“A baby’s development is like the opening of a flower bud.

It gradually unfolds.

If we open it’s petals unnaturally

we interfere with the growing process

and the flower becomes distorted”

(marianne Hermsen-van Wanrooy (2002)

 

The following are excerts from an article witten by Ruth Money. (full copies of the article available at Building Blocks)

INFANTS’ NATURAL MOTOR DEVELOPMENT MAY START SLOWER BUT END UP BETTER THAN ASSISTED MOTOR DEVELOPMENT, SAY SPECIALISTS.

Baby not yet crawling? It is advantageous in many ways for infants to start from the back position and move naturally on their own timetable rather than being positioned and assisted in their movements, say specialists on motor development.

Infant specialists at Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE), a non-profit organization in Los Angeles that advocates natural motor development for infants, were not surprised to see news articles and TV comments from mothers like Charlene. (NY Times April 29, 2001) Charlene was seriously concerned that her son Gary had not yet crawled when he turned 6 months old. Gary had been sleeping on his back as a consequence of the U.S. public health campaign to prevent sudden infant death syndrome.

Pediatricians are now noticing more babies who do not follow the milestones that older popular baby books say they should. Recent studies of the effects on infants who have been sleeping on their back are considered by U.S. doctors to reflect a real change in infant development. Doctors find no adverse medical consequences to this change, but RIE Associates says that this change is actually for the better.

RIE has long advocated natural gross motor development, which involves starting babies on their backs and allowing them to move freely t0 develop their motor skills. RIE also emphasizes the importance of establishing an ongoing, caring, reciprocal relationship with each infant. RIE references the work of  Hungarian pediatrician, Emmi Pikler, MD, that self-initiated motor development develops at different rates in different infants, but all achieve better quality of movement than when babies are propped, positioned and otherwise assisted to move.

Videos of infants raised according to the Pikler or RIE teachings show advantages such as having grace of movement, being sure-footed, and having body awareness. They have good posture which longitudinal research may reveal as leading to fewer back problems as adults. There is a concomitant growth of judgement for bodily safety, and a can-do attitude in coping skills, which they acquired during their natural self-initiated motor development.

RIE is vigilant that freedom of movement for an infant not be interpreted to mean neglect. Careful observation is necessary to know when an infant has been refueled both emotionally and nutritionally and is ready for times of uninterrupted movement and play. Healthy attachment is needed to one or a few adults so that a young baby feels secure enough to enjoy moving his body on his own. When they know a trusted adult is available to them, older babies feel freer to crawl away and explore.

Long before the 1994 U.S. health campaign on ” Back to Sleep” for medical reasons, the RIE/Pikler philosophy advocated that young babies be first placed on their backs during both sleeping and waking for a different reason. On the back is the position where a baby has greatest stability and also greatest mobility. Secure on the back, an infant is able to breath freely, move the head form side to side, raise both arms and legs, turn the trunk, and move in  a spontaneous way for the infant’s own satisfaction. Infants are motivated from within to move, while their muscles and nerves develop through self-initiated exercise. From the back position, the baby naturally learns how to roll over to the side, then to the stomach. During this time, the baby’s neck muscles have grown strong enough through exercise and maturation so that she can raise up her head, push with her arms, and soon is able to raise her trunk off the ground. With additional time, maturity and the freedom to move, infants develop the strength and ability to crawl sit and walk in their own unique ways. One sequence is to crawl along on the belly, then to creep on all-fours, from there to get into a sitting position on his own, and eventually to pull himself up and to take steps as he finds his own balance.

The RIE Manual for Parents and Professionals edited by Magda Gerber (1979) includes a chart of the range of ages at which the infants in the Hungarian study achieved each stage of natural gross motor development. It also explains the philosophy in detail.