July 2018 Blog
Baby Babble
– Baby development 9 months old
Baby is growing – starting to show his or her preferences for toys, people, and food. Crawling on their tummy is still most important at this age – encourage them to get fast at crawling on their tummy. Discourage walking along furniture, walking with mommy’s fingers or spending lots of time in bouncy chairs. Baby can crawl on their tummy across the room as fast as you blink!
This movement helps keep baby’s ears clear and chest clear of congestion so colds don’t settle in. Healthy baby means healthy language development. When baby gets fluid in their little ears it don’t drain well because their estuation tubes are still more horizontal than vertical. This the little passageway from the ear canal to the inner ear and behind the eardrum. Ear fluid makes language sound distorted – as you were listening underwater! Baby has a hard time imitating words that sound garbled.
Keep baby’s ears clear with daily crawling exercise time! A few tools to monitor ear fluid, if it seems to be a problem (when the nose is runny, there is generally ear fluid); You Tube: “Lymph Drainage for the Ears from Louisville Massage Therapist at MassageByHeather.com”.
Play with baby:
~ crawling for toys on tummy
~ with baby on their back, move toys in front of eyes for baby to follow with her eyes
~ give one step directions – clap, wave, touch eyes, touch nose, etc. say it, wait, help baby find/do what you instructed. Clap for them finding what you asked for.
~ discourage rolling, sitting, standing – encourage tummy time!
~ show baby pictures of family members, household objects, and animals. Tell them their names as you show the picture
~ rock, bounce, spin with baby
~ play music of hand songs, nursery rhymes, poems, bouncing songs, folk songs
Sensory Station - Sensory Misconceptions - craving constant motion
Summer is a great time to be outdoors, to enjoy soccer and baseball teams, to have picnics with friends and invite everyone to a game of yard soccer or baseball or ‘kick the can’ or catch. Parents interact with their children in outdoor activities more in the summer and that is very good!
What do you do with the child that is in constant motion and has trouble entertaining himself? Some children rock, jump, play with toys in repetitive ways instead of imaginative ways, pace, talk, or make noise to themselves incessantly. These actions are often driven from an internal drive – and the child can control their actions, but the drive is still there. How can we address the underlying drive?
Metabolic issues are a huge cause of these behaviors. Getting a nutritional program going such as Karen Neilsen has at www.SenseableSupplements.com, helps the body repair itself of gut and intestinal damage. Naturopathic Dr. Shawna at www.Noharmfoundation.org also has great recipes and a six week cleanse if the child has such behaviors that it hinders daily responsibilities.
Rocking can also be a way of seeking visual stimulation. If you can’t see detail in the things around you and everything looks blurry, you crave more visual input than you are receiving. This isn’t a matter of needing glasses, this is a matter of distorted perception of what the child sees – the eyes are okay, they are just needing to improve their detail vision. Wearing pinhole glasses while watching TV for 30 minutes a day, can help this. (see www.littlegiansteps.com store for Pinhole glasses). The child that makes noise constantly could be calmed and find order from playing Mozart music in the background.
These suggestions along with deep pressure on the arms and legs (call or attend a seminar), can help organize the central nervous system so it doesn’t seek these repetitive, constant motion activities. Addressing the whole person is the key.