Early stimulation exercises for babies from 0 to 12 months.

Exercises to be applied with babies up to one year old, with indications on how to perform them.

Early stimulation includes a series of exercises and activities that promote the psychomotor development of the baby, as well as his cognitive development. In this article we will see different early stimulation exercises for babies up to 12 months of age.

In each month of life, the exercises should be adapted to the abilities and skills of the little one. We are going to know some of these exercises, organized by stages and months.

Early stimulation

The early stimulation (also called early attention) is based on a series of exercises through which babies and children can have fun and through which their cognitive and psychomotor development is enhanced.. These exercises also facilitate future learning.

Early stimulation can be started from birth until approximately 6-7 years of age, since it is in this period when the structure of the child's thinking and personality is developing.

This type of stimulation will allow to take advantage of the baby's mental and physical capacities to the maximum.For this reason, the work as a mother, father or professional, will be decisive, through appropriate activities with specific objectives that facilitate their optimal development.

Early stimulation exercises for babies

When a baby is born, one of its basic needs is physical contact, as well as eating, drinking, sleeping, defecating and urinating.

Babies receive their first stimuli receive their first stimuli from their reference figures (mainly their mother and father). (mainly from the mother and father). It is important that from birth, their senses are stimulated through play, speech and different exercises that we can do with them.

Early stimulation in the first 6 months

In the early stages (from 0 to 6 months), early stimulation exercises for babies will help them gain flexibility, flexibility, speech and different exercises we can do with them. will help babies gain flexibility, strengthen their Muscle tone and prepare them to explore their environment..

It is recommended that the exercises be done at a time of day when the baby is receptive and calm, and that sleep and feeding times are respected. You can start with five-minute sessions and progressively increase the time, although they should not last more than 10 minutes.

Exercises from 0 to 3 months

There are different types of early stimulation exercises for babies. We are now going to talk about those that can be performed during the first trimester of life (from 0 to 3 months). These exercises should be gentle, and will be focused on helping them to help them to gain mobility, to discover new sensations and to familiarize and to familiarize them with their first stimuli. Some of them are:

• Take their hands and feet and play with their fingers and toes, one by one.
• Massage their hands and feet.
• Lying on his back, take the soles of his feet and bring his knees to his chest. Repeat 5 times with each leg and gradually increase the frequency.
• Lying on your back, take his hands and make circular movements with his arms.
• Lying on his back, show him a colorful toy at a distance of 30 cm from his eyes and move it from one side to the other so that he follows it with his head.
• Lying on his back, gently bring the baby's right hand to the opposite shoulder. Repeat with the left hand. Then cross both arms over your chest.

Exercises for 3 to 6 months

The exercises will change as the baby grows as he/she gains motor skills.as he/she acquires motor skills. Thus, we will progressively add more complex exercises.

You can start with prone exercises to gain strength in the neck muscles; we will do them little by little and respecting your baby's willingness to do them. Some of these exercises can be the following:

• Lying on his back, gently do the bicycle movement with his legs.
• Take his hands and play pat-a-cake.
• Lying on his back, bend one leg while extending the other and help him turn to the side of the extended leg. Repeat with the other leg.
• Lying on back, grasp baby's arms and slowly pull him/her up to sitting position.
• Lay baby on his tummy and place some toys in front of him so he can reach for them.

Exercises from 7 to 10 months

As the baby grows, the objectives and exercises will be adapted to the baby. Thus, early stimulation exercises for babies should always be adapted to the physical and psychomotor should always be adapted to the physical and psychomotor characteristics of the child.. Some exercises that can be done between 7 and 10 months are:

• Draw different pictures of animals, make the corresponding sound for each one, and tell him to call it as you taught him. For example, when you point to the cat, say "meow, meow".
• Let the child touch the food with his hands. Have him put one of the foods he touches in his mouth, so he can relate the texture to the taste.
• Crawl around the house with him, it will help you a lot, do this activity crawling forward, backward, spinning, and encouraging him to follow you.
• Place several objects in a row and tell him: "give me the car"; guide his hand to the toy and once he has picked it up, gently take the object away and praise him for giving it to you.
• Teach him to call a family member, e.g., "call your aunt," when this happens, clap your hands, and continue to do so, until he calls and looks for his aunt.

Exercises from 11 to 12 months

From 11 months to one yearSome of the early stimulation exercises recommended for this stage are as follows:

• Place his hands on a radio or lighted speaker, so that he perceives the vibrations of the music.
• Teach the child to smooth the sand in a bucket by flattening it and patting it.
• Having fun in the mirror will teach him to distinguish image from reality. Have him look in the mirror, he will soon start laughing and touching his portrait.
• Stimulate activities with the same toy, telling her: "Hug the baby", "Rock the baby", "Feed the baby".
• Give him the opportunity to join you when you do the cleaning, for example, you can give him a rag to help you in any other activity you feel he is capable of.

Bibliographic references:

• Rovati, L. (2017). Early stimulation exercises for your baby from 0 to 6 months. Babies and more.
• Britton, W., Guerrero, S., Huanqui, M. and Malque, E. (2009). EARLY STIMULATION GUIDE FOR THE FACILITATOR. Adara Peru