The development of milestones varies from baby to baby. If your baby isn’t sitting on their own close to nine months, this may be a sign of poor core muscle development. Frequent short bursts of Tummy-Time and encouraging your baby to move and kick about freely whilst on the floor is a great way to help develop these muscles.

Baby’s need plenty of tummy time to develop and strengthen their core and neck muscles. Most babies start to crawl between 6 and 12 months and some babies do not crawl at all. They go straight to standing, cruising and walking. However, crawling is an important milestone as it teaches the baby to use both sides of the body and helps them strengthen their core, arm and leg muscles, as well as using both left and right sides together.

For toddlers, walking can be a very complex skill because many components are needed. Components such as good core muscle development, balancing briefly on one (either) leg, coordination of legs and arms, right with left and also the top half of the body vs the lower half. There is also motor planning involved to take the initial step, and then to stop walking. There are also other immediate environmental factors such as having busy households and for ease of activity, the baby might spend a lot of time in a carrier, walker or baby bouncer. Prolonged times in these items does not encourage the natural strengthening of a babies pelvic muscles needed for balance and coordination of walking.

Play is serious learning. Play is the occupation for a child. There could be many reasons a child may not be interested in playing with toys such as: sensory concerns, developmental delay (social and language delay), and inability to understand directions or social cues, fine or gross motor difficulty (holding objects, kicking ball). One should also consider the child’s age and stage of development when exposing them to toys, as some toys might not yet be suitable for their age.

Many parents ask how they can improve handwriting skills in children as it’s not always a straight forward answer. Basic activities such as lacing, beading, playing with constructions toys such as LEGO, nuts and bolts, as well as playing with playdough and doll dress-up can help develop and strengthen hand muscles. Some factors that might have an effect on poor handwriting are core muscle development leading to poor posture while seated at the desk; weak shoulders leading to poor upper limb strength and having a carry-on effect on poor hand strength and poor finger muscle strength and development.

If your child is spinning in circles, it could be an indication that their body is craving some stimulation in either vestibular or visual sensory areas. Spinning in circles is one of the activities that help children gain body awareness and understand where their centre is. Sometimes this can also help improve focus on tasks. If this impacts on daily functioning and ability to learn, seek out an evaluation from an Occupational Therapist.

Shaking/clapping and flapping hands are self-stimulatory behavior that children do to get extra sensory feedback through their hands. This action helps calm the bodies nervous system. This behavior of shaking/flapping hands tells us that the child is not getting the appropriate sensory input that they need at that time or the sensory processing mechanisms are confused and aren’t receiving signals the way they should be. This can sometimes be an automatic response from their bodies when they are experiencing and overflow of emotions being either sad, anxious, happy, or bored, etc.

Bedwetting is a normal part of development in childhood while the body learns bladder control. This can happen often until the age of 5 – 6. If bedwetting still frequents after the age of 6, then medical attention needs to be sought.

Bedwetting can be caused due to slower development of bladder control or heavy sleep. Stress and anxiety can play a role in wetting the bed. Infections or a drastic life change can also affect your child and also lead to bedwetting. Let your child help you find solutions to help stay dry throughout the night and provide simple reminders. Limit liquid intake about an hour before bed time. Make sure to include a toilet routine before going to bed and if needed, wake the child for a midnight trip to the loo. Be sure to praise/reward them when they stay dry all night.

For children that have difficulty falling asleep could be a result from their daytime routine and how they spend their time right before bed. Eating too much of sugary food or having screen time just before bed makes them more alert and could be enough to disrupt a child’s sleep.