13 Mar How Active Is Your Baby?
Most parents know that it is important for their children to stay active, however, most parents don’t realize that this need for activity starts very early on. In fact, even during the first few weeks of your baby’s life they need to be staying physically active. While your child may not be able to run or play, they are still starting to develop important motor skills that will carry them through childhood and on to their adult life.
As a parent, you should be paying attention to how active your baby is, and make sure that you are going to your pediatrician, should you notice that your child is not active enough or not active at all. Here are a few important milestones to pay attention to when determining how active your baby is.
- Many babies will start kicking during the second month of their life. While they likely don’t have much control, the simple act of moving their legs and kicking is important for little ones.
- By three months old, your infant may be able to start kicking with more strength and purpose, and they may start kicking themselves over from front to back. Around this time, you should be able to hold your baby upright, with their feet resting on the floor and they should be able to push down and straighten their legs as though they were standing on their own. This is typically when babies start bouncing.
- By 5 months old, your infant should be raising his or her head while lying on her stomach and push themselves up on their arms or legs to lift their chest off the floor or bed. This is an important tummy time activity, where little ones will be able to kick their legs and move their arms as if they were swimming.
- Around six months of age, most little ones will be able to roll from their front to their back. They will quickly be rolling over at will once they get ahold of it.
- At 8 months of age, most babies will be sitting up without support and catching themselves with their arms and hands if they start to topple. Another great activity you will see babies do during this time is picking up objects, and moving them from one hand to the other.
- Before their first birthday, most babies will seem like they are in constant motion, they are going to be fidgeting, kicking and wiggling around—they likely will also have mastered the art of crawling.
These are all behaviors that are not only important for your child’s mental development and learning important motor skills, but staying active and healthy as well. This is your baby’s form of regular exercise.
If you ever have any questions regarding your baby and their overall health and wellbeing, give Continuum Pediatrics a call right away to make an appointment. You can call our office directly at 817-617-8600 to schedule your appointment today.