Baby Just Wants to Rock, Bounce and Sway

Patricia O'Reilly, author, president, Metamorph Us, Inc.
This article is an excerpt from ‘Baby Just Wants to Rock, Bounce and Sway.’
613-741-4993    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A baby brings joy, the experience of unconditional love, sleep disruption and a near total need for parental attention. Parental stress can become almost unbearable when a baby is continuously unhappy. It isn't just the noise. No, what really hurts is the painful pressure of knowing that your child is in distress and that nothing you do soothes your baby's discomfort.

Soothe your child by learning movement "magic." Not only will your baby be happier, but these movement patterns also help to enhance your child's developing brain, building the blocks for success in relationships, education, career, and play throughout life.

The 3-Step Pattern is a way to activate baby's neurological processes so s/he can more easily sail through the normal developmental stages — from developing depth perception, to directional location of sound, to manual dexterity, and on to the many skills that babies learn during this crucial time. These abilities develop in all infants and are valuable survival skills. Ideally, they will develop well beyond what is required for mere survival. Every time you do your baby's 3-Step Pattern, your baby gets the message: "I am safe. I am protected." Your baby gets this message at the core of her being, well below any conscious level.

Moving baby through the full sequence in all three dimensions sets up a resonance between your baby and the world that she is interacting with. Play and exploration are the means through which your baby develops resources, skills, and abilities for life — both right now and patterning far into the future.

LEARN YOUR BABY'S 3- STEP PATTERN

Start with a contented baby when first figuring out the 3-Step Pattern; it is easier to sense when your baby starts to tense and you can stop before baby gets too upset.

A tense baby will display some or all of these signs: curl up his toes, clench his fists, tense the muscles in his body, arch his back, have rigid arms and legs, breathe fast, and cry. A relaxed, happy baby has open fingers and toes, his hands and feet are relaxed, his arms and legs can be moved easily, muscles throughout his body are soft, and sometimes the baby seems to get a lot heavier.

A. Hold your baby vertically against your body.

Move so baby goes head to toe until you see baby's tension level.

Move so baby goes side to side until you can see baby's tension level.

Move so baby goes front to back until you can see baby's tension level.

B. Mark the tension order.

The direction where baby was MOST tense = put on Possible 3rd step.

The direction where baby was MOST relaxed = put on Possible 1st step.

The direction with medium tension = put on Possible 2nd step.

Baby's POSSIBLE 3-Step Pattern

C. Test out the sequence.

Now, move baby smoothly through the full 3-Step Pattern doing each movement long enough for baby to really relax. Then transition to the next step. Baby will let you know if the 3-Step Pattern needs adjusting.

Once you learn your child's natural movement sequence, it is easy to teach it to grandparents, aunts and uncles, and professional child care providers.

Patricia O'Reilly, author, president, Metamorph Us, Inc.

This article is an excerpt from 'Baby Just Wants to Rock, Bounce and Sway.'

613-741-4993 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.