Physical therapy

My baby sees a physical therapist once a week. Primarily we work on gross motor skills. The therapist gives us activities to do throughout the day every day.

Rubbing hands and feet

I am going to put one of my crazy ideas here. I believe that it is important to rub my baby's hands and feet. We give him firm foot and hand massages whenever we are holding him. I can post abstracts as to why I came up with this, but briefly: It seems our kids have fewer nerves reporting from their periphery into their brain. The lack of these nerves contributes to their balance problems, coordination, sensory integration issues, gross motor deficits, and fine motor deficits. Stimulating the neurons that exist can cause more to grow (especially during certain developmental windows). My hunch (pretty much a total guess) is that this window of opportunity is probably most pronounced during 4-8 months.

We have been doing this for a week now (starting at 5 months). Since rubbing his feet, he has been baring weight just a tiny bit. Since rubbing his hands, his grip has gotten much stronger. It could be coincidence. But, I assume it can't do any harm. After all, I wish someone would chase me around giving hand a foot massages. :)

If anyone tries it, be sure and let me know whether you notice anything or if it is just my wishful thinking.