Exercise With Your Baby
How Important Is Baby Exercice?
Newborn exercise is easy and fun for you and your baby. Start by implementing regular exercise with your newborn, you’ll want to capture his interest first. Start by simply putting your new little one on a blanket to watch you exercise. Let your baby see you doing exercises and enjoying them. Keep in mind that children of exercising and active parents grow up accepting the exercise habit as both natural and necessary, this is really the first step for an active and healthy lifestyle.
When babies reach the age of one month (or they regained their birth weight), they need and enjoy movement — and not just the moving they do on their own. At this stage of life, your baby needs your encouragement to move. As your little one gets older, movement and exercise help him maintain balance, develop strength, and use new muscles. Exercise at any early age helps establish a habit of activity that carries over into adulthood.
While any time is appropriate for an exercise session, bath time or the evening is probably the best. The session can be long or short depending on your child’s response. Keep the length of the session consistent, and hold it, if possible, at the same time every day. The idea is to fit exercise into the daily routine of both parent and child.
If you perform the exercises in the same place every day, the child becomes familiar with the feel of the floor, the bed, or the towel. Consequently, when placed in that position, he shows readiness by kicking, twisting, and smiling.
Dress the child in loose-fitting diapers, a swimsuit, other loose-fitting outfits, or — if you and the baby don’t mind — let him exercise bare bottomed. The room temperature should be comfortable
and warn. You can also turn on some music, it help your child to make a pleasurable association between sound and exercise.
Try not to put your child in a playpen or crib unless it is nap time. When he is awake, give him every possible opportunity to crawl around on the floor and explore. If the child must be in a crib or playpen, supply objects — rings that go on a spool, blocks, toys with dials — that stimulate his skills.
As your child grows older, the whole family should join in the fun. Unfortunately our overurbanized society is driving each member of the family his or her separate way. A mother’s or father’s job may require them to travel extensively; children may be in a nursery school or a child care center; the mother who is not employed frequently devotes time to community or social activities. Consequently, the family has less time together to communicate, less time to touch, less time to share and play.
All too often, individual family members are involved in exercise programs that reduce their time together even more. Dad plays golf, while Mom goes to a health club. These efforts toward individual fitness can be difficult for the family. An opportunity for real family togetherness is wasted.
Learning together, touching, talking, and sharing improve human relations. Creating a family gymnastics or activity program and enjoying it on a regular basis is a great way to enjoy time together as well as to keep in shape. After all, you owe it to your child, who, having enjoyed the diaper fitness program, expects to learn new skills.
Set time aside in the evening for play. Turn off the television and allow 30 minutes of gymnastics, tumbling-type activities, or family wrestling. These moments will allow you to discover the wonderful skills your child will develop.
Have you wonder why some children seem to develop at a faster rate than others? These children may have only one special advantage over others kids — parents who actively care about their growth, both physical and intellectual. Sadly, though, many parents who are very concerned about mental development give little thought to exercising their babies.
Keep in mind that the first step toward promoting physical activity in your child is to be active yourself! A child’s attitude toward exercise is definitely shaped by that of the parents. Active children generally have active parents who encourage their children to exercise.
Most important of all, make sure you exercise with your child. You will benefit of it as well as your baby.
Have fun exercising…
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