Our CEO, Founder and Neurological Developmental Therapist, Ollwyn Moran will bring you through each Developmental Milestone and stage of growth for your baby, sharing what to expect, what to look out for, and how to nurture each stage of development.
Today, we’re discussing the 9-12 month developmental stage.
What can you expect at this age?
Your baby’s gross motor skills continue to develop, and she may discover climbing before walking. The first step is to pull herself up and manoeuvre along the furniture, climbing is then a natural progression.
Developmental Aids: Using toys that can be played with in a variety of positions, will provide opportunities to encourage your little one into the next stage of their gross motor skills development. For example, a toy with wheels can help your baby to get into the correct position for crawling when placed just out of reach of their sitting position. This encourages them to reach for the toy, eventually bringing them into the hands and knees position for crawling.
Your baby is starting to understand the relationship of objects and space, stacking or shape sorting toys will help them with this. They are perfect for small hands to gain dexterity and growing minds to learn problem solving. Watch your little one nest them, stack them into a tower, knock them down, float them in the bath, or pour water in and out. As your child grows and develops, they will enjoy using them in their imaginative play too. They are perfect as cups for a teddy bear picnic or as secret garage for a racing car!
Things to look out for: Your baby will most likely be crawling during this stage of development – it is important that they do a cross crawl. Watch out for a bottom hop or a bum shuffle. There may be a little kink in their system that a session or two with a Cranial Osteo will sort out or you may be able to rectify it by doing some simple exercises at home with them yourself.
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