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Laugh & Learn™ Little Helpers
Two fun toys that help baby learn through play.
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Articles 12-36 months
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We’re Moving Now!
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We’re Moving Now!
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Your budding toddler has already taken many developmental steps on the winding road toward childhood. Here’s what to expect now that your child is getting up and motoring around with your help – and without it!
Making a first step may be the most exciting and anticipated moment in your young child’s life, both for baby and for you. After all, seeing your little one go from dependent infant in a crib, unable to do anything without your help, to a walking, talking toddler – well, that is quite a leap for any parent to witness. And in terms of your baby’s sense of self and of the world, first steps mean that one-on-one interaction can now take place between your child and individuals, objects both near and far, and the world outside. An independent mindset will start to emerge now that your child is on equal footing, so to speak, with the rest of us.
But like so many parenting milestones, this is one you should not count on to occur at any particular moment. Some Moms are disappointed when their babies don’t meet the recommended guidelines for crawling, cruising, or walking, but these guidelines are just that – rough ideas of when the average baby begins certain behaviours. (See chart, “What Happens When,” page 8.) Other Moms may be surprised when their children begin cruising, for instance, way ahead of the average; this too can be a challenge, since a baby’s sudden mobility means that Mom and Dad have to be much more careful about child-proofing their home and baby’s other environments. Before there’s walking, of course, there are those other older-baby and early-toddler movements: crawling and cruising. Here are details on what to expect from each, and how to encourage even greater mobility.
Crawling
Learning to move from one place to another is a huge achievement for your baby, and one that will give your little one a whole new perspective on the world. How this locomotion is achieved will vary from baby to baby, and situation to situation. Some crawl on all fours, others creep by wriggling on their stomachs, others roll their way from one place to another. Some even push themselves backwards, which can be very frustrating for them.
Learning to crawl comes right after babies learn to sit on their own. The two developments may seem to have a lot in common, except that your baby will be slower to perfect crawling than sitting – sometimes babies can sit alone for just a second but cannot balance on their own; others can get into a crawling position but cannot progress further than that. Even though most parents think of sitting as an easy position for children, it actually does take some time to master it.
Although we think of crawling across a room on hands and knees as progress, many babies use other manoeuvres before or instead of a conventional crawl. Early mobility may come from rolling over and over again in the intended direction, with a slither to take baby the last few feet to the goal. A slippery floor may help baby get around when pulling along on elbows, with legs straight out behind. And babies who learn to sit early sometimes use a “bottom shuffle” instead of a crawl to get around – baby pushes along on baby’s bottom, using one hand to propel. (This not only saves the effort of going from a sitting position to a crawling one [and then back again], but baby also can keep one hand free while moving.) Bottom-shuffling babies often leave out conventional crawling and go straight to pulling themselves up to a standing position and cruising. And some babies learn to crawl in the usual way, but then discover that they can move faster on hands and feet than they can on hands and knees.
For most babies, though, crawling will follow a typical pattern. If something your pre-crawling baby wants is just out of reach, you will see baby pull knees up under stomach, push up on hands and maybe even get that tummy off the floor. For that moment, baby is in true crawling position, but unable to go anywhere. This stage can be confusing for babies, because it is very clear that they want to crawl. Over the next few months, baby will move back and forth and in all sorts of directions – yes, even backwards. That’s because upper-body control develops before control of the legs, so a quick burst of energy will concentrate itself in baby’s arms, pushing baby in the opposite direction.
If you want to encourage your baby to crawl, try offering a favourite rolling toy; baby can lean on the toy while crawling, and it will roll along with baby. Another tip: Stand (or sit) just out of reach with any desired object, and patiently wait for baby to come to you. If baby tries for a bit and just can’t crawl towards you, be sure to hand the object to baby with words of praise – this means that your baby just isn’t quite ready for crawling.
Cruising
While babies can often stand on a surface, such as a lap, for a few moments when they’re only six months old, true standing won’t come until later. It’s not until around 10 months that babies will start to bear their full weight; this can’t happen until baby’s muscle control has moved downward in the direction of knees and feet. Babies can now stand squarely on flat feet, keeping knees braced, though still sagging forward a bit at hip level. Babies at this point also start to imagine themselves propelled forward – a first, since most babies until then are unaware of how to move towards a desired location.
At 10 months, baby begins to get the idea of using two feet to go forward, placing one foot in front of the other. But while baby can stand at this point, balancing ability is still uncertain. Another problem: once babies can stand up, they sometimes don’t know how to sit down again. As soon as baby reaches a standing position while holding onto a support, you may find your little one crying for help, because letting go of the support and flopping back down seems too difficult or frightening. You should come to the rescue, but perhaps not every time. Soon enough, with your encouragement but not your direct help, your baby will learn how to sit back down. Or you can demonstrate the feeling, by slowly lowering baby down to the floor, instead of picking baby up and putting him/her down elsewhere.
Within a few weeks of pulling up to a standing position, your baby will learn the assisted walking called “cruising.” Baby pulls up as usual, standing facing the back of a sofa or crib bars. Gradually, baby inches both hands together along the support and then follows them by stepping sideways with one foot. Left standing alone, baby will usually sit down, looking surprised by this achievement. That little shuffle, technically speaking, was baby’s first step.
As long as babies feel that they need to cling to their supports, they will have to move those hands together. But practice makes perfect; within a few days or weeks of that first shuffle, babies will have become convinced that their legs can bear their whole weight. Babies then stand further back from their supports, and pass themselves hand-over-hand along it. Every time they move their hands, they move their leading foot one step sideways, and then bring the other foot up to join it. If you watch your baby carefully, you can see that it is the moment when just one foot is actually moving – leaving all baby’s weight on the other foot – which is still worrisome to baby. But don’t you worry, too: in a short time, baby will only be using a support for balancing purposes, not to help hold up weight. And remember: Babies will use almost anything available to pull themselves up to a standing position, so make sure that whatever they try is safe and appropriate (a very light stool, for instance, could fall on baby).
Go at your baby’s pace when it comes to encouraging cruising; if you push baby too far, you may inadvertently end up causing falls, which could scare your little one out of the walking game. In the end, over-stressing early walking could instead mean that your child develops at a later stage than originally intended. In fact, a large number of children do not stand at all in their first year.
Walking
And now, Moms and Dads, we hit the big time: Your baby’s first true steps without (too much of) your help. And while crawling and cruising have certainly prepared you for this eventual development, it may still come as something of a shock. After all, now that your baby can actually walk, your actions as a parent will subtly change. You are officially no longer the Mom to a newborn, an infant, or even a baby – you now have a growing toddler on your hands. Congratulations!
So how does all of this happen? First, your baby demonstrates an ability to do a “confident” cruise, using a support as just a balancing tool. By the end of this phase baby is moving hands and feet in rhythm, so that at critical moments baby is relying only on one foot and one hand for support (the other member of each pair being in motion). The next phase gives baby an increased range of mobility because baby is learning to cross small gaps between one support and the next. If your furniture is set up in a convenient way, baby will now be able to get around the room, moving along from one chair to another, from the sofa to the coffee table. Baby will cross any gap that can be spanned by two baby arms, but will not release one hand until the other has first caught hold of something.
And now, the final phase: your child’s first unsupported step. What will happen is this: Your baby will confront a gap between supports that’s just too big to manage. First, baby will hold onto the first support (Daddy’s hands, for instance), then move baby’s feet out into the centre of the gap. Then baby will release the support, and make an awkward single step to grab onto the second support (Mom’s loving arms). Your baby did it! Now, baby can stand alone unsupported – if even for a second. You know it won’t be long before your little performer is twirling around the kitchen.
Helpful Encouragement
The best way to gently prod your baby to take the next step is to practice. Your baby has already accomplished something, whether it’s crawling, cruising, or walking. If your baby is crawling, encourage mastery of that step. Get down on the floor and tempt baby with a favourite toy, getting baby to crawl first this way, then that, forwards and backwards. Same goes for an active cruiser, or a beginning walker. Once baby has perfected one phase, your child’s natural inclination will be to move on to the next. And instead of pushing your child, you will embody the best sort of encouragement any parent can: making the next step seem like one taken all on baby’s own.
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