{Baby Learning} Gross Motor Development

The first year of a child’s life is an amazing time. They change so much, especially in the area of gross motor skills. A baby starts out needing complete care but by the end of the first year she can often walk and feed herself.

I have been blessed to have had firsthand child development experience with five children. They have each been different in their rate of gross motor development. I thought it might be fun to share a few of their stats here.

Crawling

• Julia-6 1/2 months
• James-6 months
• Joshua-6 months
• Joseph-6 1/2 months
• Janna-8 months

Janna was just one month old in this picture. She was able to lift her head for short periods but was still mostly content just to snuggle and sleep.

By five months old she could sit up but still needed support so she didn’t just flop backwards onto the floor.

At 11 months Janna has been standing up without holding on to anything, but she isn’t walking yet. However, she can crawl very quickly and cruises around furniture.

My philosophy on encouraging gross motor development is to keep my baby out of devices as much as possible. By devices I mean swings, exersaucers, play pens, etc. While none of those items are detrimental to a child’s development, overuse of them is.

Also, babies need plenty of tummy time and floor time where they have a chance to move around.

Also, I do not put shoes on my babies until they are good at walking. Being able to grip the floor with their toes is a good thing to help them keep their balance and learn how to walk on different surfaces.

I thought I would share one last thing with you. Janna doesn’t have a push toy because I got rid of ours before I knew I was going to have another baby. Check out how she improvised and made her own push toy recently.

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Just for fun, share with us how old your baby was when he or she began to crawl and walk.

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{Baby Learning} Visual Development {Baby Learning} Improvised Baby Gym {Baby Learning} Is my baby on track? {Baby Learning} What to do with your newborn.