Hi guys, this video is part two of a response to a viewer who wrote in concerned that her
eight-month-old baby is too heavy, and is basically fat, people have been telling her
that. Nice! And is worried that her baby’s not walking yet and wanted some tips for walking.
So in a prior video, I addressed the issue of how much milk or formula and pureed baby
foods an eight-month-old baby should be eating, and in this video I’m talking about walking.
What can you do to encourage your baby to develop the gross motor skill he or she needs
to walk? And take it from me, my babies walked so late, between 15 and 18 months, can you
believe it? Meanwhile I had a sister whose baby was walking at about 7 months, so you
know what, all babies are different and I don’t think this really means much long
term. One of my late babies is actually a pretty fast runner now so I don’t think
it’s so significant. But anyway, here are some things when it comes to walking. The
different stages of babies in terms of when they walk and what you can do to make sure
you’re giving them every opportunity to develop muscle strength and their gross motor
skills, so let’s start. First of all, sitting up. When your baby sits up that’s a huge
thing, your baby’s able to sit up on his own or her own without a boppy, that means
they’re developing a lot of core muscle strength, and it’s those same muscles that
they’re going to use when they begin to walk. Secondly, crawling. This is a really,
really important thing. Your baby is practicing using their arms and legs in a coordinated
way just as they will do when they walk. Crawling is a very important part of your baby’s
development. Um, it’s recommended that you have your baby crawl all around obviously
in a safe place where they won’t hit their head or anything, and praise them for doing
so because they’re probably getting pretty tired out. After that, pulling up. Pulling
up, babies will start to hold on to the wall, hold on to little things and pull themselves
up and they’re developing the strength in their legs and in their arms, so that’s
key on the road to walking. And after that is walking with help, you’ll be able to
take your baby’s hands, walk along with them, praise them and they’ll start to get
a sense of their balance and how it feels just to be on those two feet. Finally, cruising.
Babies will start to walk around holding onto things on their own, and basically getting
ready to start to stand and balance for a few moments on their own which is the final
stage, standing without walking! They’ll start to, they’ll stand up, stand for a
few minutes, and they’ll topple down, and that means they’re basically really close.
With each one of these stages, what’s recommended is that you, you know, make it fun, make it
part of your daily life, encourage your baby to do it, encourage your baby to get strong,
make it a game, clap, praise them, don’t ever criticize them, that’s such an important
thing. They know what they need to do, they were made that way. God made them that way,
saying that they need to cruise or crawl, none of it’s a bother, they’re being babies
and they’re being little people. So get into it, make it fun, praise them, encourage
them to do it, and sooner or later your baby will start walking. And going back to my view
who wrote in, who’s so worried, Paulina, about her baby being too chubby. Well you
know what? Once your baby’s walking around all day he’s going to be burning like a
gazillion calories and I’m sure all of that will work itself out as long as he’s on
a healthy diet. So thank you so much for writing into CloudMom, I hope this was helpful and
I will see you guys next time.