Strengthen your baby's muscles!

Sitting up, crawling, standing and walking are all exciting milestones in your infant's life. With each new milestone, your little one is getting stronger and developing. Help them grow by including exercises in your routine that help encourage muscle strength and nervous system adaptations that lead to development. The trunk includes the muscles of the stomach and back. Exercising your infant's trunk muscles can help them ease into these exciting milestones.

Flexion

Trunk flexion is the act of bending at the hips to sit up from a lying position. This takes trunk strength and marks a developmental milestone. To increase trunk strength, lie your baby on their back on a solid surface. Gently grab their hands in yours and lift their torso up off the floor into a sitting position. Gradually you will feel your little one using more of their muscles -- rather than your support -- to sit up. Perform this exercise only when your baby is strong enough to support their own neck.

Rotation

Rolling over takes a lot of strength. Help your little one build up the trunk muscles for this feat with a little exercise. Any time your baby is on their back -- for example, while lying in his crib -- hold each leg in your hands. Gently encourage a rolling motion over onto their side and then their tummy. As this becomes easier, teach your child to roll from their tummy onto their back.

Make photos of the process, upload to the App. Write how your little one reacts to the activities.