Floor play every day…how can parents & carers help?

Being physically active several times a day in a variety of ways, particularly through supervised, interactive floor-based play is very important for babies from birth onwards. Babies are born with a drive to move and play. Babies will greatly benefit from being given an opportunity to be physically active during every awake period. Your baby was able to move around in the womb and push out against the resistance of your tummy to their strengthen muscles and so after birth your baby is now ready to move their limbs and body against gravity.

It can be tricky to find enough time in the day when caring for your baby to ensure there is time for your baby to play on the floor. The more supervised interactive floor-based play your baby has each day, the earlier your baby will learn to move, the more they will learn and develop their brain. The Australian 24-hour movement guidelines for the early years (birth to 5 years) help us to understand how much physical activity your baby needs and the importance of making sure that your baby does not spend too much time being sedentary when awake.

For those babies not yet mobile, parents and carers have a greater responsibility to set up and supervise at least 30 minutes of floor play each day. Placing your baby in a variety of positions including tummy time, playing on back and side and in supported sitting while awake and supervised is the best way to help your baby. This is best done for a few minutes at a time, spread throughout the day. When your baby learns to roll or crawl, there are lots of ways you can encourage further development of movement skills by providing appropriate toys such as balls, cause and effect toys and interactive experiences for your baby during floor time.

Set up a safe area for floor play

Set up a safe play area in your living area at home, as this will help you to be able to place your baby in a safe place with toys ready to engage in movement play more often during the day. If we prepare this space, we will be more likely to place our baby on the floor. If your home has pets or little siblings, a playpen or portacot might be a good way to have a safe area for your baby to move on the floor. Using a bed, adult lounge or flip out kid’s lounge is not ideal because these are soft surfaces and make it hard for baby to push against, lift their body upright and move around on and your baby might fall if left unattended

Does your baby spend lots of time in containers when awake during the day?

Babies can often clock up many hours each day restrained and unable to move freely in ‘containers’ such as the car seat, pram, swing, bouncer, cot, high chair etc. Ideally, babies and toddlers should not be restrained and sedentary in a container when awake for more than 1 hour at a time. If you are going on a long car trip, take a blanket, stop at a park and let your baby have play time on their tummy and back on the blanket to stretch, roll and move. If you are out and about and can’t put your baby on the floor, then pick your baby up out of the pram and move them around and give them a cuddle to provide a change of position and the experience of movement for a few minutes, every hour.

If your baby spends most of their day being moved between containers, it reduces their opportunity to move. Babies are clever and realise that realise their movement is restricted and will not be able to make decisions about moving based on their comfort and innate drive to move. Your baby needs to be able to kick legs, turn their head side-to-side, wave their arms around, wiggle and squirm for most of their awake time in different positions such as on their tummy, side, back and in supported sitting. Providing your baby with opportunity to move during every awake cycle is the key to developing the strength and coordination to learn to roll, sit, crawl and walk. Babies who are placed into containers such as upright seats, activity centres or baby walkers too early, or for too long, may actually take longer to develop key skills such as rolling, sitting and walking. Some babies can develop problems such as a flat head (plagiocephaly), tight neck muscles or become delayed in achieving their movement milestones that are related to being in containers for too long where there is limited opportunity to move freely.

Avoid screen time if possible…

Screen time is not recommended for children under 2 years of age other than video chatting which involves interaction with another human. Babies and toddlers learn best from interacting with people in real life. When a baby is sedentary, it is recommended that a baby be involved with their carer reading, singing and storytelling and not watching a screen.

How Physiotherapy can help.

Physiotherapy for babies and young children requires detailed knowledge of anatomy, growth, and the development of movement skills at different ages and stages. Paediatric physiotherapists have skills in assessing, identifying and treating babies with movement difficulties AND we can also be a wonderful resource for parents of babies who are developing typically but are tired of googling to try find activities on how best to challenge and progress their baby to move forward to the next milestone. Many parents bring their baby to see a physiotherapist, just to get ideas on how to promote their movement skills in the first year of life, so they know what to expect and how to best help their baby at their individual stage in their development.

Samantha Stevens
Baby Wise Physiotherapy - Mama Base Illawarra

If you would like to send a message or book a physiotherapy appointment, please visit: Baby Wise Physiotherapy