Perhaps this will be the year that babies are finally acknowledged as uniquely capable, full-fledged people. Maybe parents and caregivers will realize that babies are born knowing something about their development and can be trusted to demonstrate readiness for developmental milestones by “doing them”.

If we believe in babies, then we give them opportunities to show us what they’re working on, and they’ll do the rest. This begins with allowing infants plenty of time to move their bodies freely and naturally and trusting them to direct their motor development.

So, I’m rolling in the New Year by sharing some inspiration. In the following video, a 4 month old infant demonstrates a wide array of movements and positions on her way to tummy time, none of which would be possible if she were propped up to sit, contained in a walker, seat or carrier, or placed on her tummy.  She is determined, but relaxed, engaged, content, a joyful explorer stopping to gaze at things that catch her eye, examine her hands and taste her thumb. Tummy time is just another interesting discovery, self-chosen and stress-free. Nothing could be more natural. This certainly bodes well for a lifelong love of learning…

I wish doctors had enough time to be able to observe how a baby is moving naturally, to share these observations with parents, and to point out to the parents how competent a baby is at any stage of development. This might help the parents to observe and appreciate what the child is capable of doing and to stop worrying and pushing toward the next milestone, for which the baby may not yet be ready. –Magda Gerber

In the New Year (and always), may the time you’re blessed to spend with babies be joyful and inspiring. Cheers!

(Thank you to Sarah, Nathan and Juliet for this beautiful video!)

Dear Janet,

I stumbled on your blog through the guest post on “tummy time” when my daughter, now six months, was about two months old.  I was totally captivated by the video of Baby Liv and then spent hours reading your whole blog.  Very quickly I just had this enormous sense of relief come over me: I hadn’t realized how tense I had been until I discovered how amazing this feeling was!  And on the same day that I started reading about RIE, the baby caught my sense of peace right away.  Suddenly she started sleeping more, in part because I didn’t jump up every time she stirred.  She wasn’t taking really short naps, I found—she was having wakeful periods (sometimes very vigorous wakeful periods) in the middle of long naps that I had been destroying by picking her up too quickly.

What relief to realize that my young baby needed her own space and time: that I didn’t need to be entertaining her every minute or teaching her the alphabet in order for her to develop.  I could trust my child to grow up, and I could help her along the way.  Wow–my whole perspective shifted, and I became so much calmer.  So did my baby!

But RIE has turned out to be an unexpected source of comfort in other ways.  As a result of a rare condition, I’ve suffered several vertebral fractures over the last couple of months, and my spine is still very delicate.  This means that for the next year or so, I have to be extremely careful.  I simply can’t pick my baby up or “wear” her (you’re right, it’s a terrible term), for I risk even worse permanent disability.  I can, thankfully, still hold her in my lap if someone hands her to me.

If I was still under the sway of attachment parenting (which I do think is different from RIE, and which I believe encourages, perhaps inadvertently, the anxieties of new parents to develop into self-destructive behaviors and worries), this would be completely devastating.  After all, it would mean that my child would fail to properly attach, that I was an insufficient mother, that we would all be emotionally stunted by my physical limitations.

But under RIE, my physical value as a mother is rather limited.  I am not a beast of burden for my child.  Rather, I can sit and watch her play and comment.  I can read books to her.  I can play games with her.  I can empathize with her and talk to her.  And all of that is considered plenty.

So, I am incredibly grateful for your work and that of Magda Gerber and Emmi Pikler.  You will all have made my child’s infancy so much happier for us.

With so many thanks,

Jennifer

“Parents often say to me, “I want to hold my baby all the time to show him how much I love him.” Most animals can show affection only through touch, but we humans have an extensive, varied and refined repertoire of ways to demonstrate love. To me, a mature, evolved person shows love by respecting the *otherness* of the beloved. You become a good parent not only by listening to your instinctive messages but by paying close attention to your baby, by observing the infant. Sensitive observation flows from respect.” – Magda Gerber

(Photo by cheriejoyful on Flickr.)

But rather than listen to our babies, we are asked to put our faith in recent studies about plagiocephaly (flat-headedness), studies that don’t take into account the fact that infants are now spending more time than ever in restrictive devices (like car seats, bouncy seats and carriers) that inhibit babies from doing what they are naturally inclined to do: round out the back of their heads by turning them from side to side. 

Instead, the back position and rousingly successful “Back to Sleep” campaign (which has cut the SIDS rate in the US in half since it began in 1992) have been named as the culprits.  So, rather than understand these studies as a reflection of the need for more free movement and floor time during the baby’s waking hours, many experts have concluded that imposing tummy time is the answer.

In this insightful guest post, Irene Gutteridge, a Feldenkrais and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (and producer/director of the world renowned “Baby Liv” video), sheds light on the valuable developmental processes hindered when tummy time is imposed early, and helps us see tummy time from our baby’s point of view. Irene writes: 

Have you ever had a local anesthetic for dental surgery?

Your gums, facial muscles, facial affect, smiling, talking, eating – it all just goes funny and you simply can’t use your mouth area until the anesthesia wears off. You feel kind of silly and imbecile-like, yes?

Now imagine this.

You are on your stomach, lying on the ground. You want to lift your head up.  But someone just injected your back extensor muscles (the ones that allow you to lift up off the ground and lift your head) with that same local anesthetic that dentists use. The very muscles that work to lift up your head and chest are simply deadened. It’s even hard to engage your shoulders and arms to lift yourself up because, unfortunately, they too interact with your back extensors. You might say: “Darn it, this head feels so heavy. It’s a struggle. I feel completely helpless!”

This last scenario is exactly what happens when infants are put on their stomachs for “tummy time.” The only difference is that the infant can’t speak yet to say: “Hey, what’s going on, this sucks. I’m uncomfortable. HELP!”

Putting infants on their tummies without having them go through the process of getting to their tummy on their own is analogous to injecting their back extensor muscles with that local anesthetic. They are paralyzed and basically unable to access their back extensor muscles, mainly because the actual act of getting to their tummy from their back (something that takes months!) is what forms their spinal curves – the lumbar, thoracic and cervical – and in turn gives them strength in their back muscles.

Have you had a chance to watch “Baby Liv”?

Before you read on, give yourself the 3-minute pleasure of watching Baby Liv. Watch the video piece straight through.  See the process of Baby Liv going from her back, to side, to tummy (and all the in-between’s).

Then, I’d like to give you a recap of what she’s doing from a functional and structural point of view. In essence: What is giving her the juice to get to her tummy and decide when she is ready for her own “Tummy Time”.

This footage was taken over a series of months.

@ 20 seconds: She’s pretty still, but if you look at the eye movement, to the right and left, that is priming her spine for rotating. For now, she’s doing tiny pieces of rotation. (Try this yourself, only move your eyes left and right. If you are attentive enough, you’ll sense you neck and head wanting to move in the direction your eyes travel.)

She then looks at her fingertips. This gaze upwards is forming the curves in the upper part of her spine (the cervical area) – and in actuality, it is transmitting throughout her entire body. The support she finds from the ground under her – from foot to head – provides “juice” for this movement (and all movements, really).

@ 41 seconds: You can just see the increase in fluidity throughout her entire self and a greater availability for movement.

@ 1 min: She’s moving her legs a lot, and this is putting a nice wave up her spine…think…snake like movement!

@1.15: She starts to do a roll. This seemingly innocent movement carries a lot of punch in the development world. That little push through her foot and the tiny rotation it brings is just the beginning of finding a teensy bit of spinal extension and use of her back muscles. Lifting both of her legs up tilts her pelvis and flattens her lower back into the ground. This flattening of her lower back is forming the opposite of her lumbar curve. It is lengthening her back muscles. This lengthening gives her ‘energy’ in her back muscles so that she has more ability to actually engage them.

@2.09: If you can catch it – it’s quick – when she is going for giraffe Sophie, you see her little head pick up off the ground. BINGO! This little lift is happening because the rest of her body, below, has found the support surfaces and functionally to un-weight her head.  All the pieces are falling into place.

@ 2.18: She’s a pretty happy kid.  She’s got there HERSELF (think: self-reliance), and her head held high with absolute support coming from her pelvis, hands and legs. She’s anchoring into the ground in numerous places and learning how to use her environment for movement. You see, in this moment of her lifting her body up, there is no impingement on her neck area, and clean spinal curves are being developed.

It isn’t about the firing and strengthening of “muscles” per se, it’s about functionally doing the movements that our nervous system wants to find, and then letting the muscles, and nature, just do their job.

@2.44-2.46: Now she is really showing off her ability to finely control her rotation and movement. She’s got it dialed. It feels good. She’s having fun!

Irene Gutteridge blogs at her virtual office, The Human Groove: Curate You, about “all things – functional & biological, with a special twist around the brain, body and nervous system. Her education is in the health sciences and she is a certified Feldenkrais and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner practicing in Whistler & Vancouver, British Columbia. You can reach her through her website, thehumangroove.com, via twitter @thehumangroove, or good old email: irene@thehumangroove.com. She loves meeting new people!

For more on the tummy time issue, please read No Tummy Time Necessary, a terrific article by Early Childhood Educator and RIE Associate Lisa Sunbury.

Photo by devinf on Flickr.

So, I had very mixed feelings about filming the 7-10 month old babies playing during “observation time” in my RIE parent/infant class. As I’d feared, holding up my new Flip camera (thanks for the early Christmas gift, Mike) distracted these ultra-aware infants a little. But when I saw the videos,  I decided it was worth it for the thrill of sharing a sample of the wonders we experience with babies every week!

I’ve isolated the clips below because they provide different examples of babies “playing” together, sometimes (when we want to sound fancy) referred to as “infant-infant interaction”.  Infant expert Magda Gerber strongly believed in giving babies time for free exploration with their peers and recommended forming play groups. “Children have different agendas with adults than with their peers, and they learn from each other.”

I think you’ll agree after seeing these videos that watching babies play together is good for parents, too.

1. Ouch!… My Ear. (When we allow babies the freedom to interact, there are going to be minor bumps and upsets. Babies learn from these, too. We can’t have the wonderful, spontaneous moments if we are constantly intervening.) 

2. Like Feet. (Each parent/infant group has its own unique dynamic. The babies in this group are particularly fascinated with each other’s feet.)

3. Lean On Me. (Making friends, infant style.)

Tips for encouraging self-directed infant play…

Safety. Create a safe, enclosed play space. For group play, babies have the most freedom to interact safely when they are grouped with children of a similar age or stage of development. At RIE we use a lot of light, plastic, cleanable toys for safety reasons.

Give babies your focused attention. To be able to play independently and confidently babies need periods of our undivided attention, especially during feedings, bathing, diaper changes. (At RIE we have a separate area for parents to nurse, bottle feed or change their babies.)

The play habit. Provide plenty of opportunities for uninterrupted, independent play each day. Groups work best for babies when they meet regularly and include the usual suspects.

Minimal interruption. Stay in responsive mode. Intervene calmly and gently when babies are hurt (or better — about to be hurt), as beautifully demonstrated by the parents in the first video clip.

For more about play groups, please read: The Baby Social Scene. To form groups of your own, log on to the community forum and list your city. 

Please share any thoughts or questions about the videos!

If you are intrigued by the Emmi Pikler/ Magda Gerber approach to infant gross motor development but unconvinced; struggling to find the patience to allow your baby to achieve tummy time all by herself (!); or would just like to be inspired by the beauty, power and wisdom of babies, this is the movie for you.

In producer/director Irene Gutteridge’s words:

This is a montage of a little baby named Liv doing what babies do during their first year of life.

It is these first beginnings that form the initial pieces that someone would learn while doing a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement Lesson. Finding the floor under you, finding the support the environment gives you such that you can move, repetition that is driven by curiosity and exploration such that action can begin to be effortless and more refined.

This piece of baby development forms a major foundation of the work of Moshe Feldenkrais and his method, The Feldenkrais Method.

This video clip is the beginning of a series of video clips that will be used to highlight the foundations and principles of The Feldenkrais Method.

This has been compiled from a year of footage taken in Whistler, BC. Visit http://www.thenext25years.com for more information on the project.

A big thank you to Irene Gutteridge for allowing me to share this!  Also, thanks to Monika Szucs Eichler for introducing me to Irene’s amazing series of videos.  Read more about her work as a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method on her blog The Human Groove.

 (Photo of baby Liv by “Feldenkrais – The Next 25 Years” on Flicker.)

Parents and professionals who wait for the next and the next “achievement” sadly miss the miraculous little changes which are occurring all the time. –Magda Gerber

“I loved your post about giving babies independent play time. I have a 6 month old little boy who is super easy and wonderful. When I read about giving him time to figure things out for himself and to just be alone and build his attention, I tried it. I’ve been putting him down and letting him just be while I sit nearby and read a book or just watch him in awe. He can sustain “tummy time” (a side note: I hadn’t read your blog before we started “tummy time”, but I’ve discovered that he much prefers to be on his stomach but can’t get there yet so I put him down that way, definitely a question for another time) for a LONG time, like 30-45 minutes.

Sometimes I put him down alone (no toys) and sometimes I offer some “toys” (we don’t have many toys so sometimes kitchen items, burp cloths etc become “toys”).I’ve found that toys frustrate him. He can’t get them in his mouth the way he wants to or manipulate them how he thinks they should go etc. He starts crying and throwing a fit. When he doesn’t have toys he is much calmer, and definitely looking around and thinking. I doubt that he’s doing much thinking once he’s frustrated with a toy.

So, my question is this, is the frustration good for him? At this point I don’t think he can work through it, either because he doesn’t have the physical skills necessary or because he doesn’t have the persistence to keep at it without breaking down. If the frustration isn’t good for him, when do I start offering toys? I love my boy and hate to see him upset, but I also feel a little guilty when his playtime consists of him and the floor (and sometimes the dog, who he loves).”

Sincerely,
Lily

 
          Dear Lily,

Thanks for your kind words and your great questions. I asked for some input from my RIE colleague Roseann Murphy, because I was a little uncertain about what to recommend. Here are our collective thoughts…

First of all, it is fantastic that you are trusting your boy to have uninterrupted playtime, and that he is obviously enjoying it. 30-45 minutes is a feat! He’s developing his ability to play autonomously, learning through all of his senses, and stretching his imaginative powers. These are not things to be messed with.

If he’s content without toys, you can trust that his experience is enough. For all we know, he might be studying the gravitational pull of floating dust particles, composing jazz fusion from bird tweets and garbage trucks, or making mental plot notes for a future New York Times bestseller. Or as Roseann said, “What a lucky boy to have the opportunity to lie on the floor next to his favorite dog without a great deal of stimulation… just a chance to look around, observe and take in the environment.”

Still, it would be nice if he could also begin to explore toys occasionally without them winding him up (and the simple ‘toys’ that you are using sound perfect!). His frustration might stem from the limited range of motion he has on his tummy. He can’t manipulate objects as easily or as well in that position.

I know that ‘tummy time’ is still recommended by some doctors. Many of us think it’s the best placement for young babies (I know I did originally), and there are even whole websites about it. But pediatrician Emmi Pikler and her protégé infant specialist Madga Gerber believed that young infants should be placed on their backs. In that position they are free to turn their heads from side to side and look all around, stretch their limbs, closely examine their hands and feet to try to figure out how those miraculous body parts work (as my babies seemed to do constantly in the beginning), develop neck, back, and tummy muscles naturally, comfortably and without strain. Their rib cages are free, so they can breathe more easily and deeply. They can choose to work on rolling to their tummies when ready.

Now, I can certainly understand why you might be unwilling to try placing your son on his back when he is used to, prefers, and plays well in the tummy position. But I think it would be worth experimenting. He will probably be able to roll to his tummy independently anyway soon, but in the meantime, you’ll be giving him the option of grasping and exploring objects with greater hand and arm mobility.

You don’t mention how your son reacts to being placed on his back, or if you’ve even attempted it, but if he protests, try talking him through the experience. Tell him beforehand what you will do and that you know this is a little different for him, but you want him to try it for just a few minutes.

The most important thing is to project confidence. Our babies are quick to pick up any uncertainty, and it can rattle them. ‘If my lovely mom (the boss lady) is hesitant or tense, there must be something wrong!’

If you proceed with confidence and honesty, this would be a time to allow for a little frustration. Grunting and complaining is tolerable, productive frustration. “Crying and throwing a fit”, as you observed, is too much frustration for your little guy to handle. If that happens, ask him if he wants to be picked up to take a break. Similarly, if he gets frustrated reaching towards a toy, or while manipulating one, acknowledge his effort and try talking him through it first. “You’re really working hard. That toy is just out of reach. Almost there…” If his frustration escalates, ask if he needs to be picked up. Better to pick him up and give him a break than to hand him the toy, or otherwise “fix” his struggle for him.

Lily, you have wonderful parenting instincts. Whatever you decide to do, keep up the good work!

And if you still have guilt about your boy playing without toys, here’s a video of six month old Joey, a participant in RIE Parent/Infant Guidance Classes, enjoying some tummy time at home. Is there something else (or more) Joey should be doing? She looks busy enough to me.

All the best,
Janet

Photo (above) and video of Joey by Sarah and Nathan. (Thank you.)

The previous week, 21 month old Audrey had wedged herself between the bars of the wooden climbing structure and looked at me with a worried expression. “Are you stuck?” I asked. I moved close and — without touching her — talked her through pulling her legs out from between the bars and reaching to the bar below so that she could climb down again. After glancing at me with a look of self-satisfaction, she climbed back up to repeat the experience. Another toddler, Travis, then climbed the bars and tried getting stuck, too. 

Travis seemed to remember this last week. He climbed up the structure, slipped his legs through the bars and looked at me meaningfully. “Are you stuck?” I asked. He smirked at me before freeing himself again. Soon, Audrey, and then Charlotte followed suit. Charlotte sat between the bars for a long time, swinging her legs in the “stuck” position.

A few minutes later, Sage placed a stacking cup inside one of the buses. She tried to pull the cup back out. I sensed her mom wanting to help, but resisting the urge.  “Is it stuck?” I asked.  She fiddled with the cup for a moment, then left it and moved on to something else.

Later Sage climbed onto one of the large wooden blocks, sat on top and seemed unsure about getting down again. “Are you trying to get down?” I asked. She reached out for me as if to ask to bring her down. “I won’t let you fall”, I said, not touching her, but just spotting. She was hesitant and seemed uneasy. “Do you feel stuck up there?” I asked. She reached her arms towards me again to help her, and though I felt like a meanie, I resisted. “You want me to help you down, but I’m going to let you do it, and I won’t let you fall.”

Sage spent a few moments inching across the top of the block and looking down at the floor before she gained the courage to slide down the side, reaching her feet a few inches until she touched the floor. “You did it.” Thrilled, Sage pranced victoriously across the room towards her smiling parents.

Babies don’t mind struggles. To them, frustration isn’t a bad word. But without meaning to, we teach our babies to fear those things by projecting our adult point-of-view, by reacting (or overreacting), hurrying to “bail them out”.

If we want to encourage our baby’s ingenuity, persistence, and self-confidence, it’s best to try to stifle our urge to “help” and provide plenty of opportunities for safe struggles, even when they cause a little frustration. Our infant might need to work for days, even weeks struggling to roll from back to tummy, or stretching himself to reach the toy that is just out of his grasp. If we stay out of the way, just verbally comfort, acknowledge and encourage our child, (giving him breaks, or helping minimally if he starts getting too frustrated or exhausted) he eventually experiences (and completely owns!) the thrill of his accomplishment. 

By feeling “stuck”, overcoming obstacles and also dealing with “failure” to achieve a particular goal, our children build strong coping skills that will make life’s temporary setbacks much easier to bear. It’s great to succeed, but “not there yet” is a part of life and okay, too.  Then, like the toddlers in class, they can continue to approach feeling stuck as just another fascinating state of being, an experience to examine, embrace, and hopefully overcome through confident perseverance.

Wouldn’t it be grand if we could all retain this healthy, positive attitude towards struggle…if we could face writer’s block, a job search, being in-between relationships, grappling with life’s toughest challenges with interest and enthusiasm rather than fear?

There is no question that parenting, particularly for the first years, requires tremendous sacrifice. Like marathoners, mommies and daddies have to “go to the wall” on a regular basis, enduring sleep deprivation and tedious, endless days. If not for the aching adorableness of babies – the first smile (which might just be gas) and then the music of that first belly laugh — would we survive? 

Parents need highs, and plenty of them. The good news is that the best ways to find parenting euphoria are good for your babies, too. Here are some ways I’ve achieved parenting bliss through the wisdom of infant expert Magda Gerber: 

Do less, enjoy more.  To make this famous Magda Gerber mantra your own, create a safe, gated play area, stock it with a variety of basic toys and objects (balls, cotton scarves, baby dolls, teethers, stacking cups, blocks – we get to be creative here), and allow that to be your baby’s haven when he is rested, changed and fed. Place him on his back so he has maximum mobility. Then sit comfortably beside your baby, let go of worries, projections and expectations and find that relaxing Zen place where you are fully present, waiting.  The surprises begin… 

I will never forget the expression on each of my children’s faces when they rolled from back to tummy for the first time after days of struggling to the sound of my gentle verbal encouragement. None of them smiled, but in their eyes was a glint of disbelief, then satisfaction, and recognition: “I can do it.” 

Once my two-year-old took out a set of four cotton placemats, never-used ‘toys’ that had been in her play area for many months. She designated the placemats seats on an imaginary airplane. For several minutes she talked to herself as she arranged the seats, sat on them and even saw clouds pass by through the airplane window. 

There are hundreds of moments like these with infants and toddlers when “it works”. There are also plenty of days when it doesn’t, but instilling the habit of inner-directed, uninterrupted play is an investment that guarantees treasured moments. Creating a place for playtime outdoors together makes the day even richer. Through inner-directed play our baby’s emergent personality, creativity and his unique methods of developing his physical and cognitive skills become our joyful discoveries, too.  

Wait for readiness. We can’t wait for our baby to try out all the activities we loved as a child, but we get a bigger buzz (as does our child) when we delay gratification and wait for him to demonstrate readiness. Our child usually does this by initiating the activity himself (as in ‘tummy-time’). 

Imagine you buy your toddler a tricycle. You are dying for him to try it out, but rather than sitting him on it and pushing, you wait. One day he discovers he can sit on it. He repeats that activity for several days, weeks, even months, and then begins fiddling with the pedals for more weeks. You let go of expectation and find patience. Suddenly, one day he gets it, and with a surprised grin on his face…he’s off!  He owns his accomplishment. Since he is trusted to use the tricycle in his way and time rather than being taught or cajoled, using it is not a passive activity, or a source of stress, but one of joy for both of you. 

A child is most ready when he can actively participate. Holding off on a first trip to Disneyland until a child can name characters, walk rather than ride around the park, and tell you which rides he wants to try, elevates the experience for everyone. 

Make the heart grow fonder.  I fell deeply in love with my children during their second year. But my intense adoration usually hit me when I was away from them. Taking breaks from child care, getting away for an hour or two, gives us the perspective we need to be eager for a joyful reunion. Whenever possible, have a relative or neighbor standby while your baby is napping, or hire a trusted caregiver once in a while so you can do errands, exercise, or meet a friend for lunch without bringing your baby. Pining for the baby you are besotted with is bittersweet bliss. 

These are the days. Some very wise person nailed the parenting experience: “Every day lasts forever, but the years fly by.” Embrace these days. When the late afternoon “arsenic hour” is too much to bear, play music that inspires you.  When times are really tough — look forward. 

There will be happy surprises. Scribbles, preschool crafts, flowers from the garden on Mother’s Day will evolve into eloquent notes that leave you sobbing. Your children will make you laugh, cry and prouder than you can imagine. Loving a child is, by far, the most enduring high there is. 

These are days that you’ll remember
When May is rushing over you
With desire to be part of the miracles
You see in every hour
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you are touched
By something that will grow and bloom in you.  – 10,000 Maniacs, “These Are The Days”

How do you find parenting bliss?

Thankfully, our infants don’t need to go to the gym, take exercise classes, or be transformed by private trainers from round cherubs into buff babies for the joyful habit of physical activity to become deeply ingrained in them. All they need is time to do what children do best – play! Since our babies quickly become accustomed to the routines that we establish, infancy is the best and easiest time for us to help our child begin the healthy habit of active play. 

Infants and toddlers are discovering how their bodies work. They need to be unencumbered by baby equipment and the adjusting and positioning of adults so that they can safely find balance and self-reliance. The challenge for parents is to trust rather than teach (because teaching means interfering) and to let our baby show us what he is ready to do by doing it himself — naturally.   

Allowing for free movement means losing bouncy seats, swings, jumpers and walkers, limiting the use of carriers, slings and strollers, all of which restrict our baby and/or do the activity for him. The position which allows our infant maximum mobility is on his back. (Try giving yourself ‘tummy time’ and feel how less mobile you are.) For the first weeks, infants do not need much space, but their safe play area should grow as they do, so they continue to have ample room to move. A safe outdoor play area is best whenever possible.

Here are some immediate and long term benefits of baby exercise: 

1)      Physical fitness, obesity prevention.  Physical activity, not just the organized kind, but free, active play helps prevent obesity. It is so much easier to form healthy habits when our children are small than it is to break the habit of less independent, more passive, sedentary activities when they are school age. Giving babies plenty of time for free play may not solve this complex issue, but it’s a scoot in the right direction, and it’s something we can all do. 

2)      Cognitive functioning. No matter how laid-back some of us may appear we all want our children’s brains to function at peak capacity. There are new studies every week confirming the positive effects of physical activity on attention span, achievement, test scores, and memory. So, let’s allow our children to get a move on and take full advantage. 

3)      Eat, Sleep, Digestion. When a baby has opportunities to move his limbs, extend and stretch his back, eventually propel himself to roll, scoot and crawl, he eats better, sleeps more restfully, and his bowels work better. As many of us recognize, these benefits of physical activity continue into adulthood. 

4)      Self-confidence and independence. Our babies are born to us wholly dependent. The one way they can experience a taste of independence and begin to understand and express ‘self’ is through self-initiated play and movement. An infant who has ample opportunity to experiment and test his physical abilities without adult assistance becomes a tenacious problem solver. And learning he can overcome obstacles builds self-confidence (like finally finding the know-how to move that arm that keeps getting stuck beneath him as he rolls onto his belly). 

5)      Grace, poise, assuredness and more. World renowned Hungarian pediatrician Dr. Emmi Pikler went against the grain in 1946 when she advocated natural gross motor development – “non-interference” in a healthy child’s development. She studied the contrasts between the children who had been taught, propped, positioned and restricted in devices like infant seats, walkers and bouncers, and those who were given freedom of movement and allowed to develop at their own rate. Dr. Pikler found that the natural approach not only affected the quality of motor skills, but also influenced “all other areas of growth – social, emotional, cognitive – and even character development.” “Pikler babies”, as the children in her practice were known, could be easily distinguished at the parks in Budapest, because they were “poised and graceful, alert and friendly, and so confidently independent.” 

6)      Safety. When our infant spends his day developing motor skills naturally, he becomes well-practiced and deeply in tune with his physical capabilities. He has better control and takes only calculated risks. These children learn to fall safely and get up again, and they seldom have serious physical accidents. 

7)      Relaxation, mood elevation, clarity. Moving our bodies can bring us out of even the deepest doldrums. My most creative ideas, and solutions to issues I thought I’d never find my way around suddenly materialize in the alert-relaxed state I’m in when I run. I can only imagine what babies are dreaming up as they stretch, twist, pivot, flex their feet and grasp their toes. I know I get a big kick out of watching them. 

Giving our infants a safe environment with opportunities for free, unconfined, and self-directed movement fosters their innate desire to explore, practice and perfect physical skills. They are then naturally geared toward a lifelong inclination to exercise, which (as stacks of research conclude) will lead them to a longer, healthier, (brainier) and happier life. 

So, as babies might all say if they could, “Let’s roll.”

For more about natural gross motor development, please read Don’t Stand Me Up and Set Me Free (No Baby Equipment Needed)

Play time for a young infant may look pretty boring to an untrained adult eye. We feel compelled to entertain a baby (as I did), or believe that she needs to be kept stimulated by continually moving with us through our daily affairs in a carrier or infant seat.  Truthfully, we waste our energy ‘occupying’ a baby’s time. And keeping a baby busy undermines her natural desire to be an initiator of her own activities and absorb the world on her terms. 

Babies are self-learners and what they truly need (and pays enormous developmental benefits, as you’ll see in the video) is the time, freedom and trust to just “be.”  

We forget as adults that every mundane detail of the world is new and stimulating to an infant — every shape, contrast, sound, even the slightest movement is fascinating. Life is a playground.  So, infants are ‘playing’ when they look around, listen, feel and smell the air, when they have the freedom to reach, grasp, twist their bodies, and think…think…think. (Wouldn’t you just love to know what babies are thinking?) 

I first noticed one of my babies ‘playing’ on the changing table when he was nine days old.  As we were finishing his diaper change I saw him gazing at a shadow on the wall, completely absorbed.  I took a deep breath, stopped myself from interrupting…and just waited. When he finally looked up at me two or three minutes later, I asked, “Do you want me to pick you up?” And when his eyes seemed to say “Yes,” I did. 

Respecting these important personal moments when our infant is engaged in thought – and not interrupting – will encourage longer periods of play that can extend to hours as a baby grows, through toddlerhood and beyond. 

A baby is most engaged and learns best when trusted with his own agenda rather than responding to ours. When babies are “writer, director and lead actor” of their playtime, as infant expert Magda Gerber recommended, they develop strong cognitive learning skills and nurture their natural abilities to explore, imagine, and create. 

Our role is to design a safe space with a few simple toys and objects. The sensory delight of the outdoors is always preferable when possible.  We make sure the baby can move freely, first by lying on her back. Then we let go of all expectations (an interesting challenge), and allow our baby to do what she wishes.   

Simple objects that a child can use creatively in multiple ways are best, like balls of all sizes, cotton napkins, large plastic chains or rings, stacking cups, simple baby dolls, etc.  (Please see Creative Toys Engage Babies for a video example.)  As the infant becomes a toddler, puzzles, board books, climbing structures, more complex equipment can be added, always keeping in mind that we want to encourage active learning, child-directed problem solving, and creative experimentation rather than “doing it right.” 

Since a picture is worth a thousand words (and I’m already up to six hundred), on with the video!   

The first section is a four and a half month old boy playing outside. We then see the same boy at two years old focusing on a puzzle.  This boy spent his early years in free exploration between naps, feedings and diaper changes.  He was never directed, taught, or otherwise shown ‘how’ he should play. He was only interrupted when absolutely necessary. 

At eight years old, he continues to be a joyful, independent learner.

For many, many more posts and videos about independent play, please look here. You might also like Up With Boredom on the site Free Range Kids.