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Why I want to share Baby Yoga

My personal experience is certainly part of my passion for Baby Yoga and a reason why I want to share Baby Yoga with other Mums and Babies.  Thanks to my course work, I was encouraged to look deeper into the reasons why Baby Yoga helped Abigail so well and in particular through reading two fascinating books The Well Balanced Child from Sally Goddard Blythe and Baby Yoga from Francoise Freedman.

Both Sally Goddard and Francoise Freedman identify movement as a critical component to motor development. Sally Goddard ‘s book looks particularly at the role of movement and balance affecting the vestibular systems, other baby sensory systems and early learning all together under the premise that a well-balanced body affects positively a child’s mental balance and learning ability. Francoise Freeman in her book Baby Yoga looks specifically at the effect of movement but also touch, again affecting all the bodily systems within a loving environment with the primary carer.

Having reviewed these two fascinating books, I understand the main axes of influence of motor development in newborns and infants as follow:

Baby Yoga Motor Development: Important Things to Know

The mastery of head control is first learnt in the horizontal position within 6 weeks of birth, first when babies are placed on their tummies and later on on their back. This is the first step of development with enormous implications:

First babies ability to lift their head when placed on their tummy is their first attempt at maturing the primitive reflex known as TLR or Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex, one of the most important reflexes in the sense that it takes up to 3.5 years of age to completely being superseded by established behaviour. Correct placement of the head is fundamental to later balance, posture and coordination because it works in conjunction with the vestibular system and other senses like vision.

Secondly, motor development is cephalo caudal (from head to toe) and proximo distal (from center to outwards) so it is critical to encourage this first step of head control on the tummy as this will lead to strengthening of the neck and spine and finally limbs, helping babies to achieve major development milestones (for instance, control of neck, to creeping or crawling) and minor development milestones (for instance control of individual fingers such as the pince grab).

Baby Yoga and The Vestibular System

Thirdly the vestibular system is another critical component that helps motor development in infants. This is the most developed of the sensory systems at birth and also the one that continues to develop up to 7 years of age which says a lot about its complexity.  Located deeply into the inner ear it defines ones position in space, relative position of limbs working together with the visual and auditory systems to give our sense of balance and orientation. Movement, spinning, rolling and rocking all help this system to mature.

Baby Yoga is instrumental in helping develop the vestibular system through the various ways of holding and carrying baby, dips and lifts, rolling over in the arms or the legs, rocking over the knees and also spiral lifts. Such movements encourage babies to gain the confidence to roll over on their own, one of the major development milestone that takes place any time between 3 months and 6-8 months.  Also, to be noted, lack of maturity of this system may well be at the root of conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia , problems of concentration, language difficulties and also emotional issues.

Finally another major contribution to motor development is the development of the motor pathways in the nervous system. Babies who are exposed to asymmetric and cross pattern movements on a regular basis will naturally develop the pathways which are critical to Crawling. In Baby Yoga we practice these movements to songs in a fun way, repeatedly which encourages parents to practice at home.  In addition, the Hips sequences help strengthen the hips and legs in Baby Yoga.

Baby Yoga
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