When you take your baby home from the
hospital you will have been given
instructions, which are very important,
that you put your baby to sleep on his
back,
in his own bed, it should be in your
room, close to your bed,
the bed should be flat with no blankets
pillows or any toys,
and this will ensure that your baby has
a safe sleep environment.
But because of this
we need to then give the baby
opportunities
to help strengthen his shoulder and
abdominal muscles.
So a good rule of thumb is that every
time you change the diaper,
you turn the baby gently over onto
his tummy.
At this point
when you get the baby over onto his
tummy, you'll see that most of the weight
is through his face. So you can gently
puts some pressure
on his bum
i do this with the my forearm gently
pushing down on his bum.
Bring his elbows in front of his shoulders and you
can keep them there with your hands
and this will help encourage him to lift
his head.
As you see his head come up you know that
he is beginning to use his shoulder and
his abdominal muscles.
You can do this for one or two minutes
and in this way you're insuring good
strength of these muscles which will
help his development as we move forward
in the future.
Once you've done this with every diaper
change for one or two minutes roll him
back onto his back and this begins to give
you a good opportunity
to begin to make eye contact with your
baby.
Around the six week mark
the baby can begin to see your face.
Your face is becoming more clear. So this
becomes a time
where you begin to make eye contact.
If you keep your face nice and calm you
help the baby keep his head in the
middle. You can even put your hand on
the baby's chest
which will also help keep the baby calm
and help
his head stay in the middle.
By you keeping your face calm the baby
can then begin to look at you and you'll
see that you will begin to make eye
contact and you may even see a gentle
smile. This is the beginning
of your baby's thinking skills,
the beginnings of language, the begins
of attention
and obviously attachment between you and
your baby.
