Let's Play Footsie

Babies are fascinated with their toes and feet. A game of "This Little Piggy" or "Twinkle Toes" often elicits smiles, coos and laughter. Playing footsie games can be great skill builders as your infant learns to master his lower body motor skills in preparation for crawling and walking. Physical development in infants follows a sequence from head to toe. Whether your infant is creeping, crawling, or pulling to stand, there are fun activities you can do to help him build the balance and coordination and strength to make those first baby steps.

Typically, a baby can stand alone by 12 months and has started to walk between 12 to 14 months. By a year and a half, a toddler can kick a ball and by two years of age, he can throw a ball overhand. To encourage your infant to walk, try holding his torso, rather than the arms or legs for support. Every skill a baby learns in his first year of life lays the foundation for a more complex skill set, which

means babies are learning to walk from birth. Each milestone they master is a baby step towards their first steps. For that reason, the focus of this newsletter is "Let's Play Footsie". It features several activities to get baby's legs and feet moving no matter what developmental stage he or she is at.

For newborn to six month old babies:

Diapersize: Place a folded blanket on your baby's changing table and place baby on her back with her head and shoulders forward. Keep baby's head centered and lift then bend each leg separately and slowly while diapering giving baby the sensation of having one leg bent and the other straightened in preparation for walking. Remember to keep the head in the middle of the body and chin tucked and head forward.

Twinkle Toes: Place baby on the floor or your lap with a small pillow behind his head and lift his legs together so that he can touch his toes. Hold his legs there and play "This Little Piggie" providing less support as he learns to grasp his legs on his own. You can also encourage baby to play with one foot at a time making sure you bend the knee of the leg remaining on the floor so that he feels his heel touch the floor. Make sure his head stays centered as he plays with each foot and be sure to repeat the exercise for each leg.

For babies six to nine months:

Creep and Crawl: This exercise will help strengthen your baby's muscles for crawling. Lay baby on her tummy with her hands and arms supporting her upper body and place your hands at her feet and a toy in front of her. Let your baby push her feet into your hands as she inches forward to get the toy, then move your hands up so that she can push off again.

Wheels on the Bus: Every parent knows this little ditty-Wheels on the Bus. Lay your baby on his back and as you sing the lyrics, move his legs to "Wheels on the Bus go round and round". Then move his arms up and down as you sing "The people on the bus go up and down". Then move your baby from side to side as you sing "The wipers on the bus go back and forth" and finally touch your baby's nose as you sing "The horn on the bus goes beep beep beep".

Nine Months to One Year:
By this age, your baby is beginning to cruise, climb and walk so why not play a game of chase or hide and seek around the house.

Tummy Time Tip: Babies should get daily tummy time to strengthen their neck and back muscles and work on body alignment. To encourage tummy time, place your baby on his tummy on a mat on the floor. This daily floor time gives your infant the space and opportunity to play freely in a safe environment encouraging motor skill development. Why not get down on his level and play along. Child development experts recommend that babies should spend at least half of their waking time on the floor. This can be achieved with 20 minutes of floor time daily three times a day. During floor time, give baby equal time on his back and his tummy. Here are a few tummy time activities you can incorporate into your daily playtime.

For newborn to six month old babies:

Lap Lay: Place your baby on his tummy across your lap and keep his elbows and arms in front of his shoulders. Next, slightly raise your knee so that baby is at an incline and support baby by pushing down gently on his back and bottom. Encourage baby to keep his head centered for this exercise.

For babies six to nine months:

Tummy Tilt: Lay down on the floor and place baby on your chest tummy side down. Holding his hands in front of his shoulders now sway slightly from side to side encouraging baby to keep his head centered. Be sure and make this fun by singing songs and making silly faces at baby to keep him interested.

Extra Extra Read All About US!

Wee Exercise was recently featured in the American Association of Occupational Therapists Magazine, Advance. The article is entitled, "Building Baby's Brain with Exercise," and examined the importance of early sensory motor experiences in development as well as our work with babies.

The article was also featured on the website Moms on the Move. Click here to read it http://www.momsonthemove.tv/Articles/BuildingBabysBrain.htm

Wee Exercise Premieres on Cable TV Channel

Coming to cable TV in October, Wee Exercise will premiere on the cable TV network Alpha Mom to ten million homes. Digital cable subscribers will be able to view short Wee Exercise workouts through video on demand. Alpha Mom network will offer a series of 15-minute Wee Exercise workout programs along with a line up of pregnancy, parenting, infant, toddler, and school age children programming. For more information consult www.alphamom.com.

News from the Home front: It's a Boy for Wee Exercise Co-Creator Karen LeBlanc who has started her newborn son Sebastian Claude Ulibarri on the Wee Exercise program. He was born on September 3rd during Florida's Hurricane Frances and joins big sister Alexis in the family brood.

Wee Exercise Announces Monthly Baby Contest

Due to the overwhelming response to our Cover Baby of the Quarter contest, Wee Exercise has decided to pick a monthly winner to feature on our homepage. Each Cover Baby of the Month also wins a Wee Buck Coupon good for five dollars off any Wee Exercise purchase. And remember, all baby photos submitted are posted in our Wee Exercise baby album so keep sending in your adorable photos and we will post them on our website. Click here to see the latest additions to the Wee Exercise Baby Album.

Baby Bylines:
Here's what's making news in infant development

Rock A Bye Baby Massage:
A recent study suggests that you may be able to massage your baby to sleep. Researchers say that nighttime massage may help cue an infants' developing circadian system which regulates the night and day cycle. According to a study done by Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa in Israel, by the age of 12 weeks, infants who were given a 30-minute massage at bedtime had higher nighttime melatonin production. Melatonin is a sleep-regulating hormone secreted by the pineal gland at night. The study found that peak activity for infants who did not get the bedtime massage were most active around midnight as opposed to massaged infants who had their peak activity in the morning hours. In addition, the infants in the massage group were active during the afternoon, while the non-massaged group showed activity around the noon hour and slept during the afternoon.

Baby Walkers May Delay Milestones:
A new study by researchers at the University College of Dublin concludes that baby walkers may delay milestones such as crawling, standing alone and walking. In a study of 190 infants, researchers found that those who used walkers were slower to crawl, stand and walk than babies who did not use walkers. Baby walkers have been linked to serious injury, prompting the American Academy of Pediatrics to call for a ban on infant walkers in the U.S.

Wee Exercise Launches New Product:

Introducing Tummy Time Sensory Mat

Baby's sense of touch teaches him much about the world. Our mantra has always been the importance of sensory motor input in the developing brain of an infant. Babies learn to think with their bodies. Because every infant is an active learner, parents have a tremendous opportunity in baby's first year of life to wire the brain for higher learning through the experiences we give baby. As we stimulate baby's senses and encourage him to move, we foster the development of brain synapses that lay the foundation for more complex learning. A baby's developing sense of touch does much to wire the brain, which is why Wee Exercise is launching a new product in December that combines two important elements of development, tummy time and sensory input. Wee Exercise is proud to introduce it's new Tummy Time Sensory Mat, which incorporates the popular tummy time roll as an attachable accessory to a multi-textured play mat created from panels of various textured fabric. The Tummy Time Sensory Mat keeps baby engaged on his tummy while enabling him to explore different types of textures from soft fuzzy fur to bumpy lumpy corduroy. The product will go on sale in December on our website. If you are interested in pre-ordering, send us an e-mail to karen@weeexercise.com for more information.

Wee Exercise is a multi-award winning video series designed to enhance your baby's skills. All exercises are safe and age appropriate, designed by a Pediatric Occupational Therapist. Parents can use the activities as part of playtime together to promote social and play skills, visual and spatial perception, thinking and memory skills, body awareness, balance, strength and coordination. For more information on our products consult our website at www.weeexercise.com.

Print out and mail in your Wee Bucks Coupon (sales items not included) good for three dollars off of your next Wee Exercise purchase with your order. Mail in order forms can be found on-line by clicking here. Or you can call in your order by credit card over the phone and mention the Wee Bucks coupon for the discount. For phone orders by credit card call 985-580-1749.

Click here to print your Wee Bucks!

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