A baby that is born has to find itself in the new world that surrounds it, because in its mother’s belly it was warm, nice and tight. Meanwhile, the child has to deal with the stimuli that come to him from the outside and with the force of gravity. At the very beginning, the child’s torso is not stable, which results from the distribution of muscle tension, which is initially most concentrated around the periphery, i.e. the arms and legs. However, for a baby to control his body, his torso must be stable.

Principles of proper care of a newborn

Proper and safe care is primarily one that is compatible with the child’s development, does not accelerate development and integrates neonatal reflexes. During everyday activities, we pick up, put down, carry or change the baby in such a way to stimulate its motor development. Remember that the child learns from previous experiences.

During everyday care activities, we must pay attention to several important rules:

supporting the head and pelvis. The pelvis is the center of our body, all the muscle chains are attached to it and the quality of our movements depends to a large extent on the pelvis. Until the third month, the baby has no control over its head, so we have to support it until then;
the way of picking up and putting down the baby. We try to lift the child sideways, turning his body to the side. First, we tear off the child’s head, torso and finally pelvis. When putting away, the pupa should first contact the ground, and the baby’s head at the very end. Thanks to such lifting, the child feels safer and more stable, he also has better control over his body;
appropriate wearing styles that are in line with the child’s development. Until the third month, we carry the baby in the bean position, we do not carry the baby vertically;
We put the toddler on his tummy – this is a very important position because from it the baby moves successively to the remaining development stages.
A variety of experiences, i.e. we provide the child with various forms of activity, various ways of wearing it, etc.
We approach the baby from different sides, we feed the baby by changing positions and sides.
do not sit the baby who cannot sit! A child’s body, including the spine and muscles, must be ready for this type of load. Accelerating this development may result in numerous postural defects;
do not stand up and ride the child. The child will master the ability to walk or stand up when he is ready for it.

Is proper care necessary?

Yes 🙂 It makes life easier for our little ones, helps to build correct movement patterns and builds a sense of awareness of their own body. Traditional forms of care – those proposed by our mothers, grandmothers, aunts – do not necessarily have a good effect on the child. Of course, some babies can cope with any form of the proposed care. However, I know from experience that traditional forms unfortunately teach our children incorrect patterns, and then it is much more difficult for the child to function.

Where to find more information?

We found a few good sources of more in-depth information about the topic of newborn care:

https://gibobobasy.pl/

http://zawitkowski.pl/

http://www.poloznamama.pl/

If you know of any other valuable sources or websites, then please let us know in the comments below. Your help will be of great benefit to other readers of our blog.