Your Baby's Motor Skills: First Year Milestones

Posted: Oct 26, 2010 |Comments: 0 |

"The ultimate goal of physical motor development is to make the human organism as independent of gravity as is possible within the limitations of the human body."

When babies begin to participate and engage in the world around them, it is indicative of them becoming more and more independent. From the moment a baby is born into this world, she will begin the process of developing the motor skills that are necessary for her to take command of that which is around her and for her to relate with her environment. Because of this, a baby who has mastered the motor skill of sitting up without help, for example, will have a completely different outlook on the environment that they are a part of than a baby who has not yet mastered this skill and needs assistance from objects or adults to help them up. You will find as your baby begins to stack skill upon skill that her experience of the world, and in turn the complexity of newly learned skills, will grow exponentially. As your baby's motor skills grow and become more complex, so will your baby's overall interaction with her environment.

Physical development can be broken up in to three-month intervals and divided into two categories: gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are the term used to describe your baby's ability to control different parts of her own body. Fine motor skills refer to your baby's level of coordination of different body parts, such as picking up an object with her thumb and forefinger.

Infant muscle development starts at the head and works its way down. Your baby will first develop control over the neck muscles. Soon after that she will learn to control the torso, and finally the leg muscles. Your baby will then start sitting up on her own, crawling a bit, and turning over by herself. She will enjoy being bounced on your knee, which is an excellent way for your baby to begin to develop balance. By the time she is around eight months old she will start learning how to stand up on her own and will try to pull herself upright by holding on to objects with your help.

Typically, a baby will start walking between nine and fifteen months, with the majority of babies walking just after the age of one (around thirteen to fourteen months). If your baby cannot walk but has no problem crawling, standing, or sitting upright, this is completely normal. Some babies skip the crawling phase entirely and can start walking as late as seventeen to nineteen months.

There are things you can do as a parent to stimulate your baby to begin the process of learning to walk. Although many parents believe that they need to get their babies expensive toys and walking aids to facilitate early development, this is completely untrue. What you need to do most is interact with your child as much as possible; this is to facilitate brain development. Babies love to hear stories. This is not just recreational or for entertainment, but very important for helping along your baby's brain development. Instead of telling your baby a story and making it up as you go along, try reading it aloud to her from a book. This will help her develop her vocabulary. Play with her, talk to her, sing to her. The reason younger children in a family develop at a faster rate than their older siblings is that they have someone to interact with constantly (not just mom and dad, but big brother or big sister as well).

As far as toys and walking aids, walkers are definitely NOT recommended, because babies tend to rely on them too much. As a result of using walkers their upper leg muscles will not develop as well as they should and this could lead to a delay in the development of motor skills necessary for walking. Furthermore, each year there are around 200,000 injuries sustained to babies due to walker use. Around 30,000 of these injuries are severe and include fractures, dislocations, and broken bones. Canada has banned the use of walkers and the American Medical Association, as well as various other organizations, has proposed a ban on walkers in the United States. Do not get a walker for your baby.

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