Move Baby Move

Move Baby Move classes are back with (previously known as Milestone Specialists).

This time we split classes between two days, Wednesday and Thursday! Here’s the new schedule…

Wednesday: 10am Walkers and 11am Crawlers

Thursday: 9:30am Infants

Stick around after Thursday’s infant class for Milk Club at 10:30! Milk club is hosted by Balanced Baby and is a class for moms to chat, trouble shoot and get support for all things feeding related.

Looking forward to seeing old and new faces in class in just a few short weeks!

Humming stimulates your vagus nerve!

What exactly is your vagus nerve and why is it beneficial to you and your baby?

The vagus nerve is your longest nerve, running from the brain through the organs in your body. It’s responsible for regulating your parasympathetic nervous system (digestion, breathing, heartbeat). It also takes us back into relaxation after stress (gets us out of fight or flight). This is why humming soothes us and our baby during times of stress.

When we hum the vibration of sound has a huge impact to all the areas of the body reached by the vagus nerve. It’s calms us down and brings us back to a regulated state. When we hum and hold our babies close they receive similar benefits to their parasympathetic nervous system but also the auditory stimulation reduces activity to their limbic system which is mainly responsible for our emotions and foundation of memories.

I love how this is a thing most parents will do to help calm, not only a crying baby, but also yourself! As humans we are designed to build our babies brain and when we follow our instincts that’s exactly what we do!

We can think about movement as a puzzle. Piece by piece it comes together to create a larger image, it doesn’t happen all at once. It takes time

For our babies, learning how to go from nothing to rolling, sitting, crawling, walking, running and jumping is a puzzle they have to put together on their own. If we come in and do the puzzle or complete it for them not only have they lost the discovery of putting it all together, we’ve robbed them of the joy of completing something that took time, patience and energy.

We are there to be cheerleaders as they complete their puzzle. We offer encouragement. Maybe a few suggestions here and there but ultimately it is theirs to put together. And when a section is complete and the picture is a little clearer we celebrate their triumph with them and let them bask in that joy!

What does this realistically look like? Not putting babies in a seated position before they’re ready. Not standing in devices like jumpers, saucers, etc before they’re ready.

Trust that they’ll figure it out, they always do.

Research shows us that 70-85% of mothers prefer holding their baby on their left side. That bias is even showing up in pre school aged girls, who prefer carrying their dolls in the left side.

The preference has to do with how our brain sends signals. The right brain receives signals from the left side of the body and the left brain receives signals from the right side of the body.

Right brain is responsible for social relationships, intuition, emotion, organizing information, face recognition and more.

Left brain is responsible for reading, writing, listening, number skills, grammar, logic and more.

The other really cool thing about holding our children on the left is that their right ear is next to our body (mouth). Which means their left brain is firing up! The side that’s responsible for building language, reasoning and listening.

If you prefer holding your baby on your right side it doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. While this is interesting research to learn about it doesn’t really matter when it comes to what kind of mothers we are. There is so much more that goes into being in tune to our children and their needs. 💛💛💛

We want our babies to experience slightly stressful situations while learning and exploring their bodies. Running into a road block during tummy time, rolling, sitting up, standing or walking, allows the brain and body to problem solve.

Ideally we want these roadblocks to be something they explore and figure out on their own. If your baby keeps getting stuck in a roll it doesn’t grow the brain if we come in and roll them in/out every time they get frustrated. Nor does it grow the brain if we let them unravel in their frustration. We’re looking for the balance of “not too hard but not too easy”.

✨ let them experience the frustration of not being able to do something.
✨Be there for support by acknowledging the hard work they are doing. Use encouraging touch on their body.
✨And before they fall off the emotional cliff of tears - give them a break or the assistance they’re searching for and shower them with love and understanding.

Learning and growing new skills is really hard. Allowing space for the stress that comes with learning, while continuing to be their biggest cheerleader allows for growth to happen.

Retained primitive reflexes that don’t integrate successfully can result in brain imbalance causing struggles related to ADHD, sensory processing disorders, Autism, learning disabilities and/or developmental delays.

The good news is we know certain activities can rebuild the foundation of the brain and create new neural pathways so reflexes can integrate properly. Even better - if we’re aware of these reflexes from the beginning we can make sure our babies are given the opportunities to integrate their reflexes at the proper time.

In Move Baby Move classes we focus on activities that allow these reflexes to integrate properly and we do so with fun songs and games. Activities that you, as parents, can continue to play and sing at home.

We have 8️⃣ senses that allow us to take in our world. Most of us know the common five, but there are 3 other ones that are just as special!

It’s important for children and adults to participate in activities that stimulate our senses, which helps our brain create stronger connections that helps us process and respond to the world around us.

This kind of play and exploration ultimately shapes the choices we make and impacts behavior.

Curious how to make sure your child is exploring and activating all 8 senses? Come check out a Move Baby Move class, happening every week in Central Florida!

M I L E S T O N E S 📈

When we hear the word milestone it’s easy to think of a straightforward marker from point A to point B. But when it comes to brain development it’s not a straight forward line to that next marker.

Learning how to do something doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a process that moves forward and backwards. You’ll notice your baby may have a burst of development and then probably take a few steps backwards. Or maybe you’ll notice development is exploding in one area, like language, but physical development is a bit slower.

When the brain is growing and learning new things - that growth overwhelms other areas of the brain.

Instead of focusing on what isn’t happening look at all the IS happening. This allows us to see our baby as a whole being who is continuously in the process of learning and not unchecked boxes at a pediatrician appointment.

Over or under the parachute? It doesn’t really seem to matter - everyone loves when the parachute comes out! One of our favorite parts of class 🥰

Classes run Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings all around central Florida. Visit the website for specifics. See you in class!

Starting next week classes for all three levels begins at 🙌🏼 this will be a 5 week series on mondays starting on 9/13 through 10/11!

Move Baby Move classes are about discovering ways to play and connect with your baby that supports their development and helps their brain and body make connections! Classes are for ages 6 weeks - 24 months. If you or anyone you know are in the area and looking for fun new ways to engage with your baby, come join us for this series!

Register via website in bio 💛

As far as we know our newborns sense of smell isn’t inferior to adults but they have outperformed us in one respect.

Studies and experiments show that newborns are better at detecting components in human sweat than adults.

Research also shows babies can recognize the smell of amniotic fluid, distinguish the smell of breast milk (down to their specific mother) and if familiarized with a scent shortly after birth, like chamomile, they’ll develop a fondness for it.

How cool are babies? I love that we live in a time where we can study and learn so much about our smallest humans ✨