Best possible support of baby's motor development (with a word about sensory dysregulation): NDC evolutionary bodywork
This article is part of a collection inside The Possums Sleep Program called Deeper Dive, which explores the more complex scientific, historical and social contexts in which families and their babies or toddlers live and sleep. You don't need to read Deeper Dive articles to be helped by The Possums Sleep Program.
| Step # | NDC or Possums evolutionary bodywork strategies for best possible support of your baby's motor development (0-12 months)* | Why this matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Experiment to keep your baby as dialled down as sensibly possible | Dialled down babies learn best, including about how to respond to their environment and move in it. (Not that we can always dial babies down, of course, but we do what we can). Experimenting between your two 'superpowers' (listed here as Steps 2 and 3) is the best way to keep your baby dialled down in the first months of life. |
| 2. | Postural alignment in fit and hold while breastfeeding (or similar if using the bottle); frequent flexible feeds | The gestalt method of fitting your breastfeeding baby into your body keeps your little one's head, spine, shoulder girdle and pelvis aligned as he sucks and swallows. This means that the complex movement patterns of feeding coordinate symmetrically throughout baby's neck and trunk. Feeds are a big part of your baby's motor development. You can find out more in the Breastfeeding pages of The Possums Sleep Program, starting here. You can find out about paced bottle feeding, which is the best way to use the bottle for your baby's motor development (0-5 months), here. |
| 3. | Rich and diverse sensory motor nourishment | Rich and diverse sensory motor nourishment, or rich environmental experiences, are most easily achieved by having lots of experiences outside the home (typically from after your baby is about two weeks old). In addition to rich sensory stimulation across the senses of sight, smell, taste and hearing, which stimulate movement responses, your baby's healthy motor development needs Steps 4-6 below, which are really just other aspects of sensory motor nourishment. |
| 4. | Abundant opportunities for physical contact with loving adults or responsible siblings when your baby is awake | This allows his spontaneous movements to trigger diverse sensory feedback. Sensory feedback is much reduced when your baby generates spontaneous movements lying awake on a surface. Carrying your baby over your forearm or wearing your baby in a carrying device are two ways of making physical contact easier. |
| 5. | Abundant opportunities for position change in space relative to gravity | Your baby develops the capacity to make anti-gravity movements by directly experiencing the forces of gravity. Position change triggers postural adjustments - including when your baby's awake and lying on her tummy. Postural adjustments happen constantly when your baby is in someone's arms or in a baby carrier, so that carrying is a very rich source of motor and nervous system nourishment compared to lying awake on a surface. Our babies may be exposed to less sensory motor stimulation than they need because we've been told we need to protect their heads and necks from movement. Whilst we do need to protect their necks, it may also be important not to over-protect them from movement experiences of the head very gently rolling in relation to gravity, since this helps them develop head control. |
| 6. | Abundant opportunities for social interaction and eye contact with you and other loving adults and children | Interaction motivates your baby to communicate using variable movements of his facial muscles, neck and trunk muscles, and limbs. Eye contact with you, tracking your facial expressions, sounds and movement, is another very rich source of whole-body motor nourishment for your baby, because babies use multiple sets of muscles to shift their gaze. Social interaction is an activity which activates the whole of your baby's motor system. Focussing your attention together on something interesting has a similar effect. |
| 7. | Pay extra attention if your baby doesn't cue very much | Babies who don't cue very much need you to pay special attention to their communications, which protects their motor development. If this is your little one, please read here. |
| 8. | Avoid using baby walkers, exercise jumpers, and baby sitting devices | These devices can seem to entertain your baby, but unfortunately set up movement patterns which can hold back your baby's motor development. |
A word about sensory dysregulation
Applying the Possums or NDC lenses, It is reasonable to think that long periods in relatively low sensory environments, with not enough sensory motor enrichment from the environment, particularly in the first exquisitely neuroplastic 100 days of life, might increase the risk of sensory dysregulations down the track in more genetically susceptible children. This has not been investigated.
Acknowledgements
*I gratefully acknowledge Isabelle Coffey RN IBCLC, experienced NDC Practitioner, for pointing out that these eight steps for the best possible support of motor development are in fact the most powerful and holistic form of bodywork parents can offer their babies, and for coining the phrase evolutionary bodywork.
Recommended resources
What is sensory motor nourishment and why does it help with baby sleep?
Filling your baby's sensory tank
Why baby wearing makes life easier (not harder)
What your baby needs for best possible motor development
The NDC evolutionary perspective on positional plagiocephaly, motor development and sleep
About positional plagiocephaly and motor development
Selected references
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