Psychomotor development is one of the first great advances that our baby will have during his first twelve months of life. Also, it is undoubtedly the most notorious, since it involves visible changes and evolutions.
When we talk about the baby’s motor skills, we can refer to two types: the gross and the fine. On this occasion, we will talk about gross motor skills in babies, telling you how it develops and sharing five exercises to stimulate it .
Gross motor skills in the baby
The motor development of the baby is one of the most fascinating advances that we can appreciate from birth, as it shows us how as the days go by, those defenseless babies begin to move with greater security.
Gross motor skills appear before fine motor skills, and is one that refers to changes in body position and the skillful use of the body as a whole , including posture, balance, and mobility.
Gross motor development begins to show itself from the moment the baby begins to hold its head , followed little by little by other important achievements, which follow a pre-established order by the maturation process of the nervous system, which is responsible for development. motor.
Over the months and years, the baby will acquire important motor skills such as kicking, rolling, pushing and waving the arms, which will allow him to reach other milestones in this development, such as sitting without support, crawling and walking, even running , jump and climb stairs when they are older.
Some of the advances in gross motor skills according to the age of the baby are the following:
From zero to four months, the baby will be able to: lift his head, kick and keep his hands open. From four to eight months, he keeps his head and chest raised, rolls on his belly and remains in a supine position, he is able to put objects in his mouth and put his hands together.
From eight to twelve months, he is able to sit up unaided, stands up with support, and begins the crawling process: he crawls and glides on the ground as he learns to avoid obstacles, which is a great advance for his autonomy. He can also already lie on his stomach by changing position when on his back and deliberately dropping objects to catch others.
Exercises to stimulate gross motor skills
The aforementioned skills are usually acquired by the baby naturally as he grows, but we can also always get involved to help him achieve certain movements or teach him others , through early stimulation exercises.
These are five exercises to stimulate gross motor skills that you can easily do at home with your baby:
Leg stretches
Lying on your back, grab your baby’s legs or soles and gently bring his knees to his chest . Repeat 5 times with each leg and with both, and gradually increase the frequency. This exercise will help you gain mobility and awaken your first stimuli.
Stretching of arms and clapping
For his arms, having your baby lying on his back you can start by gently stretching to the sides and up. Later, once he is three months old, we can start doing the fun exercise of clapping or patting with his hands .
Lying face down
To sleep, the baby should always do it on his back, but during the day it is important and beneficial that he spend time on his stomach, since this position helps him to strengthen the back and neck muscles , and also allows him to be able to support his head with regarding gravity.
To make it more entertaining for him and help him lift his head, you can try showing him various objects such as toys or balls that catch his attention.
Strengthening yourself for crawling
From six months, with your baby lying on his stomach, place him in a crawl position and pass a scarf or a sheet under his belly holding it with your hands, or, gently hold him directly with your hands.
This will help him keep his balance and give him security until he learns to do it alone. From the age of nine months, you can start playing at making the wheelbarrow, holding his torso and letting him walk with his hands.
Turn from face up to face down
Around six months, your baby will begin to try to turn on his side , so we will need to be close to help him do it. Around the eighth month, babies do this naturally when playing or changing positions.
We can start to help him from before six months by laying him on his back and bending one leg while we extend the other, helping him to turn to the side of the extended leg. Later we repeat with the opposite leg. After six months, we can roll it on the bed or a rug from one side to the other.
As we can see, these exercises seem simple, but in reality they are important because they constitute the basis of the development of gross motor skills , and with these, your baby will be able to achieve great achievements such as sitting alone or his first steps, in a simpler and well prepared way. .
Photos | iStock
In Babies and more | Psychomotor development in babies and children: motor skills from zero to six years, Early stimulation exercises to do with your baby from 0 to 6 months, Early stimulation exercises for your baby from 6 to 12 months
