Stage 2

Your child has moved to the second stage, having mastered the program of the first one? Master the exercises and get acquainted with the everyday routine of the second stage.

Is this your first diagnosis and you can turn over from back to belly?
Take your time. Test your child with the exercises of the first stage. Try exercises 1.4 and 1.5. Are you confident? Does the child roll on belly on both sides? If yes, welcome to the second stage. If there are difficulties with the implementation, it is worth to linger at the first stage until exercises 1.4 and 1.5 are performed well and a turn on the second side appears.

So, your child confidently turns from back to belly.

Tasks of the second stage

1. The development of activity on belly (turns, crawls, manipulations).
2. Preparation for sitting and crawling on all fours.
3. Blocking turns from belly to back (if any).

Problems of the second stage

1. Blocking the development of body turns to the sides on belly and army crawling due to turns from belly to back.
2. Low mobility.
3. A turn from back to belly using only one side.
4. The practice of sitting with the inability to crawl.
5. Prolonged comfortable sitting position.

Should a child army crawl? It is a very controversial question that divides all specialists into two groups. Unfortunately, now there are more those who consider that this skill is redundant. It is a deep delusion. Namely army crawling strengthens the back and prepares the child for sitting; arms, and legs for alternate coordinated actions. Here our method comes in fundamental contradiction with the acknowledged axioms, which argue that firstly you need to sit and only then to turn and, especially, to move.

If you make a child, who does not know how to army crawl, sit – you should not be surprised with their round back. Does the child learn to walk for a very long time, are there any difficulties with coordination? Do they slouch? Have they got X-shaped legs or a flat foot? Most likely, the child was not given a chance to learn how to army crawl. How? It is obvious. It is enough not to let a child go on the floor, make to sit and stand ahead of time.

Before teaching a child to crawl, it is necessary to teach them to twist and turn on belly. This is even more important if a child turns on their back or from belly to side. In this case, the stimulation of turns on belly should be accompanied by measures that do not allow a turn from belly to back. Unfortunately, this fundamental condition contradicts almost all known tables of motor development.

Why is a turn on back at this stage of development dangerous and should be blocked?
For a healthy child, a turn on back delays the development of crawling and often eliminates it. The possible consequences are weak back and disturbed movement coordination.

For a child with a central nervous system lesion such turn most often occurs unconsciously based on impaired muscle tone, and only eventually turns into the usual conscious movement. The motivation is simple – it’s easier to be on back, and the child is not accustomed to resting on belly with their head on the surface. As a result, the child does not like to lie and act in any way on belly, neurological problems are exacerbated. Children, who are in such a situation on the floor, often learn a surrogate way of moving – perform rifts and sometimes precisely use it. Unfortunately, this development makes it virtually impossible to move to the crawling stage on all fours. This is a deadlock.

When can a child turn over on back?

It is possible not earlier than the turns on belly, army crawling and crawling over obstacles will be mastered. In this case, a child should prefer to play on the floor in a position on their belly. If a child, having reached the toy, always turns on back with it, there should be done measures to prevent turns.

Such recommendations may seem redundant. However, the harder situation, the more important their implementation.

So, if a child turns over on belly, but can’t do currently harmful turns on back or blockages on the side, we begin to stimulate simultaneously turns on belly and army crawl. If there are turns on back and blockages on the side, then, first of all, in the position on belly these actions are blocked and this way turns on belly are stimulated. Crawling stimulation should be added to the exercises when the child masters 180 degrees turns on belly.

The ability to move forward on belly by 50 cm can be considered as the beginning of army crawling. The crawling pattern can be different: only at the expense of the arms (one arm), with the participation of the legs, with the hand being stuck under the chest/belly or backward. We continue the crawl stimulation until the child begins to overcome independently meter of distance. From this moment, we replace the crawl stimulation with the frequent execution of the «snake», i.e. we begin to master the sitting position.
Using a sitting position for a child who does not know how to turn over on belly is harmful.
A child who knows how to turn independently 180 degrees on belly can be seated in two positions without harm, both with an inclination forward and resting on hands: on the parent’s hip and in «snake» position, i.e. to the positions where the back is in a relatively flat, unbent position. The sitting positions with the back on the surface behind aren’t useful for any person and child in particular. A long sitting position, leaning back, is harmful to any child and catastrophic for a non-crawling child. Feeding chairs, strollers, parent's knees contribute to the formation of problems with the musculoskeletal system, where developing poor posture is the easiest. For children with perinatal disorder of the central nervous system, this practice is one of the main reasons for the formation of problems with movements.
After a child has begun to army crawl independently, it is necessary to complicate and diversify this process with the help of obstacles on the way. During their overcoming, a child will be forced to raise the body higher, leaning on hands. It is good preparation for standing up on all fours with sitting in the «snake» position. As obstacles, you can use any household items: sofa cushions, pillows, some toys, parents' feet. It is very convenient and effective to make obstacles from sewer pipes with a diameter of 50 and 100 mm.

EXERCISES OF THE SECOND STAGE

2.1 Stimulation of turns on belly.
2.2 Stimulation of army crawling.
2.3 «Snake».
2.4 «Monkey».

2.1 Stimulating body turning to the sides

2.1.1
A child lies on belly (on the floor), facing the wall in a corner. We play «Peekaboo», put the toy behind and on the side, and leave the child alone without toys.

2.1.2
Stimulation of body turning to the sides with traction behind the forearm. Gently pull the child by the forearm, staying behind from the side.

2.2 Stimulation of army crawling

2.2.1. Crawling stimulation
Starting position: a child lies on the floor, adult stands on the knees between the legs of the child. Grasping the shin, you should slowly bring one of the legs forward as far as possible, make support for the foot with the knee, release the hind leg. If the child pushes off by the foot and crawls forward, we repeat the exercise on the other side. If a forward movement does not occur, we move forward the second leg, making support for it with the knee. If, in this case, the child does not push off, we do the next exercise, periodically trying to repeat the previous one.

2.2.2. Crawling out of the «snake»
Grasping the body, we make the child sit on one hip, bend forward, making support on widely spread arms (hands or forearms). The front leg is bent outward, and the back leg is brought inward. Holding the child by the hips, we press the pelvis to the surface, maintaining this position for 5-20 seconds. The child’s goal is to get out forward, crawling over the front leg.

2.3. «Snake»
In this exercise, the initial actions are similar to the starting position in the exercise «Crawling out of the «snake» (2.2.2). The differences are in the stimulation of support on the hands of straight arms with an increase in the time of such support. Firstly, sides change happens every 5-10 seconds, then less often. Attempts to creep out are suppressed by the fixation of the pelvis. As the child adapts to this situation, alternating stomping hands movements appear. Gradually, the child masters the manipulations first with one, then with two hands. Usually, this phase coincides with the ability to crawl through volumetric obstacles. Together these elements indicate readiness for sitting without hands and standing up on all fours.

2.4. «Monkey»
In the second stage options «monkey» 1.5.2 and 1.5.3 (first stage) have increasing load (larger angles of child'’s inclination).

EVERYDAY ROUTINE. EVERYDAY ROUTINE COMPONENTS OF THE SECOND STAGE

1. Self-activity.
2. The position in the hands of an adult.
3. Sitting: on the floor, on a chair, in a stroller, on an adult’s knees, on a potty.
4. Positions for feeding.
5. Positions for swimming.

Self-activity

We create a safe environment on the floor. Small objects, sharp corners, hanging wires (iron) and plants, poorly fixed curtains, stairs, and other potential dangers must be considered.

Lying on back and belly, (including on the adult’s knees), on the floor for at least 50% of the waking time. Artificial restrictions on the area of crawling (playpens) are undesirable. The exception of turns from belly to back with the inability to army-crawl.

Positions on the hands of an adult

«Monkey»

«Oblique position»

Wearing in a SLING or an Ergo Child Carrier

Seating

If a child does not know how to turn 180 degrees on belly, any sitting is excluded.

If the body turning to the sides on belly is mastered, but there is no army crawling, sitting is possible only for a short time, only with a forward inclination and with support on widely spread arms (crawling out of the «snake»).
If crawling is in the process of mastering, we use the «snake», increasing the sitting time and stimulating the game with one hand. We also use riding on the adult’s hip with a forward inclination and resting on the forearm.

Sitting on a chair and a stroller is acceptable for a confidently army crawling child. But we must use only A RIGHT HIGHCHAIR and A RIGHT STROLLER.

Feeding positions

If a child can’t army crawl, it is necessary to feed half-lying on hands or half-sitting on feet. If a child can crawl, we feed them in a «snake» position, top on the hip with a forward inclination, in a right chair, or a right stroller.

Bathing position

A child should lie on belly in the bath with the feet towards the sink with 1-10 cm of water under the chin, bath foam, and floating toys. Such conditions motivate active support on the hands and further standing on all fours.