By Sue Heron – Training Co-ordinator Tatty Bumpkin and Paediatric Physiotherapist
In this weekly blog I focus on our Baby Bumpkin ‘Posture of the Week’. Below is a description on how to do the pose with your baby or toddler along with some of its benefits.
Please remember though, for you and your baby to gain the full benefit of all the Baby Bumpkin Yoga and multi-sensory activities, find out about your local Baby Bumpkin class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html. Our qualified Baby Bumpkin Teachers are fully trained in aspects of baby development and Baby Yoga and are kept fully up-to-date by our professional team of paediatric physiotherapists, Yoga teachers and musicians.
Or, maybe, you are thinking of a new career, which gives you:
The Baby Bumpkin Multisensory Yoga Adventure This Week ..
This week the Baby Bumpkin Yoga Activity is ‘PEACOCK’.Peacock is a great pose to use as a way of introducing ‘foot play’ to your baby. For toddler’s the pose can be used as part of a peek-a-boo game to develop their early communication skills.
On this adventure Baby Bumpkin finds himself in the Rainforest .. the trees are tall with thick leafy branches which hang down low over Baby Bumpkin. Baby Bumpkin gazes up at the different leaves and reaches up to touch them…
Then a little peacock flies into the clearing. Poor peacock – he tells Baby Bumpkin he is unhappy about his squawky voice – why can’t he sing like a nightingale?
So Baby Bumpkin decides to take peacock to meet his other Rainforest friends: the monkeys, the snakes, even the tree frogs.
After wriggling on his tummy with the snakes and doing little jumps with the frogs Peacock realises that we all have something about ourselves which we don’t like – but we all have something really special too! Find your local class at http://www.tattybumpkin.com/classes/find-class.html.
Because each Baby Bumpkin adventure is carefully linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) the sessions not only enhance your baby’s physical skills they also develop your baby’s early communication, social and thinking skills. In this week’s story your baby will have the chance to:
1. Increase their awareness of, and their strength in, their lower limbs – as they do Peacock and Frog pose with Baby Bumpkin
2. Develop their tummy time skills as they play games in Snake pose.
3. Use gestures and laughs to develop early communication skills:
Playing ‘peek-a- boo’ game in Peacock pose
Feeling ‘hot’ with Tatty Bumpkin towards Rainforest
Feeling ‘happy’ with Baby Bumpkin and Peacock as they visit their friends the monkeys and snakes.
4. Start to make early choices i.e.
How to play with the Rainforest leaves – whether to ‘bat’ them, pick them up, look at them etc?
Whether to feel the frog’s damp skin
5. Develop their sense of rhythm as they move with you to the Baby Bumpkin Snake or Monkey songs.
6. Start to learn how to self-calm as they relax with you to Baby Bumpkin Peacock song. 7. Most important of all - have fun with their friends in the Baby Bumpkin story as they: explore the Rainforest, dance as monkeys, wriggle as snakes and, of course, open their tail feathers as peacocks!
Peacock Pose for Younger Babies
Look at your beautiful tail!
Description of Pose
N.B. Remember, when you are doing the poses with your baby, never to force the movements and to keep looking at your baby to make sure they are comfortable. If you feel any resistance, or your baby becomes unsettled, do stop. Once your baby has settled, gently try the pose again, perhaps making clicking sounds or using a toy to distract them. If your baby remains unsettled, do not persist with the pose, instead ask your Baby Bumpkin teacher for advice.
This adaptation of Peacock pose is suitable for babies of all ages, if your baby is younger they may prefer to do the pose fairly slowly, if your baby is older they will probably enjoy doing the pose at a faster pace!
Settle your baby on their back on the floor in front of you and hold their lower legs around their calves with both hands.
Then gently lift both their legs up into the air, keeping them together, so the sides of their feet are touching (see ‘why it is good for me’ section). Only lift your baby’s legs as far as is comfortable for them.
Hold your baby’s legs up in the air, so that they can keep their knees fairly straight. Remember, if your baby is younger, their knees will naturally remain slightly bent as they have not yet gained full movement at their knees – so do not force this movement.
Keep looking and smiling at your baby to check they are comfortable and tell them what you are doing. Even though your baby will not understand what you are saying they will be reassured by your voice i.e. “Yes! Here are your feet – they are up in the air!” See ‘why it is good for me’ section.
Then, gently guide your baby’s legs apart in a little arc. Again, if your baby is younger do not take their legs out too wide. Keep looking, smiling and talking to your baby – encouraging them to look and smile at you!
Finally, guide your baby’s legs back together again to finish the pose.
Repeat Peacock pose several times with your baby. Then let them rest their legs.
As your baby ‘gets the idea’ of the movement – gradually offer them less support so that they do more of the movement by themselves.
Peacock Pose for Older Babies and Toddlers or ‘Peahen Peek-a-Boo!’
'Pea ....
...hen'
Description of Pose
N.B. Remember, when you are doing the poses with your baby, never to force the movements and to keep looking at your baby to make sure they are comfortable. If you feel any resistance, or your baby becomes unsettled, do stop. Once your baby has settled, gently try the pose again, perhaps making clicking sounds or using a toy to distract them. If your baby remains unsettled, do not persist with the pose, instead ask your Baby Bumpkin teacher for advice.
This adaptation of Peacock pose is suitable for babies and toddlers aged 6 mths or over. At around 6 mths your baby will start to understand that things still exist even when they cannot see them – this understanding is called ‘Object Permanence’. Once your baby has this understanding they will start to enjoy ‘peek-a-boo’ games.
Settle your baby/toddler on their back on the floor in front of you. Hold their lower legs, around their calves, with both hands. Then, gently lift their legs up into the air, keeping them together, so the sides of their feet are touching (see ‘why it is good for me’ section).
Hold your baby’s legs up in the air, encouraging them to keep their knees fairly straight. Remember, if your baby is younger, their knees will naturally remain slightly bent as they have not yet gained full movement at their knees –so do not force this movement. Toddlers will be able to straighten their knees – you can encourage them to do this by gently pressing down on their upturned feet with your palms – this will give them something to push against and will help them to strengthen their lower back muscles.
Keep looking and smiling at your baby/toddler to check they are comfortable and tell them what you are doing.
Even though your baby will not understand what you are saying, they will be reassured by your voice i.e. “Yes! Here are your feet – they are up in the air!” See ‘why it is good for me’ section.
As you hold your baby’s/toddler’s legs up together in the air – hide your face ‘behind’ their feet and say “Peeeeea”.
Emphasise the vowel ‘eeeee’ sound. See ‘why it is good for me’ section.
Then, guide their legs out to each side. As you do this, lean forward and smile at them through their legs and say “hen!” This time emphasise the shortness of the word to make it different from the ‘Peeeeea’ sound.
Try to alter the tone and pitch of your voice as you play this peek-a-boo game – increasingly researchers in early communication are finding that it is how you talk to your baby which matters rather than what you say.
Finally, guide your baby’s/toddler’s legs back together again to finish the pose.
Repeat Peacock pose several times with your baby. Then let them rest their legs. As your baby/toddler ‘gets the idea’ of the movement – gradually offer them less support so that they do more of the movement by themselves.
Other Games to Play around Peacock Pose
Peacock Feather Games
Remember, for safety reasons:
Never let your baby play with the feather on their own as they may want to put the feather in their mouth to explore it.
It is wise to wrap tape round the bottom of the feather shaft so that it is not so sharp.
Proud Peacocks!
Encourage your baby/toddler to reach up tall, above their heads, in the lying, sitting or standing position (which ever is appropriate for them) by tempting them with a Peacock feather, or indeed their favourite toy! This reaching action will help them to:
Strengthen their ‘core muscles’ i.e. their shoulder, back, tummy and hip muscles.
Improve their balance in the lying, sitting or standing positions.
Reach up high to be a 'Proud Peacock!'
Peacock Tickle
Make a ‘feather wand’ to ‘tickle’ your baby’s/toddler’s feet, hands or cheeks with and to encourage early laughs. See ‘why it is good for me’ section. You can make a feather wand by carefully attaching a few feathers to a little smooth stick. For safety reasons - do not leave your baby alone with the feather wand! As you ‘tickle’ your baby’s hands, feet and cheeks with the feather wand – you will be encouraging them to:
Become aware of their body. Talk to your baby as you do this to tell them which part of their body you are touching with the feather wand.
Learn how to process different sensations in their brain. In this game your baby will start to organise three sensations at the same time i.e. their sense of touch (as they feel the feather), their sense of sight (as they see the feather) and their proprioceptive sense (as they move their hands or feet over the feather). ‘Sensory organisation’ is a process which largely happens in the first seven years of our life. Through sensory organisation we make sense of our world so we can move about safely and skilfully.
Laugh! Researchers are finding out that laughter is an important early form of communication for your baby – which they use way before they learn to talk. See ‘why it is good for me’ section.
Preening Peacocks!
Peacock’s keep their feathers looking beautiful by carefully cleaning them! If your baby/toddler is older they will enjoy exploring a Peacock’s feather by themselves – being captivated by its different colours. Remember, for safety reasons, to closely supervise your baby as they do this.
As your baby looks at and handles the feather they will be refining their eye-hand coordination and their fine motor skills (hand skills).
I have never seen such a great feather!
Why Peacock Pose is Good for Your Baby or Toddler
Peacock pose helps your baby’s/toddler's development in two key ways:
Physically - by increasing their awareness of their legs, hips and lower back. Strengthening their muscles in, and improving their control of, these body parts.
Emotionally and socially - by encouraging them to look and smile at you and, if they are older, to engage with you to play the Peahen peek-a-boo game.
Increased Awareness and Control of Legs, Hips, Tummy and Foot Muscles
As you do hold your baby’s feet up together in Peacock pose gently rub the sides of their feet together. This will help your baby to desensitise their feet in preparation for sitting, crawling and standing.
If your baby is younger (under 4/5 mths) they will naturally be holding and moving their legs in a ‘frog like’ position i.e. bending their legs at their hips and their knees – this natural position gives your baby stability. So, as you do Peacock pose with your younger baby, be careful not to ‘over stretch’ their leg muscles by ‘forcing’ their knees straight.
As your baby continues to kick out on the floor they will be naturally stretching out their leg muscles by themselves.
At around 4-5 mths - your baby will be able to move their hips more and, perhaps more noticeably, be able to straighten out their knees more. As you do Peacock pose with your baby at this age, again do not force, but see if you can notice their increased knee movement.
At any age as you support your baby/toddler in Peacock pose, i.e. holding their legs up and moving them apart and together in this position, they will be strengthening the muscles around their hips and lower spine. Strengthening the muscles in these areas is important - as this makes your baby’s pelvis more stable. This ‘pelvic stability’ is crucial for sitting skills, learning to stand and to run. Encourage your baby/toddler to further strengthen their hip, pelvis, leg and tummy muscles by gradually giving them less and less support as you practise Peacock pose with them.
Developing Emotional and Social Skills – Laughter and Smiles
"Crying is a signal they want something to change, while smiling or laughter is the opposite - it says 'keep doing what you’re doing'". Dr Caspar Addyman
If your baby is younger – Smile and talk to them as you do Peacock pose. Ongoing research by DR Caspar Addyman at Birbeck College London is showing that babies laugh from a far earlier age than first thought i.e. from as young as 3 weeks old. His study, http://babylaughter.net/, has found that 90% of babies smile in the first two mths and laugh just a few weeks after. But that a small number of babies do not laugh at all for their first year. This only goes to show we are all different and show our natural temperament from a very early age!
As you encourage your baby to smile and laugh with you in Peacock pose you will not only be progressing their early communication skills you will also be strengthening the bond between you both. Dr Addyman suggests that smiles and laughter could be important early forms of communication for your baby even before they develop language.
Tickling and stroking your baby with a feather, or your fingers, is one of the surest ways to make them smile and laugh. “The first way to get babies to laugh is through touch", says Dr Addyman. He comments that tickling has deep evolutionary roots which come from being a mammal and is partly related to grooming. Interestingly, Dr Addyman highlights how waiting to be tickled is the first ‘joke’ your baby will understand. Try this with your baby and you will probably find that they start to laugh whilst they are waiting to be tickled by the feather!
If your baby is older (6 mths) – they will start to love playing ‘peek-a-boo’ games e.g. ‘Peahen peek-a-boo!’
Dr Addyman believes ‘peek-a-boo’ games work because they are intensely interactive and can develop over time into a ‘joke’.
He suggests that, because a young baby has no sense of time, each time someone, or something, disappears it’s a shock to them and consequently every time they reappear it’s a happy shock! As you continue to play peek-a-boo with your baby, they begin to develop a sense that you will come back and so, as above, the game develops into a ‘joke’. It becomes more about the anticipation of the fun that is to come! Also from about 6 mths your baby understands that just because your face is hidden you have not really left them which obviously reassures them.
‘Peek-a- boo’ game is one of the earliest forms of ‘shared communication’ and is the start of your baby learning how to interact with others.
Further research by a team in the USA, http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2014/01/the-importance-of-baby-talk/ , suggests that how you talk to your young baby is perhaps more important than what you say. They found that if Carers emphasised the vowel sounds when they spoke and raised the pitch of their voice as they did so, this encouraged their babies to babble more – fascinating!
