Here are our top 6 tips to help you encourage your baby in his or her all round development without the need to buy specialist equipment.
If your baby was born premature or tiny remember developmental progress can be delayed depending on how preterm they were for instance 6 weeks premature, 6 weeks delayed prgress, 10 weeks born premature then 10 weeks delayed etc. By the age of 3 your child will have caught up to that of an average 3 year old.Only when your child is discharged from the special care baby unit will you find out if your child needs physiotherapy or has specific special needs and then this will determene further outside help from other agencies to help with your baby's progress other than that you are capable of doing this yourself at home.
You dont have to worry about buying any special equipment if your baby came out of hospital not needing any specialist support, but for your peace of mind you can gently encourage your baby to reach each milestone with some extra care,and with no pressure playtimes that will strengthen each of your baby's body parts and encourage full sensory development.
Here are the areas that any child will need encouragement in and stimulation be able to reach each milestone at their own pace.
PHYSICAL,EMOTIONAL,SOCIAL,INTELLECTUAL.LANGUAGE.
SENSORY 5 AREAS...TOUCH,TASTE,HEARING,SEEING,SMELL.
1.Ecourage sensory hearing,Seeing,touching from day 1 onwards by mummy, daddy family being around to give baby cuddles, baby learning smells around the home ie mummy beastfeeding learning to smell mummy's own milk or daddy giving baby cuddle, up close baby smelling aftershave on daddy's skin etc musical toys placed within hear shot of baby, singing lullabyes and making soft sounds baby can listen to.
2. Ecourage baby to lie of soft thick blanket on floor or on a play mat under a play gym looking at the colours of the toys learning to reach and touch the toys, placing large teddy bears aorund baby so baby can gently feel the fur texture and so on.
3. Giving baby lots of cuddles, forming possitve bonding relationships between family members,giving lots of love, cuddles, playing with baby in a calm reasuring way so baby feels secure.
4. going out and about in the pram watching,listening to every day sounds such as car engines, birds tweeting in the park, learning to be around other adults and children in a possitve way and meeting other babies such as visiting sure start programmes.
5.Putting toys around baby when able to sit up that encourages baby to think for self problem solving hiding a ball under a blanket and baby finds it of using a shape sorter or reaching out and encouraging baby to feel comfortable lying on his or her tummy to reach for a toy they want or in a prone position ready to learn to crawl or roll over.
6.Encouraging baby to talk making coo sounds for baby to respond to encouraging communication between other adults, brothers and sisters, reading stories together developing and interest in books from an early age ,Singing nursery rhymes together.
for more information on babies visit our main website where you can also find a vast array of premature baby clothes, shoes and kids pyjamas too at http://cheekychumsonline.co.uk
Portuguese
Spanish
French