Does your baby get upset when you touch them in certain spots? Does your little one seem stiff or perhaps they are still scrunched up a few weeks since their birth. Maybe tummy time is really hard and your baby seems to hate it.
Your baby might have some body tightness affecting their ability to be comfortable in various positions and this may impact their development.
What is baby body tightness? How can babies develop body tightness? These are such important questions – let’s dive in!
What is baby body tightness and how was it developed?
You see everything is connected! We have fascia running all over our muscles from our head to our toes. If you think about a baby that is squished in the uterus, they have tons of space in the beginning.
Eventually they get to a place where they are so big, they can’t move as much. At this stage they may get stuck in one position where they can’t move as much as they normally move. Maybe they are stuck in a position for a few weeks. So many things can happen to create tightness in the uterus.
Think about yourself. Have you ever had a knot in your shoulder where you slept wrong or maybe went to pick something up and tweaked your neck? You find yourself massaging the spot, trying to work out the kink and it can be so distracting. Babies and children can have the same tightness develop anywhere in their body.
Babies are meant to be pretty loosey goosey. You should be able to easily raise your baby’s arms over their head and move their knees to their belly. Think of those adorable newborn baby pictures where babies are put in so many positions so easily. Babies with body tightness can experience discomfort that makes capturing those photos quite the challenge. They might arch away, not want to be held, or push away while feeding.
How can you tell if your baby is experiencing body tightness?
Your babies might hold their hands in tight fists or may seem unable to relax certain muscles. There are times that your babies are having difficulties letting go of an object. You will also notice that their legs might cross or stiffen when you pick them up.
Do you want to know if your baby has body tightness and what can you do if they are? My Holistic Baby Development course helps you with assessing your baby for body tightness. I show you exercises you can start doing to resolve that body tightness. And as a bonus, you will also learn about your baby’s development from 0-12 months and have access to my virtual Babies @ Play classes. You can join and learn more about the course here.
I did a video about this topic, you can watch it here.
If you are local to Hamilton or Toronto, Ontario, come and see me for some in-person infant craniosacral therapy – you can learn more about those here.
