Get these and easily give your baby sensory integration training at home

When the baby is still in the mother's body, his perception has actually developed. The squeezing of the birth canal during childbirth is also a powerful sensory stimulation, which lays the foundation for the baby's sensory integration development after birth. Babies under 1 year old certainly also need sensory integration training, because it can help babies identify themselves and the surrounding world through various sensory channels such as vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch, vestibular sense and proprioception, realize sensory information integration, promote brain development, and develop intelligence. So, what is sensory integration? How to conduct sensory integration training for babies under 1 year old? Today, we will introduce several practical sensory integration training tips that can be carried out at home.

What is sensory integration

The sensory integration theory was first proposed by Dr. Ayers, a clinical psychologist at the University of Southern California, in 1969. Sensory integration is a learning process in which the brain and body coordinate with each other. The body effectively uses its senses in the environment, and uses different sensory pathways, such as vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch, vestibular sense, and proprioception, to obtain information from the environment and input it into the brain. The brain then processes the information and responds adaptively. Sensory integration disorders can cause problems such as inattention, delayed language development, slow movements, and difficulty balancing.

Visual training for babies under 1 year old is full of curiosity and observation of the surroundings, which is very important for the development of vision and brain. Generally, babies start to have depth perception at 6 months old, and 80% of the information about the environment received by babies after 10 months comes from vision. Therefore, it is very important to prepare toys suitable for the characteristics of the age of babies under 1 year old, such as various rattles, building blocks, black and white cards, and color cards. Babies under 3 months old can lie on their backs and display toys from left to right and from right to left directly above the baby's head. Babies with better head control after 3 months can lie on their stomachs and display toys from left to right and from right to left directly in front of the baby's eyes to attract the baby's attention. These trainings can not only promote the baby's visual development, but also promote the development of the baby's neck muscles.

Hearing

When babies are just born, their auditory nerves have not yet been myelinated, but they can still distinguish the voices of their caregivers. You can train your baby's hearing through percussion toys such as rattles, small musical instruments, etc. Parents can communicate with their babies in a slow, clear, and simple way of talking to children, and use vivid and lively sounds to express the objects, people, and actions that appear in the communication. Babies will listen carefully and learn.

Taste and smell

Babies under 6 months old are mainly breastfed, and complementary foods are added at 4-6 months, gradually transitioning from liquid and paste to semi-solid and solid foods, such as various rice noodles, egg custard, fruit puree, vegetable puree, meat puree, small noodles, etc., so that babies can get different taste and smell experiences in the process of tasting complementary foods, which promotes the development of the baby's taste and smell. Note that babies under 1 year old do not need to add salt, sugar and other seasonings when adding complementary foods. Encourage the baby to eat independently and encourage the baby to grab food by himself, so as to prepare for eating with a spoon after 1 year old.

Touch

After birth, babies will use their mouths to seek for food, and use their hands to touch objects to gain knowledge of the properties of objects, thereby gaining experience in feeling things in the outside world. Parents can use their hands to directly touch or use small brushes, tactile balls, etc. to touch different parts of the baby's body, such as the baby's chest, abdomen, arms, thighs and other body parts, to achieve tactile adaptation of the baby. Babies at this stage like to suck on pacifiers or fingers to relax and gain a sense of psychological security. By letting the baby touch various small balls or objects of different textures, the baby's attention can be distracted, allowing the baby to gain rich tactile experience and improve tactile sensitivity. It should be noted that sharp and pointed objects should not be placed around the baby to avoid injury, and coins, small beads and other objects should not be placed to prevent the baby from swallowing them by mistake.

Vestibular and proprioceptive sense

The development of vestibular and proprioceptive senses is of great value to the development of the baby's intelligence, balance, coordination, and self-protection ability. Gross motor exercises can promote the development of the brain's vestibular balance sense, and can help the baby practice turning over, such as turning from supine to prone, and from prone to supine; after the baby's head control is stable, it can be transitioned from horizontal to vertical holding; from belly crawling to four-point crawling; practice changing from sitting to standing posture, etc. When doing these activities, parents should pay attention to the rhythm and speed of the movements, and encourage the baby more when he tries hard. Do not pull the baby's arms and lower limbs too hard. Too fast and too violent movements may cause harm to the baby. Crawling has a huge promoting effect on the development of the baby's vestibular balance sense in the brain. By practicing four-point crawling, the coordination of the baby's limbs can be enhanced, and the baby can better respond to various commands issued by the brain.

Have you learned these simple sensory integration training methods? I hope every baby grows up healthy and happy!