Gymnastics for children - from newborns from the first days of life to 1 year

Choosing the type of children's gymnastics

Health is unthinkable without movement. And if it is sometimes difficult for us to persuade ourselves to do exercises once again, then children are happy to do it themselves. Once a child starts walking, there is no stopping him. The baby continuously explores the world around him through sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch.

In the first months of life, the child is limited in movement and cognition. But the more varied the movements, the more varied the information obtained through them. So the mental development of a child directly depends on his physical activity.

The dependence here is very simple: a) sedentary muscles, bones, ligaments and joints do not receive enough stimulation, as a result of which b) they do not acquire the tone necessary for further growth, which c) slows down the development of motor skills and abilities, and this leads to d) limitation of capabilities learn new things about the world.

Fortunately, we have gymnastics - it will help eliminate the baby’s lack of movement and create favorable conditions for his health and development. Gymnastics will also help maintain emotional contact between mother and baby. Mom's loving hands, her gentle strokes, her gentle voice when she reads nursery rhymes to the baby during classes - all this makes the baby very happy.

Infants can only participate in passive exercise programs. This:

1) gymnastics (physical exercises);

2) gymnastics on the ball;

3) aqua gymnastics.

You can read about massage, which is also considered a type of passive gymnastics, at this link. And here we will talk about why each of the listed types of gymnastics is interesting and useful.

Gymnastics is good for a wide variety of movements. Exercise improves appetite, digestion, sleep, deepens breathing (thereby developing the lungs), causes increased blood flow to the muscles, to the bones with which they are connected, which promotes their growth. They tone the body and give the baby a great boost of energy and joy. The baby learns to feel his body, understand its signals and be in harmony with his physical self.

Up to a year, it is advisable to precede gymnastics with your baby with a massage session. It warms up and prepares the muscles for stress during physical exercise, which will be the final stage of the massage.

Hand massage

Experts advise starting massage of children's hands with working on the hands. You can gently knead and gently pull each of your baby’s fingers. Such movements help children develop fine motor skills and speech.

Then we move to the palm and stroke its entire surface in a circular motion.

After which we continue the massage: gently bend and straighten the arms at the wrists.

We gradually move to the area of the forearm and shoulder: with one hand we carefully support the child’s hand, and with the other we stroke from the base of the hand towards the armpit, and then return down the outside of the arm. We also perform all these manipulations with the child’s second hand, carefully moving it along the muscles. Experts recommend repeating each movement 3 to 5 times.

It is useful to lift the child’s arms up and gently move them in a circle, and then shake them a little. This massage helps relieve excess tension in the upper limbs and improves lymphatic drainage.

Gymnastics on the ball

Children of any age really enjoy exercises on the ball. But in infancy, in addition to the pleasure of activities, we can safely talk about their undoubted benefits.

Reduce muscle hypertonicity;
Improve the functioning of internal organs;
Train the vestibular apparatus;
Strengthens the muscles of the back, abdomen and limbs;
Reduce discomfort during colic.

A set of exercises for children helps strengthen the back muscles, especially around the spine, making the spine strong and flexible. And this is the key to the normal functioning of the nervous system and the free distribution of nerve impulses throughout the body.

Physical therapy for children ONLINE

Childhood is the most important period for their formation. Poor posture and foot placement occur in 60-80% of children. Such children quickly get tired at school, become inattentive, irritable, walk little, and often get sick.

Who is the course suitable for:

children of preschool age (from 6 years old);
schoolchildren.

The class consists of a warm-up, basic exercises and relaxation exercises.

How does a physical therapy session work?

The lesson is held via video link
Only live communication
All you need is internet access, comfortable sportswear and 5 minutes to register.
The duration of classes varies from 15 minutes to 45.

Basic principles of ball gymnastics

Strengthening the back muscles - place the child on his stomach.
Strengthening the abdominal muscles - place the child on his back.
Strengthening muscles during an umbilical hernia - we place the child on his back.
General relaxation of the child - usually on the stomach.
Correction of muscles in case of asymmetry of muscle tone - tilting the ball in the direction where increased tone is observed.

The optimal diameter of the ball for practicing with an infant is 60–65 cm. In infants, in order to reduce increased tone, the ball is lowered slightly; in order, on the contrary, to tone the body, they inflate it tightly. Apart from those common to all types of gymnastics, there are practically no specific contraindications for exercising on a ball, with the exception of an unhealed umbilical wound. You can start classes as early as one month of age.

Don’t worry if at first both you and your baby feel a little unsure and tense: you both will quickly get used to it if you practice regularly and without forcing things.

You will be surprised how quickly your baby’s body will react to such activities: the results of exercises on the ball will be noticeable almost immediately. The baby will become more active, stronger, will no longer be afraid of changes in the position of his body, his sleep and appetite will improve, and he will receive a positive emotional charge.

Face massage

The baby's facial muscles often experience severe tension when crying or feeding. To relax them and gently prepare them for the speaking process, you can massage them regularly. All movements are very gentle, using your fingertips. Gentle pinching movements improve blood circulation in the cheek area. They can also be stroked: from the area of the wings of the nose towards the ears.

The forehead is massaged from the bridge of the nose to the temples, through the eyebrow area.

With a gentle movement of her fingers, the mother helps the baby smile, stretching the corners of the lips in different directions. Another movement you can use to relax your jaw is to place your finger in the chin socket and gently pull back your lower lip.

Gentle massage of the baby's ears is another useful technique. It activates many biologically active points located throughout the surface of the shell.

Exercise technique

We hold the child’s legs from above, press them against the ball, and the other hand fixes the back. We make soft, rocking movements: back and forth, left and right, circular movements left and right. There is no need to tilt the child forward very much, more emphasis is placed towards the legs. As the child gets used to the ball, the amplitude can be increased. You can also make movements in two planes - back and forth and up and down at the same time. The same movements are performed on the back as on the stomach; they should begin no earlier than 3 months: back and forth, left and right, circular movements in one direction and the other.

Baby on tummy. We place our hands on the baby's back and lightly press him against the ball. You can hold the baby by the back with your right hand, and use your left hand to fix the left leg in the area of the knee joint. We begin to slowly rock the baby forward, backward, in a circle, so that there is a slight vibration.
In the same position, rock the baby towards you and away from you, with slight vibration if the baby is already holding his head.
Baby on the back. We hold it with our hands by the stomach and in the shin area, or you can fix the tummy with your right hand, and the left leg with your left. Slowly, when swinging the ball towards us, we bend the baby’s legs at the knee joints, and when moving the ball away from us, we straighten it. Gently rock the child while lying on his back in a head down position. It’s good if the baby straightens his arms at the same time, this reduces the tone of the flexor muscles. Now we try to perform the same movement, first only with the right leg, then only with the left leg.
The baby is on his tummy again. We hold his hands and rock him back and forth. Gradually raise the arms extended forward so that the baby lifts his chest away from the ball.
In the same position, we hold the baby in the lumbar region with our right hand, and with our left we try to put him in the “frog pose”, spreading his knees wide. In this position, we rock forward and backward, creating vibration. This is not only relaxing, but also very beneficial for the development of the hip joints.

While practicing on the ball, talk to your baby, praise him, sing songs or tell jokes. If your child doesn’t like something or is already tired, stop classes and continue another time. The time for practicing on the ball is not strictly regulated. If you and your child enjoy it, do as much as you want throughout the day.

Second complex (age 3-4 months)

Hand massage (stroking).
Passive crossing of arms over chest.
Massage of the lower extremities (rubbing, stroking, kneading).
Back massage (kneading and stroking).
Active-passive exercise - turn to the right from back to stomach.
Reflex exercise - swimmer position.
Massage (rubbing and stroking) the abdomen.
Massage (patting and rubbing) of the feet.
Reflex exercises for the feet.
“Boxing” - passive extension and flexion of the arms.
Chest massage (vibration).
Turn left from back to stomach.

For all exercises, the starting position is horizontal.

Aqua gymnastics

Children are very accepting of this relatively new method of physical development. You can start exercises at home, in the bathroom and make them the final stage after massage and gymnastics or a separate lesson.

Swimming from the first months of a child’s life is very useful not only for physical development, but also for strengthening the nervous system. The baby is immersed in an environment to which he is accustomed, and this gives him a feeling of psychological comfort. Exercises in water do not overload the child and are especially recommended for children with psychomotor development disorders or diseases of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems.

Swimming:

strengthens the immune system;
normalizes sleep;
regulates metabolism;
stimulates the gastrointestinal tract;
saturates the blood with oxygen;
trains the cardiovascular system;
forms correct breathing;
affects the nervous system.

The main thing in classes is their gradualness and systematicity. While the baby gets used to the procedure, you can be in the bathroom with him; usually both the adult and the baby get great pleasure from this.

Basic principles of aqua gymnastics

Comfortable water temperature in the first lessons is 37 - 37.5 degrees, with a decrease in it by 3 degrees until the end of the first month of swimming, and another 2 degrees in the third. For those who are bolder: please remember that the temperature should not fall below 28 degrees - in this case we are talking about hardening.
The air temperature in the bathroom is 20 - 22 degrees, the door is open. Classes are held 40–60 minutes after feeding and 30 minutes before it.
Duration of classes - 5 - 20 minutes.
Water should be without additives (potassium permanganate, essential oils, herbal decoctions, salt), since baths with these additives are therapeutic and are designed for a lying baby, and aqua gymnastics is a set of active exercises with a fairly intense load on the muscles, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems.
During exercises in water, the baby's ears may become submerged in water; after exercise, do not forget to dry them.
The duration of classes in water for babies under 4 months in addition to a general massage is about 5 minutes, for older children - up to 10 minutes.
As an independent type of exercise, aqua gymnastics is carried out for 15 – 20 minutes.
Contraindications are: open umbilical wound, skin diseases, poor health and mood of the child, acute respiratory viral and other infections in the active phase (exacerbations), acute period of encephalopathy, rapid increase in intracranial hypertension, convulsions, extreme prematurity of children (rapid cooling) and general contraindications related to the purpose of gymnastics and massage.

Recommendations for carrying out exercise therapy

Physical therapy begins in the second month of the child, alternating with massage. After six months, exercise therapy is first performed, then massage as a rest.
A child who is feeling unwell is not given exercise therapy; treatment is first applied.
Children enjoy massage and exercise. If displeasure is shown, they distract him with a toy, calm him down or pick him up and find out the cause of the baby’s anxiety. You get used to the rhythm of classes gradually, and the least favorite exercise is performed at the very end of the procedure with a minimum number of repetitions.
You should not be overzealous, since the baby will remember the discomfort and pain for a long time, and will cry even before the start of exercise therapy and massage. During massage, hyperemia should be uniform, red spots and bruises should be absent.
A complex procedure of exercise therapy and massage is carried out 0.5-2 hours after bathing and eating, in a bright and ventilated room with no drafts and at a temperature of 20-22˚C, on a changing table with a free approach from three sides.
Before the procedure, wash your hands thoroughly and warm them up, remove all metal objects (bracelets, rings, watches) to prevent damage to the baby’s skin. There should be no abrasions or wounds on the hands, and nails on the fingers. Rough hands are generously lubricated with baby oil.
Try not to use ointments and creams for massage. Although this issue remains controversial to this day.
During a massage, only those parts of the body that are being massaged are exposed to a child up to a month old; after a month, the child is left naked. For exercise therapy, the baby wears a T-shirt with short sleeves, a T-shirt, and panties with diapers.

Aqua gymnastics technique

You should start teaching your baby to swim slowly and calmly. At first, we try to develop swimming reflexes, which begin to fade after birth if the child does not swim. At first, we hold the baby with both hands: one hand supports the head and upper back, and the other supports the chest area (both on the back and on the stomach). Make sure that the child's body is in the water, maintaining a horizontal position.

Classes begin with sliding on the surface of the water (along the bath, figure eight) and rocking. Your baby's ears may be in the water; when swimming on your chest, support your chin to prevent water from getting into your mouth. When you notice the appearance of rowing movements, you can remove one hand. Now you only support the baby's head. This creates conditions for free movement of arms and legs when swimming in a position on the stomach and back.

If the baby enjoys exercising in the water, you can begin to teach him to hold his breath: pour water on the baby’s head and face with water taken from the bath with your hand. The baby will close his eyes and hold his breath for two to three seconds. Repeat 3-4 times at each lesson.

When the child is already sufficiently trained, learns to hold his breath and masters the skill of rowing with his hands, you can teach the baby to swim independently. But this is a topic for another conversation, but for now your main goal is to simply make friends with water.

The set of exercises we offer is designed to be performed independently at home.

Backstroke. In this case, the adult supports the back of the child’s head with one hand, and the other hand is under his back. Linear, zigzag movements are made back and forth, with the legs pushing away from the edges of the bath.
Swimming on your stomach. Until the child has learned to hold his head well, his head and neck are supported on both sides. Older children are supported in a prone position with one hand under the chin (like a “bucket”), and the body is held with the other hand.
Sidestroke. The child's head and torso are placed on the forearm of one adult's hand, and the baby's hand is held with the other hand.
Older children can walk and bounce in the bathtub with the support of an adult under their arms.

Don’t forget that the most important thing in aquagymnastics (like any other) is the combination of benefit and pleasure, so don’t try to do it “right,” listen to your baby’s wishes, improvise and just enjoy the minutes of such pleasant communication. If you are not overly tense, your movements will become soft and confident, the baby will not show anxiety, and the exercises will bring only positive emotions to both of you.

Eighth complex (age 2-3 years)

Walking along a stick, rope or along a path whose width ranges from 5-10 cm.
Reach objects lying on the floor without bending your knees.
Raise your head and, in a lying position, look at the toy, which is lying on a chair or raised to a height of 25-30 cm.
Step over pencils, sticks, cubes, which are located at a distance of 20-30 cm from each other.
Climb through a stick, rope, into a hoop, under a bench or chair, while arching your back.
Lift a pencil lying on the floor with your toes.

Classes are conducted every other day or daily, about half an hour after breakfast or nap. Classes last 12-15 minutes, the child is dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. All exercises are performed on the mat barefoot, while keeping the window or transom open. For classes you need a jump rope or rope, a hoop (diameter 45-50 cm), a stick (length 1-1.5 m, diameter 2.5 cm), ball, cubes, skittles, and blocks.

Other types of children's gymnastics

So you have become acquainted with the most reliable and proven methods. However, there are several other types of gymnastics that parents may be familiar with: baby yoga, dynamic gymnastics and mom yoga.

In the first case, we are talking about the manual practice of getting rid of possible birth injuries in the first two weeks after the birth of a child, which is carried out only by a highly qualified specialist. The second is a set of acrobatic exercises aimed at correcting muscle tone and developing coordination and the vestibular apparatus; training takes place in special classes with an instructor. In the third case, we are talking about mother’s yoga classes in the presence of the baby with a small number of asanas, in which the baby can participate without experiencing any physical activity, but simply maintaining contact with the mother.

Thus, all these types of gymnastics cannot be done at home without preparation. If you are interested in these types of physical activity and are determined to try them, first consult with a pediatrician, neurologist and orthopedic surgeon, weigh the pros and cons, and take training from a certified instructor.

Movement is life! And great joy

We talked about the importance of physical activity in the first year of a child’s life and found out that gymnastics can minimize the negative consequences of movement deficiency in an infant. Movement is directly related to mental development at this age, since the baby receives basic information about the world through sensory channels of perception. Gymnastics in all its diversity gives impetus to the enrichment and expansion of these channels. And the more opportunities a child has to learn, the more complete the picture of the world is formed in his mind and the more successfully he will cope with the tasks that life will set for him.

No matter how you work out with your baby, no matter what type of gymnastics you choose for yourself, the main thing is that you remember why you started working out with your child. If there are indications for therapeutic massage, you should entrust the matter to the hands of a professional. If they are not there and you decide to practice at home, then this is because you want your baby to be healthy and happy.

Let home gymnastics be not only and not so much a good physical workout for your child, but a way to live wonderful moments of harmony, mutual understanding and quiet joy with your baby. We wish you and your baby health!

Article on our Yandex Zen channel

Therapeutic exercise for children under one year old

The goals of physical education are the prevention and treatment of childhood diseases, raising a healthy child. Physical education has a very beneficial effect on both the physical and mental development of children. Tasks and mechanisms of exercise therapy conducted for children of the first year of life.

The general objectives of exercise therapy for a healthy child in the first year of life are:

strengthening the child’s body;
normalization of muscle tone;
development of the child’s psyche, motor skills, speech in accordance with his age period.

To accomplish these tasks, various means of exercise therapy are used. The main ones are: therapeutic massage, physical exercises, therapeutic body positions. Natural environmental factors (water, sun, air) are also essential.

Mechanisms of action and features of exercise therapy in children under 1 year of age

The therapeutic effect of physical exercise can be divided into four main processes: stimulating, trophic, compensatory and normalizing effects. Exercise therapy for children who have not yet turned one year old consists of reflexive, passive and active exercises. The movements that a child makes in response to any external irritation are called reflex exercises. These movements are unconscious. If the person working with the child does the exercises for him, i.e. the child is passive at this moment, then such exercises are called passive. And if a child does the exercises himself, does everything on his own, then, accordingly, these are active exercises. Physical education for children is also complemented by massage.

Contraindications for prescribing exercise therapy for children under 1 year of age

acute febrile illnesses;
rickets during the height of the disease with symptoms of hyperesthesia;
severe forms of malnutrition (atrophy);
purulent and other acute inflammatory diseases of subcutaneous fatty tissue, lymph nodes, muscles and bones;
diseases accompanied by brittle and painful bones;
congenital heart defects occurring with severe cyanosis;
various forms of hemorrhagic diathesis (hemophilia);
acute nephritis;
acute hepatitis;
extensive umbilical, femoral, inguinal and scrotal hernias with significant prolapse of the abdominal organs or with a pronounced tendency to strangulation.