through the work of Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE), founded in 1978 by child therapist, Magda Gerber. Inspired by the work of Pikler and Magda Gerber, here are suggestions for helping babies become the confident explorers and learners they were meant to be.

Trust baby’s natural development. Physical development occurs in predictable, progressive stages in all children, although the timing is individual. Moving from one movement stage to another indicates internal, neuromuscular readiness. Dr. Emmi Pikler explains, “Each movement has its own history of development. Each one is based upon the other” (p.12). In other words, each milestone, such as rolling from the belly to the back, builds upon skills mastered in the previous stage. If your baby still crawls while “the Jones’ baby” walks, it is because there are some aspects of crawling that your baby is still learning from, some muscles that need the strengthening that only crawling can give. Baby will always do the best they can at any given moment. Parents show trust in baby’s natural development by acknowledging that their baby may need to spend a lot of time trying out movements leading up to milestones. Early childhood specialist and author, Janet Gonzalez-Mena, believes, “Each child has a built in timetable that dictates just when he will crawl, sit up, and start to walk. The important learnings come when the baby is ready – not when the adults decide it’s time.” In our highly technological age, it’s easy to forget that nature has a perfect plan (Gerber) for our babies’ development.

Wait for the next stage, and don’t push. It is not necessary to teach a baby to move. The infant’s body is intrinsically driven to move through each milestone, when ready to do so. Magda Gerber underlines this fact with the clever observation that all over the world, children that are not taught how to sit, walk, crawl, still learn how to do so within the average age range. How many of us have seen well-meaning parents bent over double, helping infants walk by holding fingers, months before the child would be walking on their own? If these children’s bodies were truly ready to walk, they would be doing it by themselves.

Yet as parents and caregivers, we bristle at the suggestion that we not teach or push a child to the next milestone. We may feel like we can help our child to roll over or walk or sit up earlier than they would on their own. The question is earlier than what and for whom? By teaching skills before baby can do it on his own, the baby becomes dependent on the adult for moving. He learns to fuss and cry each time he wants to be rolled over or sat up because he has not learned these skills on his own. Conversely, baby becomes more independent when we allow him to learn skills on his own.

Adult interference with natural movements can also cause baby to skip steps which may be important for later learning. How many of us have focused so much on teaching baby to walk, that crawling has been ignored or even discouraged. Martha Brown, Occupational Therapist with the Pinellas County school system stresses that it is “….essential for infants to push up from the bellies to help develop the arches of the hand and for strengthening the shoulder girdle which at a much later date is needed for writing and other fine motor skills.” If we knew how important crawling is for later development would we still rush? According to Dr. Giusto, infants’ development is also rushed by using a walker or “excer-saucer”. “ When a child uses a baby walker, typically they will miss the benefits of the normal crawling stage and this has been associated with a delay in achieving normal locomotor milestones. (Siegel)” To avoid this, give baby plenty of time in a safe play space to practice old and new skills for optimal development.

Learning to move means learning to learn. Learning movements, such as rolling from back to belly, is a mind-body process with implications in later learning and mental health. “….. (The baby) learns to do something on his own, to be interested, to try out, to experiment. He learns to over come difficulties. He comes to know the joy and satisfaction which is derived from this success, the result of his patience and persistence.” (Pikler) The implication is that when a baby tries and eventually masters a milestone out of her own initiative, even the youngest of infants experiences a kind of whole-body competence, a deep inner confidence that builds positive associations with struggling and succeeding. Best of all, this kind of inner mastery is portable – it transfers to all later learning experiences into adulthood. Scientist and researcher, Jean Piaget, called this stage of intense physical learning the Sensorimotor Stage and saw it as the foundation for all later learning. Parents and care givers support this process by making time to relax and quietly observe baby while at play, noticing what movements she has mastered, what movements she is still struggling with, and appreciating her efforts.

Be there and be aware. A heightened tolerance for frustration is the positive cognitive and emotional outcome of allowing a child to struggle during learning experiences. Motivated and persistent children will try a movement over and over again until they have mastered it, even if they fuss or cry while trying.

As a parent you can stay close, but don’t always jump in to move the baby when baby begins to fuss. For example, if your baby struggles to crawl in a forward motion and begins to get frustrated, you can “sportscast” what you see to encourage self-awareness in your baby. Comment with observations such as, “you are trying really hard to crawl”, or “you are crying and really working hard” (Grebler), and “I hear you crying, that’s looks hard for you but you really want to learn it”. Your calm comments and presence are reassuring. Panicking every time your child fusses or cries shows mistrust in your child’s ability to handle the situation.

Find the Time. If your baby is used to being carried, or put in swings or bouncy seats, it may take a while for your baby to enjoy spending more time on a blanket. Start with just a few minutes every day, when your baby is alert and all her needs have been met. Place baby on her back on a firm surface, which allows for the most head and limb movement. Sit nearby and notice how your baby can move his head from side to side and how freely arms and legs can stretch. There is no need to worry about flat heads since baby can turn the head both left and right to look at interesting objects or you! After just a few days, free play in a safe space will be part of the daily routine.

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nfants are absolutely driven to proceed through all stages of Gross Motor Development, on their own at their own pace. Just ask any parent who has tried to get an eighteen-month-old obsessed with walking to sit through dinner at a restaurant! As adults, we can recognize learning to move as an infants’ first job. There is no need to either push progress by early teaching, or hinder progress by restraining in swings or other contraptions made primarily for adult convenience. Parents and caregivers can best support free and natural movement in infants and toddlers by providing a loving and safe environment and then sitting back, relaxing, and watching. Helen Keller’s teacher, Annie Sullivan, came to the same conclusion in the early nineteenth century, when she wrote this journal entry, “It’s much better, I think, to assume that the child is doing his part, and that the seed you have sown will bear fruit in due time…”

Please note, the pronouns he/she are used interchangeably to denote the baby.