Helping Baby Reach Milestones

One of the biggest benefits of being able to be a stay at home Mom is getting to spend precious moments with my baby girl, lots of snuggle time, and to watch every little milestone. If your anything like me, your proud of everything your baby does, even proud of their first yellow seedy diaper lol. The milestones are something to encourage your baby to reach, whether it be holding their head up or rolling over. This is where you come in. Not only is it very important to engage in your baby but it is also important to teach them how to use their muscles. At 1 month old, I began working with my princess on learning her muscles and now at 10 weeks old she is past the milestones for her age group. I started teaching her how to use her muscles by making it fun, and giving mommy a little more resting time, in the mornings when she'd wake up for her 6am feeding(this is when she is most alert), I would feed her, burp her very well, then place her on her belly on my belly. This not only gives you a little more time to kick back in bed( after a sleepless night) but it also encourages the baby to use her neck muscles to hold her head up to look at you, help your baby to want to engage with you by talking, singing and smiling. (They learn their expressions from you, so if you want your heart to just melt in a couple weeks, just keep smiling!) After I do this with her for about 15 minutes, I sit up and lean her against my knees while they're upright, this way your face to face with baby and shes supported by your legs. Now i hold onto her fore arms and slowly bring her arms towards me, this makes her learn how to keep her arms tight to pull the rest of her body up while also teaching her how to hold her head up while moving. (I also do that for about 15 minutes). In the evening around 4 is the next time she's really alert and ready to learn. Which is perfect cause i pop dinner in the oven then lay down a blanket on the floor and we play some more. First I put a rolled up swaddle blanket under her arms and lay her on her tummy, this encourages her to push her legs (preparing their crawling muscles) and the swaddle will help them roll forward, since they don't yet have the strength to push up their upper body. She normally gets a little frustrated with this one cause she cant figure out how to move her upper body yet. I let her work at it a little past her comfort zone so she learns to keep trying. After this I sit her up legs in front of her, hiney on the ground, and I simply just keep her balanced, she will use her core muscles to hold her upper body up and hold her head straight by using her neck muscles.(this is her favorite one cause she likes to look around) plus by the end of her "little work out" she's tired enough to eat and go to sleep all before I pull dinner out of the oven. I strongly encourage working with your child each day to help them reach milestones, not only does it help your child advance but it also gives you Mommy baby time, and there's nothing much better than that!