Classes for Babies from 6 weeks of age until they are rolling over.

At BabyROO 1 we provide you with lots of ideas about how to best to provide the right environment for healthy development. We show you song and movement ideas and let you know about what’s happening in different areas of development such as vision, hearing, movement and touch.

Newborn and very young infants can see a little and hear very well, but have little understanding. The Primitive Reflexes are vital at this stage, providing babies with essential responses for survival and early automatic movement patterns that help enable them to become mobile.

Come along and see what we do at a GymbaROO BabyROO session. It’s a great place to meet other parents and to learn about your baby’s development. We explain to you the why, what and how’s of infant development and what you can do at home to assist your baby’s natural development.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Rhythmic movement such as gentle rocking (vestibular stimulation) is very soothing to their very immature nervous systems.

Tummy time when awake, is vital to learning about movement and their body, and to begin to develop a ‘body map’. This must start as soon after birth as possible. Sleep your baby on their back, but have your newly born infant while awake, on their front on you, if only for a few minutes and extend the time to the floor when possible. This is vitally important as many primitive reflexes present at birth require neck movement for activation and inhibition. After a few months if there has been no tummy time the neck muscles are weak and your baby will object to lying on their front. Lie down on your front on the floor with your infant. Talk and sing to them and give them massage. This is also the position from which an infant begins forward movement.

Massage time from birth is important, to help them become aware of their body parts. Also give your baby gentle movements which move the fluid in the inner ear, and helps their brain development, i.e. rocking, very slow spinning in your arms, and even a very gentle upside down. Remember they spent many months upside down in the womb! Gentle roll overs, not only stimulate the fluid in the inner ear, but also strengthens the head and neck muscles, and soon they will roll themselves. By the end of three months the baby should have no head lag. They need to be provided with as much visual and auditory stimulation as they can tolerate, through talking and singing to them.