Your newborn baby was wiggling and moving inside the womb for months, and he’s ready to continue these movements in the outside world! From day one, he’s been working on his Body Movement skills. Movement is very important for your baby’s development, even at 0-3 months old, as the physical and sensory stimulation help his brain develop.^1,2

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First, your baby will learn to use his gross motor skills, which involve the large muscle groups of the neck, upper body, arms, and legs, for big broad movements.³ One of the first physical milestones you will see is your baby turning his head from side to side.⁴ While this action may appear simple to an adult, it actually takes a lot of effort and work for a 0- to 3-month-old. Before being able to turn his head from left to right and back again, he must develop strength and coordination in his neck and shoulder muscles.

To help your baby exercise these muscles and improve his ability to turn his head, try using cross-the-midline activities in his daily routine. Cross-the-midline refers to using one side of the body to reach into the space on the opposite side of the body.¹ For example, your baby may turn his head to follow a toy from the left side of his body to the right side, or he may use his right hand to reach across to the left side of his body for a toy.

Cross-the-midline activities are important because they help develop your baby’s bilateral skills, which coordinate the movement and action of both sides of his body for tasks as varied as reading and jumping.⁵ In addition to boosting physical skills, these activities also have a significant impact on cognitive abilities.⁶ How? Well, each half of the brain is responsible for different activities.

The two halves of the brain are connected by a bundle of nerve fibers, called the corpus callosum, which is responsible for all of the communication between the two halves.⁷ The stronger this connection becomes, the more easily children will be able to process information and carry out tasks, including breathing, crying, language acquisition, speaking, and analytical thinking, as well as many forms of physical activity.⁸ A new study conducted in part by Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk uncovered the fact that Albert Einstein’s left and right hemispheres of his brain were unusually well-connected compared to average men. It is this well-connected corpus callosum that is believed to have contributed to the physicist’s brilliance.⁹

There are a number of different activities you can try to help your baby cross-the-midline, but you may be surprised that feeding can be one of them! Switch sides when you breast or bottle feed your baby, as this will make him alternate his gaze and use muscles from each side of his body naturally. Alternating sides with breastfeeding is easier to remember due to supply considerations, but don’t rely on your own dominant hand and side of body if you choose to bottle feed. If you stick to one side, your baby won’t get the benefit of using both sides of his body to build his brain connections!¹⁰

Play Tips:

Do you want to know how you can support your baby’s development of these Body Movement skills at this age? It’s easy! Read on for some simple tips to incorporate into your daily play time together.

1. Practice cross-the-midline activities. Cross-the-midline activities help develop your baby’s body movement on both sides of his body. They will also strengthen his brain and improve many cognitive skills, including reading and analytical thinking. Do some cross-the-midline activities daily, like encouraging him to reach across the center of his body to grasp for toys.
2. Use lightweight rattles or brightly patterned toys that make noises. Using these simple toys will help you grab your baby’s attention with their colors and sounds. Be sure to get his eyes to focus on the toy before slowly moving it in front of him so that he can turn his head to follow your lead.

(SPECIAL OFFER: Sign up for Playful Bee’s Bee Well developmental learning program to give your baby the best start in life. The first 10,000 children enroll for FREE! Sign up today.)

Developmental Milestones:

Has your newborn achieved the following Body Movement developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all the skill(s) he has already mastered to date using Playful Bee’s developmental milestones tracker. It’s absolutely FREE and so easy to use, just click HERE!

• Begins to turn head.

Sources:

¹Pica, Rae (2010). Babies on the Move. National Association for the Education of Young People: Learning by Leaps and Bounds. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://www.naeyc.org/yc/columns/leapsandbounds.

²Gabbard, Carl, and Rodrigues, Luis. Optimizing Early Brain and Motor Development through Movement. Early Childhood News. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=360.

³Washington State Department of Early Learning (2012). Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines: Birth through 3rd Grade. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://www.del.wa.gov/publications/development/docs/guidelines.pdf.

⁴Texas Early Learning Council. Little Texans, Big Futures: Your Early Learning Guide for Infants, Toddlers, and Three-Year-Olds. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://bit.ly/1LNoCTq

⁵Jamieson, Ellie. Crossing the Midline Helps Kids Learn. Kids First Children’s Services. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://www.kids-first.com.au/crossing-the-midline-helps-kids-learn/.

⁶Vaughan, Amy (2011). Midline Crossing. The Reach Effect. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://www.thereacheffect.com/pages/parent_q_a/.

⁷Healthline. Corpus Callosum. Healthline: Body Maps. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/corpus-callosum.

⁸Gellens, Suzanne R. (2013). Building Brains. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

⁹Florida State University (2013). Einstein’s Corpus Callosum Reveals Clues to His Brilliance. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://scitechdaily.com/einsteins-corpus-callosum-reveals-clues-brilliance/.

¹⁰Stamm, Jill, Ph.D., and Paula Spencer (2007). Bright from the Start. New York, NY: Gotham Books.

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Playful Bee

Education Team at Playful Bee

Playful Bee is an e-Preschool that delivers inquiry-based preschool learning from the classroom to your home. Our preschool curriculum was created by our talented team of rock star teachers. With years of hands-on preschool and Kindergarten teaching experience, they've developed a high-quality preschool experience that is convenient-to-use and easy-to-teach by you, grandparents, or your nanny at home.

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