I was honored to be the featured blogger on my friend’s blog “No One Asked me but . . .” Tracy Wannamacher is an amazing speech language pathologist that I work with.  If you have a moment check out my post and also sign up for her blog to get her great information right to your inbox!

The week that I wrote the post, I had been talking to a lot of families about not holding their kid’s hands, allowing kids to fall . . . and the post explains why . . .

Click here to check out My Blog Post at No One Asked Me BUT . . .

Have you been concerned about your infant’s development?  I recently updated my Slideshare presentation which has been viewed over 119,000 times.  This presentation includes practical exercises to help your infant attain the next milestone.  Take a look and let me know what you think!

How to help infants attain gross motor skills: Practical Ideas for caregivers of infants 0-12 months old from Julie Wattenberg, PT, MPT, DPT

Click link above for a Power Point: How to help infants attain gross motor skills: Practical ideas for caregivers of infants 0-12 months old

Toddler Time: Whole Body Strengthening

Did you know that toddlers love to exercise? Did you know that when you exercise with your toddler, they love it even more? As a Pediatric Physical Therapist, I know toddlers love to exercise because I work with enthusiastic toddlers 8-10 hours per day who want to move whether it is easy for them or not!

Today I am sharing a whole body strengthening activity for you and your toddler to do together. It will strengthen their shoulders, arms, hands, trunk, lateral (side) hips, back hips, lengthen hamstring, strengthen core… Got it … The whole body!

Sitting is a huge milestone for babies and parents.  It is a sign that your baby is becoming more independent and often can entertain himself for a longer period of time.  Typically, sitting occurs around 6-9 months in development.

Most parents would agree that sitting is a really important skill.  Once a child can sit, they are on the right track to progress their development right?  Not necessarily.  Sitting is a very important skill, but many times families work on sitting too much and miss the important pieces that lead up to sitting which include transition skills, such as rolling from back to stomach and stomach to back, transitioning from sitting to the floor and transitioning from the floor to sitting.  Further, once children learn to sit many families no longer place their child in other positions besides sitting.  This limits the child’s ability to work on their transition skills (rolling, moving in and out of sitting) because they do not have a strong desire to move out of sitting.  I often have done evaluations of children who sat at 6 months, but did not progress beyond sitting because they did not have the foundational skills necessary to progress their gross motor skills.  In my opinion, as a pediatric physical therapist, if a child is not sitting independently at six months old, but is rolling around the room, pulling themselves forward on his or her bally and/or pushing themselves backwards, I am happy.  My goal is always to get a child to move about his environment independently so that he can learn from his environment.  I want the child to be able to get the toy that is just out of reach, not play only with a toy that is handed to him or her.  THIS is how a baby learns.  As a pediatric physical therapist, I want kids to get into “trouble” by getting caught with her legs under the couch because she pushed herself backwards!

The purpose of this post, as with all of my posts, is to provide you with ACTION steps that you can take to progress your baby beyond sitting . . . exercises that you can do today to progress your baby’s gross motor skills and allow your child to learn from his or her environment.  Whether you are worried about your baby’s development or not, these activities will help you to progress your baby’s skills and will help your baby to develop smooth, coordinated movement.

Activity 1:Transition to sitting

If you have not started yet, click here to check out my blog post, Baby Time: Is there a best way to pick up baby?

Using this method to pick up your baby will strengthen his or her lateral (side) trunk and neck muscles as well as arm and hip muscles necessary to teach your child to how to transition from the floor to sitting on her own.  As your baby gets older and stronger, she will start doing more of the work and you will do less of the work!

Activity 2: Toy Placement to the SIDE not in front

When your baby is sitting, it is tempting to place his toys right in front of him so they are within reach.  However, when you do this, your child is just moving in the front and back plane, not strengthening the muscles side to side.  Therefore, making a very simple change, by placing toys to the side of the baby helps the baby learn to shift his weight side to side and strengthens the muscles of the trunk and hips aiding the baby in learning transitions between movements.

Place toy to the side just out of reach.

Baby gets the toy and sits up on his own. Early on put toy closer, later as your baby gets stronger, put toy farther away.

Activity 3: Don’t put your baby in sitting all the time!

It is so tempting to put your baby in sitting all the time once she learns how to sit.  However, it is very important that you still put your baby on her tummy so that she can practice reaching, rolling and weight shifting in preparation for crawling.  I have a rule that I created for infants called the TBS rule, click here to check out this blog post about the TBS rule, What is a baby container . . . and why is it bad?  Once a baby learns how to sit, you can still apply the TBS rule, except replace the swing/seat with sitting.  The goal is to allow your baby to move around before you place him or her in a static position.

Adding these simple changes can help your baby improve her movement patterns BEYOND sitting!

For more developmental exercises for your little ones, like babiesfirstfitness.com and find us on Facebook!

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Why does my baby tilt her head to the same side all the time?

There are a few possibilities for why babies might have a preference for head tilt to one side.

• The way the baby was positioned in utero. The baby may have been cramped in the same position for a long time.  This is often the case with multiples.  If this happens, the baby’s neck muscle can become shortened and the baby will end up with a preference for tilting his head to one side after birth. If the baby is cramped the baby’s head can also develop a flat spot according to the forces that are on it, therefore the baby’s head is flat on one side from the position in utero and the baby rotates head to the flat spot after birth.
• The way the baby prefers to lay after birth. Babies do not have the strength to hold their head in the middle after birth, depending on how the baby is positioned, he may have a preference to hold his head to one side in the bassinette or the bouncy seat.  If the baby does this to the same side all the time, then the baby’s muscles will become tight and result in asymmetrical head position.  Check out the blog post Take Caution with Elevated Sleeping for Baby on at www.babiesfirstfitness.com.
• True Torticollis. A true torticollis is when a baby has a fast delivery or is pulled out quickly.  The Sternocleidomastoid muscle of the neck has some trauma and as a result shortens causing the baby to tilt their head to one side and rotate their head to the opposite side.

Whatever the reason for the tilt is, it is important that you see a pediatric physical therapist to determine your child’s exact range of motion limitations, movement preferences and strength limitations as head tilt not only affects the head position, but affects development of the arms, legs and trunk as well. While you are waiting for your appointment with your Physical Therapist, you can try some of these suggestions based on your own observations.

My goal at www.babiesfirstfitness.com is to provide EVERYONE with exercises they can do NOW with their babies.  Therefore, I created this chart that you can start to use now while you are waiting for your evaluation or if your doctor has asked you to wait until the next visit to determine if your baby needs therapy.  The purpose of this chart is not to avoid physical therapy but rather to get a head start on what they might tell you at your first visit.

I have created a free printable chart for parents and professionals to guide you to activities you can do TODAY to help your baby progress her skills and prevent progression of the head tilt or head rotation preference.  Click on the link below to get your chart!

Click here for your free printable handout

Check out www.babiesfirstfitness.com and like Babies First Fitness on Facebook for more information on activities you can do today with your babies and toddlers to progress their development.

Check out this free printable created by Babies First Fitness showing the progression of higher level gross motor skills in the Early Childhood population 3-5 year olds.

Progression of Early Childhood Skills – chart

If you notice that your child is lacking in any of these skills, check out babiesfirstfitness.com and like the page for continuously updated ideas on how you can improve your toddler’s strength and agility!  Also, please check out and like Babies First Fitness on Facebook!