In my opinion, as a Pediatric Physical Therapist, there is a best way to pick up baby. As seen in the video, when you roll baby to her side and pick her up from there, you are helping her strengthen the muscles on the side of her body, the side of the neck, the side of the trunk and she is learning to push through the bottom arm, strengthening the shoulder and arm muscles.

One of the primary movement problems that children have now is that they move primarily in one plane, the front and back plane (saggital plane). Babies and children have difficulties with side to side muscle movement and rotational movement. This simple exercise, done every time you pick up baby, helps baby to strengthen the muscles on her side, making her neck, trunk and arms stronger.

Here are the steps:
. Every time you pick up baby place your hands on the side of her trunk
. Roll baby to her side
. Gently press your top hand down toward the ground as you lift the bottom hand up lifting the baby
. As the baby gets stronger, she will help you more and more, first with her head, then trunk, then arms. Be sure to wait and allow the baby time to activate her muscles
. Next time you pick up baby, do the other side

You can start this as soon as you are comfortable controlling your baby’s head, some people are comfortable at 2 weeks, others at 6 weeks. The younger the baby is, the higher your hands on her trunk. If your baby is older, it is never too late to start!

For more developmental ideas for your little one, like this page and check out babiesfirstfitness.com.

If it is too difficult for your child to lift his arms off the ground when you do this activity, place him in a boppy pillow laying under the play gym, this will make it easier for him to lift his arms and contact the links.

When is the best time to start this activity? You can start a few weeks after baby’s birth, when he is alert enough for some play time!

For more suggestions on promoting gross motor skills for your little one, like this page and check out Babies First Fitness on Facebook.

In this video I start getting the little one comfortable sitting on the ball with a song. We follow that with play using both hands with a ball. I work in moving up down and rotating. The trick to getting a child to use both hands is providing a little resistance to the object so that they bring the other hand to help! We then work with a puzzle reaching in all directions.

This little one loved it and wanted more!

Have fun with your little one today and have purposeful play!

For more information on exercises to progress your babies and toddlers like this page and check out Babies First Fitness on Facebook.

There are so many ways to modify this activity and to make it fun for your entire family.
. Place objects around the house and have the kids push a laundry basket around to pick the objects up.
. Play choo-choo with your kids and have children push each other in those large Amazon boxes that all the holiday gifts arrive in!
. For more core work, push diaper wipes containers or wrapped diapers around and knock down a stack of blocks or cups.

The trick with this activity is that pushing a box or a laundry basket has more surface area and therefore is harder to push than something with wheels, make it harder for the older kids and a just right challenge for the toddlers.

Enjoy this great activity and tire those kids out indoors!

For more suggestions on promoting gross motor skills for your little one, like babiesfirstfitness.com. and check out Babies First Fitness on Facebook.

This activity strengthens the arms and trunk. It also strengthens the hips and legs if you are holding a bit lower. Here are the steps:

– Grab a motivator, sometimes I use a stuffed animal and throw it up the stairs, other times I specifically place puzzle pieces in the stairs so we go up a few stairs at a time
– Place child’s hands on the stair
– Hold child by the pelvis
– Encourage child to go up the stairs to a puzzle piece or stuffed animal 5-12 steps away depending on your child’s strength.
– To make it easier for the child, hold child at the pelvis.
– To make it harder for the child, hold child below the pelvis

Your child can be ready for this activity anywhere between 18-24 months old and up. A good rule of thumb is if your child can walk in his or her hands on the floor while you hold their pelvis for 10 steps this is something you can start. Just be aware of your child collapsing their arms, we would not want him to hurt his face!

Enjoy this activity to wear your little ones out during crazy cooped up days! For more information on how to exercise your little one, like this page and check babies first fitness on Facebook.