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Get up, stay up, ready to walk!
No sooner does he start to trudge than he already thinks of getting up like a grown-up. What energy the toddler deploys to move forward! With great victories and stumbling blocks. Under the amazed eye of his parents.
The desire to do as the grown-ups stimulate him
And hop ! One fine day, firmly planted on his feet, the baby unfolds and stands up, all alone, proud of his achievement. To get there, he needed the fond encouragement of his parents, an indispensable support to forge his confidence in himself and in the world around him. But an engine that we often forget to mention also propels it forward: the example. Since birth, the baby has seen lots of humans on two feet. He quickly understands that they move freely, that they are autonomous. This inevitably gives him the desire to leave this lying position… which does not offer the best viewing angle, with the ceiling as a background! He too dreams of becoming, like them, a bipedal. One day. When he has acquired the physical and motor faculties. Clémence Matéos, psychomotor therapist and author of “La motricité du bébé” (ed. Ph. Duval), explains this adventure to us. To recover, the child needs a great dorsal tone, which is built throughout the various stages of development of the first months: first on the back, he learned to hold his head. Then on his stomach, he built his back muscles, which will soon allow him to crawl, then to get on all fours, activating his legs. Then sit or kneel to exercise fine motor skills in the hands. He also needs to have acquired correct body awareness. Knowing, for example, that his hands belong to him (they are the ones he places in front of him in the event of a fall) and that his back supports him. Hence the importance of massages and rhymes around the body, such as the little beast that rises, flowered chin, etc., repeated every day.
Full of new sensations await him
Once up, full of new sensations await him, he who only knows the vertical position when carried in the reassuring arms of adults. His inner ear, the seat of balance, is no longer in the same position. Neither did his head and suddenly, his vision widens. He gains access to a more attractive environment … where people are finally in the right direction! On the physical side too, that changes everything: his center of gravity goes down, he has a support on the ground (his little foot) which is considerably reduced compared to the sitting position, or even more, lying down. Hence his fear sometimes of letting go of his hand, his feeling of imbalance, of dizziness. Hence his legs apart, his arms held in front or in a “candlestick”, his hands close to his ears. During these first attempts, the arms play an important role. Like the tightrope walker who uses his bar, called a pendulum, to balance himself on his wire, explains the psychomotor therapist. that’s why if we want to help him stay upright, we must especially not hold him by the hands above the head (we all do it, instinctively!): he finds himself with outstretched arms and thus eliminates their stabilizing role. Better to place your hands on his hips, arms and hands free. Once the achievement has been achieved, the toddler may not do it again for several weeks. Parents sometimes experience this as a “regression” and worry about it. It is, however, quite normal. He may have been scared, fallen on his buttocks. Some babies need to return to postures, seated or on all fours, which they master well, in order to be reassured of their own capacities, to perfect themselves before launching themselves again in the standing position. And then, for now, it is more efficient to get your ball on all fours or by crawling.
Respect your pace without skipping steps
Finally, new acquisitions such as the beginnings of language or fine motor skills may occupy him as a priority. In any case, he once tasted the bipedal position, he will inevitably return to it! The important thing at this stage is not to want to “skip the steps”. Depending on the children, standing up precedes a few weeks or appears at the same time as walking, which is acquired between 10-18 months, with an average at 13-14 months. If we put the child up too early when he is not able to do it on his own, it will slow down his motor skills. And yet, he seems happy to explore this new situation with you! In reality, he is well and truly blocked because, without the solid muscular foundations of the previous phases, he does not know how to get out of this posture on his own. He lets himself fall, at best on the buttocks, at worst quite stiff back. Rather, it is better to adopt the exciting role of observer and guide of his progress, and have fun, talk, let him move (in a secure environment) at his own pace!