Pedriatic physiotherapy for babies
Babies ( 0 – 2 years)
In the period after birth until the moment the child starts to walk, your baby passes a series of motoric milestones. A delay or disturbance in the passing of these milestones may be caused by a orthopedic, motoric problem or disorder.
Delay or disturbance in the motoric development
Every child develops in its own, unique way. However, every child passes through a serie of stages in a specific order. Parents can keep an eye on many things. When in doubt, you are welcome for advice in our practice or you can consult your family doctor or a child health specialist.
Milestones:
3 months: raising of the head and leaning on the elbows
7 months : rolling to left and right side
10 months: moving forward by crawling
12 months : rising to stand
16 – 18 months : walking free
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Flattening of the head
Nowadays babies are put to sleep on their back. This has led to a significant decrease of cot death (SIDS). The drawback is a unilateral pressure on the baby’s head. Thereby the backside of the skull is flattened and the facial side is pushed forward. This often causes asymmetry of the head (see the drawings).
In case the child does not have a preferential poise but stretches itself, a flattening of the back of the head may be the result.
During physiotherapywe stimulate the baby to look in the non-preferred direction. We also train the muscles in the neck and give specific advice. This prevents the increase of the asymmetry and could make the use of a helmet redundant.
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The cry baby
For parents it is difficult to deal with a baby that cries excessively. Together with the parents we will make observations and give advice.
Bottom shuffling
Why does a baby scoot/shuffle on its bottom? It is important to find out why a baby is scooting on its bottom and whether therapy is necessary. Unless there is an underlying problem, therapy is not necessary.
Walking free
Most children can walk before they are 16 month old. There is no ground for physiotherapy when there are signs that the child can start to walk any moment soon. When in doubt, we can give advice. Often a short therapy will suffice. This prevents frustrations for the baby.
However, in case the child is 18 months old and is still unable to walk, pediatric physiotherapy is urgently recommended.
