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Movement
Movement activities help calm newborns and babies to 2+ years of age. Bouncing your swaddled baby is perhaps the most effective way to calm your infant. It helps him/her develop a strong sense of security and positively affects the ability to self-calm. Slow, rythmic movement provides a calming and relaxed state for the baby and the mother, father or caregiver.
Movement Provides:
• Engergy transfer
• Self-calming
• Self-regulation
Movement Tools:
• Bouncing on an
excercise ball
• Gliding chair
• Rocking chair
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Swaddling
By wrapping your newborn tightly in a blanket you give him/her a form of security. It is believed that swaddling gives your newborn a similar sensation of being in the womb.
Swaddling Provides:
• Security
• Stimulation to the
skin,muscles and
joints
• Tone and flexion*
for self-calming
development
* Infant's natural position
with hands curled inward
near its mouth, having a
"centered" position
| Sucking
Sucking is the primary method for all newborns to both self-calm. Your infants fingers are the best sucking tools because the mouth can receive stimulation. And besides, fingers are portable and they can't get lost like a pacifier. You can also try using your "pinky" finger.
Sucking Provides:
• Self-calming
• Development of
speech patterns,
self regulation and
organizational skills
• The maturity of the
central nervous
system
Sucking Tools:
• Fingers (baby's
and mother's)
• Pacifiers (the most
successful pacifier
is the "soothie")
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