We’ve Been Working with Babies! What We’ve Learned …
Happy New Year!
Sharing some reflections …
The most amazing part of 2021 began in late January with a text from a friend.
“Can you help my friend’s baby?”
Helping one newborn led to helping several, which we followed developmentally over the past year. The experience has been both insightful and inspirational. Watching weekly and monthly changes with these little ones was like seeing the developmental chart come to life.
The whole experience has been a vivid reminder of the power of the Bridging® framework, which is rooted in early movement development. This essential foundation matters for everyone — at every age.
Here’s more about the babies …
How did our work with these babies begin? Mom would send a video of the newborn. We watched the baby wiggle about and realized there was, indeed, room for improvement to the baby’s movement repertoire. As we watched we wanted to reach through the screen to hold here, and wiggle there. (Yes, we each have early childhood expertise, training, and lots of experience with what this early movement should look like.)
How did we work together? With Covid raging in early 2021 an in-person meeting was not an option. Our work together was completely via video exchanges — the parents sent us a video of baby on their back and on their tummy. We sent back a video and note of guidance. The video exercises were created following the Bridging® movement hierarchy. We ultimately had a series of six exercises for the care givers to help with the baby’s bonding and development.
How did the babies benefit? The videos provided guidance to the parents to do simple, gentle exercises to roll, wiggle, and play with their baby. These exercises set the foundation for bonding, self-soothing, digestion. Eating and pooping are everything with a baby, right! The babies literally blossomed before our eyes! The developmental hitch we would notice one week, was gone two weeks later, helped by the specific wiggles we coached the parents on.
The most amazing part of this story? It’s 2022 and we’ve not yet met the babies who we helped, or their families. The babies are in various parts of the US (and even on another continent).
What else did we help with? As the weeks went by, the parents continued to share videos with us. We noticed struggles with tummy time, sitting independently, and crawling. Each stage was an opportunity to give more guidance for supporting wiggles to help the babies successfully master new skills.
What’s next? We have been blessed with the opportunity to watch and guide these babies. Witnessing the progress of these babies became an inspiration to create an upcoming YouTube series of bonding exercises for infants.
How can you help? We’d love to have new parents in a test group for the upcoming video series. If your friends or family members are expecting soon, or have new babies, we want them to try it out! No cost or obligation. Forward this email and they can sign up here.
Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing updates on this project.
Babies, Bridging® and You
The simple, basic sensorimotor relationships that develop in infancy need to function properly at every age. This is the blueprint of how our structural system (muscles and bones) supports the well-being of all of our other systems — circulatory, nervous, digestive, respiratory, and sensory.
If these relationships get disrupted at any age, Bridging® can gently reset the basics of how your body works, allowing you to function at your best.
Why might these relationships not work?
When our bodies are challenged due to the micromovements of infancy not working well, we struggle with unresolved pain, challenges with self-calming (anxiety), poor balance, and coordination. It’s hard to do life!
The micromovements may not ever have worked well, or they have been thrown off by the traumas of life. These are the four buckets of things that happen to us in life:
- Injuries / trauma
- Illness
- Medical procedures
- Birth / early developmental gaps
Staying active is a key ingredient in physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Bridging puts your back together to stay active!
Wondering what might have you or a family member off their top game? Fill out our intake form and we’ll get back to you with insights on how Bridging® can help.