The Play Space
Standing and pre-walking skills.
These considerations for your baby’s play environment help encourage standing and pre-walking skills.
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Even if you don’t have a push toy at home, your baby will find something to push around. An upside down sturdy box or low laundry basket make great push toys.
Once your baby crashes the push toy into the wall, is able to pull it backward, and redirect the push toy… they have the strength and balance they need to walk.
These push toys are not the same thing as baby walkers that your baby sits in.
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Your baby has been standing at supportive surfaces like the couch, leaning up against it. Now that your baby’s balance is improving, and they are preparing for their first steps, you can use these same supportive surfaces in a different way.
You can help your baby turn around so that they are supported from behind, rather than in front. Having a supportive surface at their back helps them feel more secure and confident to eventually lean forward to take some steps.
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The surface your baby is standing on will make a difference. For a baby, even standing on medium-pile carpet or soft play mat is going to challenge their balance more than a hard floor. It’s a great idea to practice standing on a variety of surfaces.
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Having feet exposed allows for a rich flow of sensory information through your baby’s feet as they navigate a variety of surfaces. It also allows them to use their toes, and all the tiny muscles of their feet, to balance on different terrain.
As these muscles of the feet strengthen, they end up developing into the arches of the feet. And strong muscles supporting the feet can help prevent injuries later in life.
We will talk about when to introduce shoes in the Walking stage.
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Keep a small stool, box, or cushion that is about 6 inches tall laying around for your baby to explore. Keep it in an area where there is nothing else for them to pull up on.
At this stage, they can use it to practice getting up into standing through a squat position, and then practice lowering down.
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Play in an area where the available things to pull up on are fairly spread apart. This will encourage your baby to make more attempts to stand up on their own through “down dog” or squat, instead of pulling up on supportive surfaces.
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I don’t recommend the use of sit-in baby walkers.
Despite what the marketing for these devices may lead you to believe, research suggests that using walkers may change the progression of development.
And studies have found that walkers do not improve development.
Walkers support a baby’s weight through their hips and under their arms. This tends to push your baby forward, which affects their posture and control of the muscles in their trunk and legs needed for walking.
The more time a child is supported in these devices, it's likely that they are spending less time in positions important to developing abilities, such as tummy time.
I recognize that many other factors go into your decision making for your child, so if a walker like this is a non-negotiable in your home, I suggest limiting to 10-15 minutes per day and carefully following the safety suggestions.