How can I train my infant's muscles? Why do babies always make a fuss?

Babies will inevitably go through a fussing stage during their growth and development. So why do babies always fuss?

How to train infant muscles

Muscle Games

Between 6 and 12 months, muscle development changes dramatically. Babies go from learning how to sit to leaning forward in a prostrate position. Babies can learn to hold their bodies in a sitting position and then pull themselves along the edge of furniture to move forward. Some babies even learn to walk before they are one year old. Here are some ways to help you improve your baby's motor skills through interactive play:

1. Cross-legged game circle

As your baby gets better at sitting, you can create a circle with your legs crossed and sit facing each other. This position is suitable for obstacle play.

2. Crawl forward

Engage your baby and get him or her moving from a sitting position to a crawling position by placing his or her favorite toys just out of reach. Toys that play music and toys that make sounds are best.

3. Play in the water

Once your baby is able to sit comfortably, the bathtub can take on new uses. You can turn bath time into a fun time playing with water. This will also help your baby get used to being in the water.

4. Treasure Hunt

Play a scavenger hunt with your crawling baby. Place your baby's favorite building blocks around the room and encourage him to collect them all.

Social cognition games

Babies become increasingly responsive to their caregivers. Babies at this stage begin to respond to things around them, especially to their own names. Waving and clapping are fun tricks that you'll find your baby learning without much effort. Your baby's curious nature will prompt him to systematically discover every interesting nook and cranny of his territory.

Why is the baby always making a fuss?

1. Need to burp

Of course, parents can't force their babies to burp, but if your baby cries after feeding, then it's likely that he needs to burp. Babies swallow a small amount of air when drinking milk, and a certain amount of air accumulated in the stomach will make the baby feel uncomfortable. This is when they need to burp to expel the air in the stomach, but some babies can't burp on their own, so parents need to help.

2. Too cold or too hot

When you undress your baby to change his diaper or clean him up after a bath, he may feel cold and cry in protest. Newborns are usually swaddled to keep them warm, but be careful not to let them get too hot. Generally, babies are comfortably dressed in one more layer than adults. Babies who are too young cannot complain about being too hot or too cold, they can only cry loudly to get your attention.

3. Uncomfortable clothes

Sometimes babies cry because their clothes are too small and too tight, or because their hats are too tight on their heads. Ill-fitting clothes may affect the baby's blood circulation, so make sure to dress your baby in loose and comfortable clothes. Some babies are particularly sensitive, and rough clothes and labels on clothes can make them feel uncomfortable, so parents must pay more attention when buying clothes for their children.

4. Teething

The teething period is the most difficult period for babies. If you find that your baby is in pain and you don't know why, try to feel his gums with your fingers. You may be surprised to find that there are hard nodules on the gums of your baby. This means that your baby is starting to grow teeth. Usually, babies grow their first teeth between 4 and 7 months old. Parents need to help their children through this painful period. Find more ways to relieve teething pain.

5. Strong stimulation

Babies are more likely to be stimulated by the surrounding environment. Indoor lighting, noise, TV screens and sounds can cause babies to cry. Crying may be a baby's way of expressing their inner feelings. Some lights and sounds that are normal for adults may be very strong stimulations for babies, making them feel uncomfortable and cry suddenly. Therefore, parents should avoid babies being too strongly stimulated by the outside world.

What to do if your baby keeps crying

1. Swaddling: Some people think that wrapping the baby tightly will make the baby cry more, but this is not true. Because the baby is tightly wrapped in the mother's womb, so once the arms are wrapped, they will feel more secure.

How to do it: There are some tips for swaddling a baby. Don't wrap the baby vertically, like a candle. Try to wrap the baby's arms tightly and keep the legs loose, otherwise it will affect the baby's hip development.

2. Side-lying method: When the baby is crying, many parents are accustomed to holding the baby on his back, but lying on his back will make the baby feel like he is falling down.

How to do it: When comforting a baby, do not let the baby's face face the mother's chest. The smell of breast milk will make the baby cry more easily. The correct way is to let the baby face outward and lie on his side, so that the baby can return to the most traditional position when in the mother's womb.

3. The hushing method: During the 9 months that the baby is in the mother’s belly, there are sounds all the time – the mother’s heartbeat, the sound of gastrointestinal movement, the sound of blood flowing, the sound of talking, and a variety of rich sounds from the outside world.

How to do it: Keep making "shushing" sounds in the baby's ear. The louder the baby cries, the louder the shushing sound. This can also help the baby calm down quickly. In the baby's language, shushing means "I love you."

4. Rocking method: When the baby is in the womb filled with amniotic fluid, the baby is actually rocking all the time, no matter the mother is walking, sitting and watching TV, or turning over in sleep, the baby is rocking 24 hours a day.

How to do it: Rhythmic rocking is very effective for babies, and it will make them feel very comfortable and relaxed. Parents should pay attention to the appropriate intensity when rocking their babies, not too intensely, and be especially careful of the baby's head.

Basic exercises that your baby must practice

1. Look up

Babies can lie prone a few days after birth, but they can usually lift their heads after lying prone. In fact, prone head-raising exercises can not only exercise the baby's neck and back muscle strength and increase lung capacity, but also help the baby face the world positively earlier and receive more external stimulation.

2. Turn over

Generally, you can train your baby to roll over from the age of 3 months. Rolling over mainly trains the baby's spine muscles and waist and back muscles, and trains the baby's body flexibility. At the same time, rolling over also expands the baby's field of vision and improves the baby's cognitive ability.

3. Sit still

Training a baby to sit steadily is mainly to train the baby's waist, back muscles and spinal muscles, broaden the baby's horizons, and allow adults to guide the baby to move in a wider range, so that he can explore a wider world. Babies over 5 months old can practice sitting. When they first sit, they sit forward, and slowly they can straighten their waists and sit like adults. When you first practice sitting, 3 to 5 minutes is enough to prevent the baby's spine from being overly stressed.

4. Crawling

For babies, crawling is an excellent whole-body exercise. It can not only train the coordination ability of the baby's hands, eyes, body, legs and other parts, but also allow the baby to face the world earlier, take the initiative to contact and recognize things, and promote the development of the baby's cognitive ability. Most babies begin to have the desire to crawl when they are six or seven months old. At this time, the baby's crawling movements are still very clumsy. Most of them crawl on their stomachs against the ground or bed surface, relying on the peristalsis of the abdomen and irregular paddling of the limbs. Often, they do not move forward, but move backward, or turn in place. With persistent crawling training every day, the baby's crawling movements are generally much more graceful by the time they are eight or nine months old, and develop into standard four-limb crawling, that is, crawling on hands and knees.

5. Stand

After going through the process of motor development such as lifting the head, sitting, rolling over, and crawling, the baby gradually transitions to learning to stand. Generally, the baby can stand alone when he is 9-10 months old. Standing is not only the development of motor function, but also promotes the intellectual development of the baby.

6. Walking

Generally speaking, when a baby learns to stand alone, he is already learning to walk with support. At this time, parents can put a toy in front of him to tease him, so that he can learn to move his steps and body. When a child has the ability to stand alone and walk with support, he is not far from being able to walk. It takes time for a baby to walk, so don't force it during the training process. When a baby first starts to learn to walk, don't let him walk for too long. Babies who are learning to walk will often fall down. At this time, parents should encourage him to get up by himself and encourage him to "try again." And immediately praise him for every successful independent walking.