On the long list of achievements and important milestones in a child’s life are a baby’s first steps. After months of preparation and practice, the baby will feel ready and will stop holding onto the furniture, learning to walk and, before you know it, running around the house. From birth, the baby is constantly developing motor coordination. Each month brings a new discovery, a new step, and a new lesson. Every detail plays a crucial role in the child’s maturity, which will need to be refined daily. In the beginning, they crawl in a funny way, and as their leg muscles strengthen, they start to crawl.
By crawling, they can reach previously unexplored places and find it easier this way to hold onto sofas, beds, and pull themselves up. They will move all around holding on to things, and this helps them gradually establish balance. This moment is usually highly anticipated by parents and grandparents, but often the stimulus the family gives ends up being excessive, which can cause insecurity and even lead to serious problems in the child’s bone structure, in addition to leg injuries that can affect the spine. The first steps will happen at the right time and only when the baby feels safe and confident. Some healthy encouragement is welcome so that the baby feels more and more firmness in their legs, which will help improve balance when they are ready.
How to Encourage and Help Your Baby Walk
The use of baby walkers, which used to be given to babies from 8 months old to give them more freedom, is now banned and prohibited for use. Studies have shown that baby walkers damage the upper leg muscles and interfere with the ability to balance, as well as teaching the baby to walk incorrectly, on tiptoe. Healthy stimulation can even happen during playtime. Babies often imitate their parents’ actions, and squatting and standing up during play is a way of teaching and strengthening the muscles in their legs. Another very common activity that they love is pushing toys, whether it’s a toy shopping cart or even a chair. But this type of stimulus should be supervised by an adult since the risk of falling and getting hurt is higher.
Moms usually love to buy shoes of all different styles, colors, and soles, but what many don’t know is that babies at this stage also need to go barefoot to improve their awareness of where they are stepping and to feel the ground, which is impossible while wearing shoes. With bare feet, the baby is more secure and can sense where they are stepping. Another important point is not to prevent the baby from falling when they lose their balance. Falls help them develop, as it is through falling that they learn how to get up and balance themselves again. And the best encouragement of all—call your baby and have them come to you. Toys in hand can capture their attention so they come looking for them; at first, they might crawl, but over time they become more confident and will let go when it’s the right time.
Also read: Speech Development in Babies and Children
Photo: sean dreilinger, Nathan LeClair
