As a new parent, you might often wonder, “When does your baby start walking?” and How to encourage your baby to walk?
Start with trunk and neck strength.
Provide the foundation to coordinate the use of hands and walking.
Your baby gains head control before trunk control and can roll left and right.
Your baby will use his trunk muscles before he can control his feet.
Without stability at your baby’s core muscles, hips, and shoulders, he will not have strength and stability in the tiny muscles of the arms, legs, feet, and hands.
It is a progressive process that builds on those earlier floor time activities, tummy time, pushing up on hands to lift his head and look around and building stability.
Balance is key.
Your baby is born with no sense of balance.
Your baby develops balance significantly over the first year. There are many things you can do to help your baby develop a sense of balance.
Stimulate your baby’s developing a sense of balance by merely talking, reading, and singing to him.
Let your baby learn balance through practice and repetition of vertical, and horizontal positions and different movements throughout the day.
Use baby carriers that allow your baby to be vertical on your chest, so he has to hold his head upright against gravity.
This helps to build neck strength and processing balance and equilibrium.
Practise floor time and crawling.
Floortime and crawling are important milestones for walking.
It helps to strengthen your baby’s core muscles and the hip muscles for future walking.
It also helps to develop balance, coordination, and agility.
Let your baby pull up on his own.
Once your baby starts moving from crawling to sitting and back to crawling, he will start pulling himself up to the standing position on furniture or his crib.
Your baby’s tiny muscles of his feet, knees and hips are ready to bear his weight.
It is time to let your baby stand in a jumper.
A jumper will help your baby to build lower body strength and a sense of balance.
Look after your baby when he is using the jumper and do not let him spend more than twenty minutes at a time.
Take first steps.
Your baby will begin to attempt that first steps around the same time he becomes good at crawling.
Don’t be surprised if your baby can take a step or two but still prefers crawling because he gets much faster from one place to another.
The start time for walking varies from one baby to another between nine months to sixteen months old.
If you have questions or concerns about your baby’s timeframe to start walking, talk to your baby’s healthcare provider.
How to encourage your baby to walk?
Tips
1. Learn to walk bare feet.
Try to resist the urge to put adorable little shoes on your baby.
Your baby relies on splaying his toes on the floor for balance.
2. Remember to childproof your home.
Walk around on your knees at your baby’s new level and look for hazards such as blind cords, uncovered outlets and drawers that he can open.
Make sure all furniture that your baby might pull himself up on is securely anchored to the wall. This helps to prevent the furniture fall onto your baby.
3. Consider whether to let your baby use a walker.
There are pros and cons when using a walker.
This allows your baby to learn walking but your baby can move very quickly and might fall.
Walkers can cause strain to your baby’s tiny feet, knees and hips if he is not developmentally prepared to bear his own weight.
Walk the first step is one of the most unforgettable moments for new parents.
Remember the timing when babies start walking is different for each baby.
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NURTURE INFANT HOUSE (Tampines)
Nurture Infant House, one of the best infant care in Tampines, provides an infant care programme for infants aged 2 months to 18 months old. Teachers from our infant care Tampines or infant care at Tampines are trained, qualified, respectful, responsive to the infants. They are flexible with their approach to learning and can interchange their teaching method to accommodate your infant’s preferred method.
The infant's daily routines in our Tampines infant care include a good mix of structured activities such as introducing infants to a variety of colours, textures, and sounds etc, eat time, playtime and rest.
We have over 30 years of experience in nurturing thousands of infants, toddlers and preschoolers so you are looking for a good Tampines infant care, Tampines preschool or Tampines childcare, do consider Nurture Infant House.
Located beside our Tampines infant care is our Genesis Childcare 1989.
If you are looking for a Tampines preschool or childcare Tampines near Tampines Central for playgroup, nursery or kindergarten, you can consider enrolling your child in Genesis Childcare 1989. Our Tampines childcare is one of Singapore's leading childcare services. Visit our childcare at Tampines and Tampines preschool to learn more about our curriculum and how we ensure a holistic development for your child.
Lastly, would you like to visit our Nurture Infant House to find out more about our environment and setup as well as understand our operations by talking to our teachers and supervisor?
You can visit us at the following venues:
Nurture Infant House (2 to 18 months Infants)
Blk 433 Tampines Street 43 #01-61 Singapore 520433
Genesis Childcare 1989 (Playgroup to Kindergarten 2)
Blk 433 Tampines Street 43 #01-63/65 Singapore 520433
Opening hours: Monday to Friday (7am to 7pm) & Saturday (7am to 2pm)
Public Bus services: 8 / 21 / 28 / 29 / 293
Tel: 96664141
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