Baby's First Workout | Medical Watch | WGNTV.com | WGN TV

Baby's First Workout

Wednesday, June 25

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Just a few simple exercises can help motor your baby along.

Susie Hollingsworth, new mom: "During the day, when supervised, I try to put her on her stomach."

That's exactly what physical therapists say new mom Susie Hollingsworth should be doing. Six week old Sydney is already able to lift her head--a good sign that she's building her neck muscles.

"We'll see babies coming in, who at 5 and 6 months who can't tolerate being on their stomach," explains physical therapist and executive director of Pathways Center, Gay Girolami, "can't push up on their elbows, this compromises their later motor skills such as creeping, crawling, pushing up to stand.

"Babies cognitively are developing, they want to explore their environment. But their motor skills aren't keeping up with what their desire is for interaction and activity and often this is frustrating to to them. They become stuck on one position."

That position is often on their backs -- the proper way to sleep. But too much time in strollers, swings and car seats can slow a baby's progress. Therapists at Pathways Center in Glenview developed a little workout for the tiny set:

Step one: On your lap, incorporate tummy time into your baby's daily routine like after a diaper change.

"So here in this positioning over your lap," Girolami explains. "it's a nice way to just have some body on body contact and yet still give him the possibility to put a little weight through his arms, lift his head up."

Step two: Lay the baby down on the floor. Use eye contact and your voice to hold baby's interest.

"We see that all of this work that he's doing with the pushing down on his arms its going to develop the tummy and the trunk muscles," Girolami says.

For older babies, a little airplane ride does the trick.

"You can move from the changing table to the kitchen," Girolami says. "It gives him a different perception of the space around him; it gives him movement through space on his tummy which helps with his vestibular system."