Episode 21
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Create Thriving Families podcast. I'm your host, Lisa Peterson. I'm a doctor of chiropractic, and I've been in private practice for 20 years, seeing mostly women, babies, and children. The Create Thriving Families podcast is a place for us to have a conversation about how we can help our children become the healthiest, most vibrant, and aligned version of themselves, the full expression of who they came here to be.
The quality of our lives and the quality of our relationships is dependent on the quality of our health, and I believe that the greatest gift any of us could give to our children is the best start possible when it comes to their own health. I can't wait to see where this journey takes us. Let's get started
Welcome back. This is the sixth episode in a series of [00:01:00] episodes all about the neural development happening with your baby during the first year of life. This is an eight-part series that is all about trying to give mothers an understanding of what's happening neurologically in their baby's brain and their nervous system in each of the windows of development.
So I have divided it into the four different periods of time, the zero to three-month period, the three to six-month period, six to nine months, and nine to 12 months. And each of those windows of development is divided further into two separate episodes. The first episode, the first part, is all about what is actually happening neurologically with your baby during that period of time, and then the second part, the second episode, is about what kinds of things you should be seeing developmentally in your baby [00:02:00] during that window, and what kinds of things you can be doing at home yourself to facilitate optimal development in the brain and the nervous system.
So this is part two of the six to nine-month window We are going to be talking about what you should be seeing at home during this period of time, and what kind of things you can be doing to facilitate optimal development d- with all of the growth and the maturation that's happening with your baby. I-- my hope for this series really is to give new mothers the guided tour of their baby's neurology during the first year of life.
But I'm attempting to do it, hopefully in a way that is interesting and practical and that talks a lot about things that you can be doing yourself at home to support each of these phases. [00:03:00] So hopefully by the end of this episode, I'm hoping to give you m- an understanding of what's happening during this period of time in the six to nine-month window, and give you some actionable things that you can be incorporating into your day once you really have a better understanding of what it is that you're seeing during this time.
Just to recap really quickly, the episodes 16 and 17 are parts one and two of the zero to three-month window, and episodes 18 and 19 are parts one and two of the three to six-month window. Episode 20 is part one during this period of development, the six to nine-month window. And now we are on episode 21, which is part two.
And so the last episode we talked a lot about what exactly is happening neurologically in your baby's brain during this period of [00:04:00] time, and I hope that you will go back and listen to that episode and also the previous episodes to find out, you know, from the, from the first zero to three-month period of time, a lot of what your baby's doing is practicing reflexive non-voluntary movements through the primitive reflexes that are training and building their brain to be able to move into more mature voluntary movements.
There's a lot in those first three months of life that is happening with your baby starting to learn to regulate the autonomic nervous system from a state of very high sympathetic tone, the fight or flight nervous system, where all babies are dominant from birth, and working on learning to co-regulate with their caregivers to find their way to more of a [00:05:00] ventral vagal or a more parasympathetic state, which is where babies find sleep and where they're able to be soothed when they're dysregulated.
Then during the three to six-month window We're seeing a baby who is starting to be more able to control their body and more intentional in their movements, more intentional in their social engagement with the world around them. And there's a lot of really exciting development and wiring that's happening around language during that period of time as well.
Where we are now at six to nine months, you're starting to see that your baby is moving from being more in a position where they are observing the world around them to a place where they're able to interact with and engage more with the world around them. So you're seeing things like your [00:06:00] baby being able to sit independently with their hands free and be able to have this as their default position that they're playing You can see them getting ready to and beginning to crawl, which is such an important step in development.
And you can start to see the emergence of higher cognition in things like understanding that objects and people still exist even when they are out of sight. And you also start to be able to see a behavioral picture, a behavioral, uh, representation of the attachment that you have been building during the first half year of their life in the way that they start to seek you out as the secure base and need that confirmation from your facial expressions and your body language that they are safe in [00:07:00] whatever environment they are finding themselves in.
So again, I hope that you will go back and listen to the previous episodes. I will have them linked in the show notes. I will also have a reference list. I reference a lot of the authors, researchers, teachers, and clinicians who I myself have learned from, and I will give you a reference list. I, I talk a lot about them throughout the episodes, so you can download that.
You'll find it in the show notes if you would like to learn more about any of the people that I talk about in those episodes. Today, this episode, we are going to go through a few sections, and I'm just gonna give you a little bit of an overview. In section one, we're gonna talk about your baby going from being able to sit independently and then crawling, the way that they're now able to get themselves from point A to point B and [00:08:00] explore the world around them in a completely new way.
Section two is all about starting solid foods. What does readiness for solid food look like, and how should you be introducing solid food? Section three is about your baby starting to be more aware of and cautious towards strangers and the shift that also is happening in their sleep during this about eight-month period of, of time.
Section four talks about object permanence and how you can be promoting and developing their understanding of object permanence, which means that objects and people still exist even when they can't see them. So different kinds of games and different kinds of things that you can be doing at home that can help them to develop this awareness.[00:09:00]
Section five is all about the, the emergence of more and more of what will be developing into language. So the way that they are using their voices and babbling and making sounds and starting to mimic the, the, the type of the c- the way that a conversation will be happening, the way that it does happen, and the way that it will be happening soon with the back and forth and the, the imitation that they start to be doing with us when we're interacting.
Section six is all about the pincer grasp and the fine motor refinement that's happening during this period of time. Section seven is about the primitive reflex, the STNR reflex. We talked a lot about this reflex in the last episode, supporting this new reflex through movement at home and how important that [00:10:00] is.
Section eight is all about talking about what kinds of things are normal to be seeing developmentally and what kind of things should you be thinking of if they're warranting a, a consultation or a visit to someone who is trained in pediatric neurological development. Section nine is all about, you know, putting all this together, working on and thinking about having a model for parenting during this time from six months to nine months.
So let's get started with section one. This period of time that's going from your baby being able to be sitting independently more reliably and then beginning to crawl, these are sort of the two visible motor milestones that really define this window of time. This [00:11:00] progression is really important, and the conditions that support both independent sitting and being able to begin crawling are both the same.
Spending a lot of time on the floor, having a lot of freedom of movement, and patience so that you're giving them the space and the time to be able to be developing these movement patterns. Two women who I have referenced a lot in the previous episodes, Esther Thelen and Karen Adolph, have shown that the timing of sitting and crawling can vary from baby to baby, but the order in which the skills emerge is very consistent.
And so It's less about hitting an exact date on the calendar where your baby is able to sit or able to crawl, but more [00:12:00] that you can see them moving through these developmental periods of time in the right sequence. We talked about this a lot in the previous episode. Seeing that your baby is going from what's called tripod sitting, you know, sitting up but they're supporting themselves with both of their hands, to, you know, being able to remove one of their hands and just have support from the other hand on the floor in their sitting, to being able to sit independently and not use either, have their, both of their hands free.
And then seeing them moving from being on their hands and knees doing sort of a rocking movement, which is the, the STNR reflex in, in motion, rocking back and forth on the floor before they're then able to develop into more of that cross crawl motion where they're, you know, moving their left hand and their right knee forward and their right hand and their left knee.
So all, that sequence of development is what you're [00:13:00] looking to see. Uh, two women, uh, Emmy Pickler and Magda Gerber, their, their research and the, the sort of translation of this research that we've talked about in a lot of the previous episodes, when babies are given freedom of movement and time on a f- on a firm surface, they will reliably master this, sitting and crawling.
They don't need to be propped up. They don't need to be pushed. They don't need to be taught. They need the space, and they need the time, and they need their caregivers to just be respectful that what they're doing is practicing these movements and building these motor patterns. So we've, we've talked about that a lot, that it's less about pushing them into things going faster and more about respecting [00:14:00] the container or the, their, their ability and giving them the time and the space to be practicing these motor patterns.
Sally Goddard Blythe, again, I've referenced her in, I think, every episode. She is, you know, her literature is really consistent. Don't skip stages. You need the full progression of these motor developmental, uh, milestones. Lying on their backs, being able to roll, being able to pivot, being able to push themselves up, crawling, sitting, pulling themselves up into standing, you know, walk- walking with, you know, holding onto something, holding onto the, the, this coffee table or the sofa or whatever it is they're holding onto, and then walking unassisted.
This is the sequence for a reason, and each stage lays the groundwork [00:15:00] neurologically for the next stage to be standing on. So again, what this looks like at home, tripod sitting, sitting using both hands to hold themselves up, moving into sitting with one hand free, and then fully independently sitting.
Seeing that your baby is starting to be on their hands and knees and rocking back and forth, this is you seeing evidence that the brain is preparing them to be able to crawl Then starting to see some form of locomotion happening, some ability that they can get themselves from point A to point B. And in the very beginning, this can look like a lot of different things.
It can look like, you know, laying on their stomachs and using their arms to pull themselves forward. It can look like scooting on their butts, but it should be moving into the classic cross crawl, [00:16:00] left arm, right knee, right arm, left knee movement. And then from there, you wanna see that they're able to increase their speed and their confidence when they're moving themselves across the room.
And by the end of this window, the six to nine-month window, your baby can usually get to most things that they want. So what you wanna be watching for during this window, again, reliable independent sitting, some form of locomotion, some form of getting themselves from point A to point B, cross lateral patterns where the opposite arm and leg are working together while crawling, and your baby being able to move themselves fluidly between sitting, crawling, and lying down, that they can transition themselves out of and into new positions.
And [00:17:00] again, like we talked about a lot in the last episode, let your baby crawl for as long as possible because it's really-- what they're doing when they're crawling is more than just getting themselves around The crawling, the, the, you know, opposite arm and leg work that happens during crawling is helping coordinate the right side and the left side of the brain in the way that they're communicating with each other, and being able to-- This is setting up the foundation for everything they're going to be doing in the future, where the right side of the brain and the left side of the brain need to communicate, and that's everything we do.
So the longer they crawl, generally, the better they're gonna be. They need to be up on their, up on two feet, and pulling themselves up and starting to take their first steps around 12 months. But they need that, those months in between there to be spending as much time [00:18:00] crawling as they can. Section two, starting with solid food, what readiness looks like and how to introduce food.
Introducing solid food is one of the-- This can be a really tricky or a, a confusing time for a lot of parents. When you understand more about the, the underlying biology and the neurology, I think I, I hope that it can sort of make the experience a little bit simpler, because the goal is not really to be getting as much food in as possible during this period of time, but to sort of be building the practice of being a competent, trusting, lifelong eater, which is different than making sure they get as much, that they're getting as many calories in as possible, and, and [00:19:00] trying to not make mealtimes and food something that is a really stressful event.
I talked about, um, on the last episode, Suzanne Evans Morris' work on pre-feeding skills, which she gives a really clear map of the oral motor maturation that has to be in place before solids can be introduced. And that's, like we discussed on the last episode, they need to have integrated the tongue thrust reflex, which is what happens when they get food in their mouth and the tongue pushes it right out immediately.
If they still have that reflex very clear, you-- they're not ready to be eating. They're pushing, they're pushing the food out immediately, and that's something that you need to be aware of. It's too soon if that's still the case. They need to have lateral tongue movement so that they can move food from the center of their mouth to the sides to be chewed, and you need [00:20:00] to see that the gag reflex has been, has moved further back.
Usually Newborns, the, the zero to three months, um, and even, you know, from the start of the three to six-month period, the gag reflex is far toward the front of the mouth, and the, and it eventually moves farther and farther back toward the back of the, the back of the throat. And this needs to have moved back into more of a typical adult position, the gag reflex, so that they're not gagging every time they're getting food in their mouth.
So when you're seeing these things, these are the signs that the mouth is biologically ready for solid foods. Jill Rapley, her research is the foundation of the baby-led weaning approach, and her insight there is that babies who can sit upright, babies who can bring objects to their mouth with intention and chew, they can safely participate in [00:21:00] meals that consist of solid food.
And she makes the case that there is no developmental need for pureeing food, that that is more of a cultural choice, not a biological choice. And so if you're interested more on that, there is so much information to find on the internet on baby-led weaning, and I have a lot of experience with that myself personally with my own kids.
But that's something that you can look more into if you're interested. Uh, Ellyn Satter's Division of Responsibility model is sort of looked at as the gold standard when it comes to, uh, looking at the social, relational aspects of starting solid foods, and her work talks a lot about how parents are responsible for what kind of food, when the food is offered, and where the food is offered.
And children are responsible for [00:22:00] whether they choose to eat and how much. And from the introduction of solid food, this framework can kind of help you to protect this period of time from ending up into a, a feeding battle that can really cause a lot of stress in a lot of families later on. And again, thinking about the introduction of solid food, less about how many calories they're able to eat and more about setting up the, the practice of eating meals together as a family and the s- the socialization of it more than the amount of calories again.
So I think there's one, uh, another, the, um, a man named James McKenna, he works a lot on the, the [00:23:00] biology of the mother-infant relationship, but-- And he talk-- When it comes to nutrition, he talks about that f-feeding and introduct-introducing solid foods is more than nutrition. It's, it's-- You can look at it more as a very important moment of connection during the day.
And the way that we are sort of setting up meals from the very early, the earliest phases can help us to shape that connection in a positive, uh, way for all of the years to come. You're sort of wiring your baby's brain about how they're gonna think about food and mealtimes for the rest of their lives, and so it's really important.
So things to be watching out for during this six to nine-month window. They need to-- Your baby needs to be able to be independently or stably supported sitting before they start solid foods. They need to be able to [00:24:00] get their hands to their mouths with intention. You need to see that the tongue thrust reflex is gone, so they're not immediately spitting out the food as soon as it gets into their mouth.
You should be able to s-really see that they're interested in food when they're at the table. And you will be seeing across this window of time from the start when they're about six months to the end where they're nine months, that they're increasingly comfortable with different textures of food and the ability to feed themselves.
The skill of self-feeding is getting better. So for mothers, things that you can think about, wait for biological readiness, not the date on the calendar. Eat with your baby. It's a really powerful, um, way to be setting up [00:25:00] this, this feeling around sharing meals at, as a family at the table, eating together instead of feeding your baby and then eating later yourself.
I think it's, it's one of the, it's one of the-- It beco- It ends up being one of the few times families see each other during the day sometimes when kids get older. And when you really start when they're young, that we all sit down together, and we all eat together, and we enjoy this period of time where we're all here sharing this meal, that is something you will never regret spending the time to do in the very beginning.
Um, think about this as something that you're doing. You know, you're-- again, let your baby decide whether they eat and how much they eat, and remind yourself that you're the person who [00:26:00] decides what is on their plate. Also, an incredibly important thing to be thinking about and responsibility we have as parents, what kind of foods we're putting on our baby's plates, when they're eating, and where they're eating.
And so think about it that way, that there's sort of, you each, each, each of you has your own responsibility when it comes to introducing solid foods. So next section, section three, uh, stranger awareness. And that really starts to show up in this window. And there's also the, the eight-month sleep shift that are sort of kind of two faces of the same neurological event happening.
Object permanence has began to develop and been maturing, and the attachment system that you have been developing from the time that your baby was born is starting to be something that you can see in their behavior. The [00:27:00] brain has gained the ability to understand when the parent is not there. John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth have both...
John Bowlby is the founder of the attachment system, and the work of these two Their combined work establishes that the attachment system and being wary of strangers and protesting when you're separated from your caregivers, they're not personality changes. These are the visible signs that your baby has reached a new stage of development.
The attachment system is now active, and it's looking for the secure base, which is you as the parent. Alison Gopnik's framing of this, the maturing of the cognitive system, also talks about how when object permanence has matured, your baby understands that you continue to exist when they can't see you, [00:28:00] and this is what makes them protest when you leave the room.
They couldn't protest before because they didn't know that you were anywhere to be missed. Now they understand that you're somewhere else, you're not in front of them, and so they want you back. They want you to be back in front of them, as everyone who's ever had little kids knows full well. Uh, James McKenna and Helen Ball have done research on biologically normal infant sleep, and they talk about the shift in sleep during the eight-month period of time is driven by the same neurology, the same attachment system development.
And Anytime the attachment system is reorganizing, sleep needs to reorganize with it because even [00:29:00] during sleep, babies and children and adults are all waking periodically to make sure that they're safe. We as adults have just learned how to understand that we are safe and it's still nighttime, and we can go back to sleep without needing anything to happen to do that.
And these are the patterns that babies during this period of time are working on continuing to develop. So they're checking for safety, and they're checking for their caregivers also during this period of time. T. Berry Brazelton, I have referenced in the previous episodes as well, and he talks a lot about the predictable periods of disorganization that occur right before a developmental leap.
And so the eight-month shift in sleep is intimately connected to this period [00:30:00] of time where cognition is increasing, understanding is increasing in the way that, again, object permanence and having the caregivers as the secure base, the mother being the secure base. These are all signs of increased understanding and increased integration of the attachment system and how these changes are happening all at the same time.
And so this can look like anything from a stranger approaches you and your baby hides their face in your shoulder, or your baby is protesting when you leave the room, even if you're gone for 30 seconds. And sleep that was, you know, had become more settled after that about four-month period of time becomes a little bit more disrupted again, usually around eight, nine months.
And that when they're waking during the night, that's coinciding with separation. Your baby is waking up and needing to verify that you are still there. And your [00:31:00] baby's mood and feeding and engagement during the day are all really continuing to progress alongside all of these other changes. So again, things you wanna be watching for, you wanna be watching for wariness for strangers and protesting being separated from you and this predictable change in sleep from about eight or nine months that usually you'll see happens at the same time as they start to be more aware of you and other objects that they can't see still existing, and needing to go out and explore the world and come back to you as their secure base, and sort of build their energy and build their, you know, recharge, and then go back out and explore the world to then come back into their secure base again.
So these things you should all be seeing happening at the same time So things that mothers can do. [00:32:00] Don't look at-- don't push when it comes to wariness around strangers. Pushing them into having to go with someone, be held by someone, or be close to someone who they're wary of is not helpful. So just have a respect for the fact that's not a personality thing, that's a developmental neurological need for safety and security, and being wary of strangers is just a sign that they're developing the way that they should.
So that along with, in the same vein, honoring th- they're protesting at being separated from you. They are just trying to seek out that they are as close to you, who is the security for them, as possible. And so I know you can't be there, uh, 24 hours a day right next to them always, but at least being mindful of not pushing your baby into someone else's arms and understanding that they're getting more upset when you're leaving the room.[00:33:00]
When it comes to the sleep part of it, just again, really being responsive and supportive during the transition in sleep. This is a new pattern of sleep that's takes a few weeks to integrate, so it's not done from Friday to Sunday. It's gonna take a few weeks, and it's something that's happening because of a new development of all kinds maturation in the brain and the nervous system.
And again, like I say in almost every single episode, the most important thing is to work on just staying regulated yourself. This is-- it's a full-on period of time. When you have a baby in this age There is always something happening, and they are really keeping you on your toes. And the faster your nervous system is able to return to calm, the faster your baby's nervous system will be able to do the same thing.
Some days are easier than others, we all know that, but that's just something to have in the back of your mind. [00:34:00] Section four is about what we've been talking about previously, but object permanence, what this really looks like in real life. It's one of the most important cognitive milestones of the whole first year, and you can see it in real life through play, through seeing them anticipating things that they know are about to happen, and through the new ability that they have to miss someone who's not right in front of them.
And when you know what you're looking at when you see these things, it makes it easier to support these stages as they're happening. Again, Alison Gopnik, who we've spoken about before, in her writing makes the case that this cognitive work that babies are doing the entire time from birth is now really becoming much more visible during this window.
So if [00:35:00] you are hiding a toy underneath the blanket and Before, when the toy was gone, the toy was out of, out of sight, out of mind. now, when you're hiding something under the blanket They can be looking for it. They can be searching for something that's hidden. They can be-- You can see that they are anticipating the next part of a familiar song, or they are waiting for the next part of, you know, when you're reading something in a book, and they know that you're getting to a part where something's gonna make noise or something's gonna, something's gonna happen.
You can see that they're anticipating this. They're getting a real delight in games like peekaboo, and these are all of the signs of mental representation that, that are developing. Daniel Stern, his framework talks about that mental representation [00:36:00] that we discussed is not just about toys, it's about people, and that this cognitive leap that's happened, this ability that has developed, lets your baby both search for an object that's been dropped or hidden, and it lets them hold you in their minds when you're gone.
And those two things are really non-- they can't be separated from each other. Lisa Elliot, who I again have talked about on all of the episodes, when she talks about the development of the hippocampus and related memory structures during this window, which is again, the brain developing the wiring that's needed to hold a representation of something in their minds across time and with absence.
So what this looks like at home and things that you can be doing, you're, you'll see again, your baby's looking for a toy that's been hidden under the blanket. You'll [00:37:00] see that they're starting to love playing peekaboo. You'll see them anticipating familiar songs and familiar routines and, you know, a lot of times vocalizing something in advance of the next part happening, what they're waiting for.
You'll see them looking for you when you leave the room and lighting up again when you magically reappear . And there's a-- you can sort of get an idea that your baby's waiting for you to come back. They're not just only reacting to whatever's right in front of them, but they are understanding that you're still there somewhere.
You're still out there. You're coming back. So again, things you can do at home, play peekaboo. It's a hugely cognitively advantageous game to be playing during this window of time. Hide toys and find toys together. The drop and retrieve game is not just [00:38:00] something that's, they're doing to keep you on your toes.
They're doing cognitive work when they're dropping something and, and you're picking it up or they're getting it back, you're getting it back together. This is actually something that's building their brain. And like I talked about on the last episode, narrating what you're doing. I'm right here. I'll be right back.
I'm going to get your toy. I'll be right back with it. I'm gonna go get you your book. They're starting to understand, and so you can be narrating more and more of what you're doing during the day to give them this understanding. Section five is all about what is actually happening when your baby is starting to babble all the time, and starting to make more specific-- starting to imitate sounds and noises, and starting to develop more of a-- where you can hear more consonants and you can hear more specific type of babbling than you were maybe hearing during the three to six-month window of time.[00:39:00]
And it's really important the way that you're responding to this development, because this is the first start of them developing language. And so the way that you respond to that during this window of time is really important. Patricia Kuhl, K-U-H-L, talks about babbling as evidence that the auditory cortex part of the brain, the motor speech areas, and the feedback loop between them are maturing with each other.
And so these repetitive sounds, these ba-ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma-ma sounds that they're doing, that's the brain rehearsing the production of the speech sounds that it's-- that they've been listening to since they were born. Andrew Meltzoff's research talks about infants during this window of time are really imitating rhythm, pitch, intonation of the speech that they hear.
So they are [00:40:00] imitating what they hear, and that is creating the wiring for what will become language very soon. Colwyn Trevarthen, who I've also spoken about, talks about how this way of babbling during this window of time is more and more directed at the caregiver. So they're not just laying there making sounds with their mouths anymore.
They're more-- You can see that it's being directed at you, and it's really shaped by the caregiver's response. So it's not noise they're making, but they're starting to have a conversation. There just aren't actual words there yet. And how you respond to it is part of the-- it's a really important part of the development.
So let them talk. Give them some space. Give it a little bit of a pause to make sure that they're done, and then talk back. And then wait again and let it be their turn, so that the back and forth [00:41:00] that they have seen happening in conversations, that they get to start to be a part of that back and forth.
And so at home, you'll be seeing those kind of repetitive consonant vowel babbling And you'll start to hear that the babbling is taking on intonation and rhythm, and it starts to-- You can almost think you're starting to hear words. It's starting to sound like language, and that vocal play is clearly directed at you and waiting and watching for your response.
And so make sure that you're giving that response. You'll hear a big increase in the variety of sounds that they're able to make during this time, and you'll see that what they're looking for is they want it to be a conversation. They're pausing and giving you your turn, and they're waiting for you to pause and give them their turn, and it becomes that back and forth that, that looks exactly like it does with conversations for adults, just minus the words yet.[00:42:00]
So things that you can do at home, talk to your baby constantly in real time, face to face. Pause for the response. Conversation is built in those spaces that allow for the back and forth, so give that. Sing to them. Narrate what you're doing for them. Repeat things. Rhythm and repetition are exactly what the language part of the brain wants.
And again, I have said this I think in every episode, but keep screens out. Babies do not learn language from screens. They learn it from people, so that's important. The next section, section six, is all about the pincer grasp and fine motor refinement. So the sort of grasp reflex that started when they were-- in the very beginning, the zero to three-month time, babies usually have their hands in fists, and then the hands slowly start to open up more and more.[00:43:00]
And then the motor control of the hands becomes more of a fine motor movement, where the thumb and the finger in that sort of pincer pinching movement allows them to grasp things in their hands and hold onto things in their hands. Sally Goddard Blythe, who I have again referenced every episode, talks a lot about the progression of this, going from the palmar grasp reflex, which is an involuntary automatic reflex where you're-- if you stroke the inside of the baby's hand, they will close their fingers around in a fist.
And you will see this developing into more and more of being able to bring the thumb into the side of the index finger, so sort of an inferior kind of pincer grasp. And then you'll see it developing more into something that is them being able to have voluntary control of the motor skills in their hands.
A.J. Ayres' framework talks a lot about [00:44:00] fine motor refinement and that depending on the underlying postural stability and bilateral integration, the right side and the left side of the brain communicating with each other and both sides of the body being able to meet each other in the middle that babies have been building all year long.
So a baby who can sit independently and reliably on their own with both hands free and bring those hands to the midline, they are in a position to refine their grasp in a way that they couldn't before
Karen Adolph's research on infant motor learning shows that fine motor refinement, just like gross motor learning, really depends on enormous amounts of variable practice. So when your baby is picking up small objects, dropping them, picking them up again, [00:45:00] that's what they're doing. They're refining and developing more skill in that area of the skills of their hands.
So what you'll be seeing at home during the early stage of the six to nine-month period, you'll see that babies are using their hands almost like a rake. They're using their whole hand to get ahold of objects and to move things closer to them, and that will move into more of what's called an inferior pincher grasp, which is they're picking up smaller objects, but they're using their thumb with the side of the index finger And as this matures, you'll start to see it into more of a mature actual pincher grip, which is using the thumb to the tip of the index finger kind of pinch.
And you'll see that babies during this time are just fascinated with very small objects [00:46:00] because they could never get ahold of them before, and now they're fascinated by the hunt of finding these objects and trying to see if they can pick them up. And if they can actually pick them up, then, you know, throwing them down and trying to pick them up again is the new favorite game.
So everything from crumbs or blueberries or lint or anyth- you know, things you can barely see. They're just fascinated in those small objects and getting ahold of them. And so this game that they start to love during this period of time, which is the dropping things off of, for example, the, the table onto the floor next to them, and then you ha- they can't get down there because they're in their high chair, so you have to come and pick up whatever they've dropped off the side and give it back to them, and it takes .5 seconds before they've then dropped it off the side again for you to come and pick up.
And everybody who's had kids this age, we all know that this ends up becoming one of your least favorite games. But [00:47:00] try to think about it as they're not trying to test your patience. They're not trying to see how far they can push you before your head explodes. Their brain is practicing this precision in these fine motor skills, and so it opens up the, a whole different world for your baby in terms of a level of detail to what they, they can finally pick up the small things that they've been seeing, and so this is a really exciting time.
So think about it that way. Things that you wanna be watching for during this six to nine-month window, again, that they're going from using their hands more as a rake, like using the whole hand to move things toward them, to about eight or nine months, where you're starting to see that they're using their thumb toward the inside of the whole index finger, and then that maturing into the pincher grasp, which is the thumb to the tip of the index finger when they're picking up [00:48:00] things.
And you wanna see that they're becoming more fascinated with these small objects and small details. And you also wanna make sure that you're seeing that they're using both hands. Babies at this age do not have handedness, where they're-- you can start to see whether they're right or left-handed. They should be using both of their hands equally to engage with toys and m- small things that they're trying to pick up.
So what you can be doing at home is offering them small things that are safe to pick up, small pieces of soft food or toys that are appropriate for their age. And again, try to resist the urge to interrupt or stop the dropping game. They're actually doing cognitive work and motor work when they're dropping things off the side of the table.
So, you know, be in the game for longer than you otherwise would, knowing that it's useful. [00:49:00] This is the time when you really wanna be sweeping your house for hazards, because as this pincer grasp develops, anything that's small enough to grab is gonna go into their mouths. So this is the time when you really wanna be looking around your house for any and everything that can end up in their mouths.
This is the time. And just being aware of what's happening as you're seeing some of these things, uh, develop, because this is a really... Again, it increases the way your baby is-- it adds to how your baby is able to interact with their world in a whole new way Section seven is all about the symmetric tonic neck reflex.
We talked about this in part one, and we talked about how... We're gonna talk more in this section about how to support this reflex through movement. [00:50:00] And the conditions that allow this reflex to integrate well are the same conditions that support every other piece of development during this window.
Spending as much time on the floor as possible, having freedom of movement, having the ability to be... If we're making sure that the space that they're gonna be in is safe for them, allowing them as much freedom of movement, and minimal use of containers, things that are holding them in, you know, car seats, and bouncy chairs, and just all the kinds of stuff that you can buy these days to keep your baby contained.
Try to use those as minimally as possible. Create a safe space in your home where they have a lot of freedom to move, and let them be there as much as possible. So when we're talking about the STNR reflex, we described in the part one, the last episode, episode [00:51:00] 20, we talked a lot more about what the STNR reflex is.
Sally Goddard Blythe, who is a woman I've referenced in every single episode, her whole framework really solidifies that the primitive reflexes integrate through doing the movement that they were designed to support. And so the STNR reflex integrates through crawling, through climbing up on things, through having varied movement on the floor during this window of time.
And so you don't need to think about it like writing a checklist of like, "Now we're gonna integrate the STNR reflex." That's, you don't need to do that. What you need to do is you need to give your baby as much time on the floor to be integrating and doing different kinds of movements and different kinds of, you know, like we talked about, when you see them on your, on their hands and knees and they're rocking back [00:52:00] and forth, that's the STNR reflex.
You're seeing it in movement. You're seeing it in real time. And the more they do that, the more that reflex will integrate, and then they'll be able to lift up their heads and start to move their arms and their legs forward. And so babies who are given that time on the floor and that ability to experience, that is going to integrate the reflex at the right time.
Dr. Robert Melillo, who I have talked about in all of these episodes and in so many of my other podcasts, because he just is the person who I learned the majority of what I know about childhood neurological development, and he's both a researcher and a clinician, and his clinical work really documents what happens when babies skip crawling and move straight to walking.
And if that happens, the STNR reflex [00:53:00] doesn't get the practice or the repetition or the experience that it needs to integrate, and the result of that is very often a child who is, school-aged child who is having a whole host of things that you aren't necessarily thinking are related to lack of integration of a reflex, but things like having a really hard time sitting still at school or slouching or having a head tilt or focus or concentration issues, and there's a whole list of things that you can see if the STNR reflex has not integrated like it should.
Peter Blythe and the INPP team that he has done a lot of his research with find this retained STNR reflex in school-aged children and see that a lot of times it has an association with reading difficulties, and writing difficulties, and attention concerns. And their position [00:54:00] on this is really consistent, and that is the best time to support the integration of the STNR reflex is in infancy during this window through natural movement experience, not later on trying to remedy something that hasn't integrated the way that it should.
And just to take a minute for this, because I talk about this all the time, but a lot of my training, and a lot of what I do during the day, and a lot of what you will read about online, and the things that are being talked about are how do you help your kids later on integrate reflexes that weren't integrated when they should have?
And this is really important work. It's really important to know that if you have a child who hasn't integrated a reflex, there is still time. There-- Some think you, you can have adults that you can integrate reflexes. There's-- It's never too late. But the best [00:55:00] case scenario is not having to go back and fix something that wasn't done properly the first time.
That's true with primitive reflexes as much as it's true with anything else in life, right? If we can be aware that we need to be seeing it during this window of time, and we need to be seeing that it's becoming integrated during this window of time, and the evidence of that is seeing that your child is moving into a cross crawl pattern and able to crawl, then having them do that during the time when they are six to nine months is so much easier than trying to integrate a reflex that's still there in a 10-year-old.
Although integrating it in a 10-year-old is not impossible. And so Instead of arguing about the details of what should we be seeing and when should it be integrating and making a case for why it's not a big deal if kids aren't crawling, maybe [00:56:00] we need to just be thinking that there's a, there's a-- we need to understand what happens when they're crawling.
We need to understand the neurology that's happening before that's allowing them to be able to crawl, and understanding that crawling is a really important stepping stone to how the right and the left side of the brain are able to communicate with each other, among other things, the way that it's helping with the vestibular system and helping with balance and helping with proprioception and helping with all of the neurological foundation that our kids need to have later on in life.
And so if they're not crawling, let's try to find out why they're not crawling and help them to crawl during this window when they should be crawling instead of deciding that it's fine as long as they're getting themselves around. So I have a lot of podcasts and a lot of articles on this, and I talk about it all the time, but just a little aside there.
So again, what you're looking, what you're seeing at home when we're talking about the STNR [00:57:00] reflex, you're seeing that your baby is going from getting themselves able to be up on their hands and knees and starting to rock back and forth to being really comfortable in this position, being on their hands and knees and rocking back and forth, seeing the emergence of crawling as we think of crawling, so using the opposite arm and leg together.
You'll see them starting to climb onto and over any and everything. They're really starting to move their bodies in a different way when once they're able to master that movement of being up on all fours and using their arms and legs together, and also seeing that they're choosing really varied positions throughout the day.
So they're lying down, and they're sitting, and they're kneeling, and they're pulling themselves up on things, and they're crawling, and they're able to maneuver themselves on their own from one position to another position. And when the reflex [00:58:00] is doing what it should be doing, you're-- it's invisible.
You're seeing the movement emerging, not the reflex happening all the time. So that's what you should be looking for. So again, comfortable on their hands and knees, some crawling emerging by the end of this window for the majority of babies, varied movement patterns throughout the day. And things that you can be doing to support this, we've already talked about this, but maximize the amount of time they're on the floor.
The STNR reflex integrates through using it. Minimize the amount of time in containers, so walkers, jumpers, being in different types of seats. Those all work against integration. And making it of, you know, having open spaces and safe areas where they can be moving around, and things to climb onto, and things to climb around, and just being patient with this crawling stage, not trying to push them into [00:59:00] being up on two feet and walking as soon as you start to see that, you know, they're, they're able to crawl.
Give them some time to be crawling. It's important. In section eight, we are gonna talk about, you know, there's-- we've-- I've said this in every episode, and some variation during this window of time is, of course, normal. But there are some things that are worth having your child looked at by a clinician who is trained in pediatric neurodevelopment.
And so knowing the difference between what you need to give a little bit of time and just be following up at home, and what you need to be having somebody look at, is important And so Robert Melillo, among other researchers and clinicians, but him specifically, he emphasizes that the earliest signs of developmental imbalance [01:00:00] will often show up well before traditional pediatric screening tools will catch them.
And asymmetries and retained primitive reflexes and missing milestones in several different domains and having really persistent dysregulation in the nervous system, these are things that are worth flagging early. And the functional neurology lens is a more sensitive lens during this window than the standard well-child checklist.
I've mentioned this several times, but you will see that from me, the window of time that I'm recommending that you see something developing or being integrated or them being able to do something is earlier in a lot of cases than what you will read online. And there's a reason for that. I remember when I was first taking the, the childhood neurological developmental courses with Dr.
Melillo, and he was talking about how [01:01:00] a lot of the, a lot of the screening tools that we use to measure health, both for adults and for children, the references or the values for those have changed from the 1950s and the 1960s. And there was someone else in the course with me, and she said, "Why have they, why have the numbers changed?"
For things like blood pressure or heart rate or breathing rate or just things that are measuring the overall health of someone. And he said, "It's not because we know more about how the heart rate should be or how th- how someone should be breathing. It's because the general population has gotten sicker or less well."
And so if we kept the numbers what they were in the 1950s and 1960s, there would be a much bigger percentage of the population who would be falling outside of the norms and thereby having to have some sort of an intervation- intervention or some kind of seeking treatment. And so instead of [01:02:00] explaining to people that having higher blood pressure or having a faster breathing rate is a sign of a less well body.
They move the numbers so that all of a sudden a less optimal number is normal, and then that person never has a chance to understand that this is a sign that your body is in more of a stress response. And they do those things for kids, too. You know, we talked about how crawling has been removed from the list of developmental milestones, and I have a whole bunch of information about what I think about that.
But I think that moving the goalpost because you're seeing that there's such a large percentage of the population that isn't doing what they should be doing is not the way to tackle the problem. And so you'll see that a lot of the windows of development and the times to be meeting these milestones and the reference numbers when it comes to a [01:03:00] lot of the primitive reflexes are earlier and a shorter window of time in what you're hearing from me than what you're reading online, and there's a reason for that.
T. Berry Brazelton, who I've also referenced, his writing also highlights that, and this is something I talk about a lot as well, but maternal intuition is one of the most reliable signs in pediatric assessment. So if you-- if something is nagging at you, it deserves a closer look from someone who is trained to see what you're seeing.
And if you're taking your baby to see someone for an assessment and you feel like what you're coming in with and what you're telling them and your intuition is being brushed aside, find someone else. You're in the wrong office. Your intuition, and if, if you're getting a feeling that there's something that's not happening that should be happening or your baby is not developing the way that they should or you want someone to help you look [01:04:00] more in depth, that is something that should be...
You know, you need to find the right person, and you will never regret listening to your intuition, ever. Mary Sheridan, her framework on developmental milestones, she has the standard reference points that by nine months most babies are sitting independently, they're crawling, they're transferring objects back and forth between their hands, they're babbling, and they're using consonants in their babbling.
They're showing object permanence, which we've spent a lot of time talking about in the last two episodes, and they're showing clear wariness for strangers. And so if you're seeing that there's a substantial deviation in one or several of these areas at nine months, you should have somebody who knows how to assess pediatric neural development take a look at your baby.
So [01:05:00] again, there can be variation of the timing of the milestones. We're not looking at something to happen following a date on the calendar, but we're looking at the sequence of development happening the way that it should, and you of course have to take into account there will be all-- everybody's different.
There will be individual differences in temperament, individual differences in feeding and rhythms there, and sensory preferences and things like that. But if you're not seeing independent sitting by nine months, if you're not seeing crawling or other that your baby is trying to get themselves or is able to get themselves from point A to point B somehow by nine months to 10 months max.
If you're seeing that there are some persistent retained reflexes, a really strong Moro or startle reflex at nine months shouldn't be there. A really strong palmar grasp reflex at nine months, it shouldn't be [01:06:00] there. A strong ATNR at nine months, it shouldn't be there. And all of these specific reflexes that I'm talking about now, we've gone through all of these in the previous episodes, what they are, how to look for them, and when they should be integrated.
If you're seeing that your baby isn't babbling, they're not having any kind of vocal interaction by nine months, that's something that's worth having them checked. If you're seeing that they're not wary about strangers, they're not interested in faces, they're not starting to apply social ref-- you know, looking to you to see if they are safe in whatever situation that you've got them in, that is something that is also worth having them checked.
If you're seeing that there's a lot of difficulty with feeding, that there's, they're having, you know, reflux symptoms, they're refusing foods, or there seems to be some kind of sensory dysregulation that doesn't seem to be [01:07:00] resolving, this is also worth having a closer look. So There's a difference between being observant of something and giving it a little bit of time and waiting and seeing, and ignoring something that needs attention.
So trust your instincts, and if something is nagging at you, it is worth a closer look from someone who is trained in pediatric neurodevelopment, not just a routine well-child check, because that usually is too broad and not specific enough to be picking up what it is that you're looking for developmentally.
And so things that you can do at home is be aware and mindful of these patterns, and find someone, I've talked about this before as well, but find someone who is trained in pediatric neurodevelopment in your area. And if you haven't been to see them, which I can't as a chiropractor, I think that [01:08:00] it's a good idea for everyone to have their babies be checked and followed up by someone who knows what they're doing during those first few years, if not throughout their lifetime.
But during those first few years, it's really hard sometimes as a parent, because you're so close to it, it can be really hard to see things objectively in terms of what your child's doing. And it's really easy to have a lot of Not excuses, but, you know, explanations for why your baby isn't... I mean, I hear a lot of that when parents bring their kids in to see me, and it's, they're not making things up, but someone has said, "Well, oh, that's just because, well, you're, you're also hypermobile.
You know, you as the mother are so hypermobile," or, "You were clumsy when you were a child." There's a lot of well-meaning people in, around us who are giving us explanations for things that sometimes just needed to be checked out by someone who knows what they're doing. So bring your observations in to that person.
You are the expert on your [01:09:00] baby, and a clinician with the right training is the expert on the patterns, so they will be able to tell you if when the two of you combined are working on what you're seeing, that's the best, that's the best case scenario. And again, trust your instincts. They are right 99% of the time, and when they're wrong, then the only cost of that is that you had a re- reassuring assessment by somebody who knows what they're doing, and that will always make you feel better.
So last section, section nine. When we're talking about this specific window of time, the six to nine-month window, we're building on all of the previous windows. We-- I talk about this all the time, but the brain is built in layers, and so the house, we're building the foundation of the neurology that is going to be the basis of your child's neurology for the rest of their life into adulthood.
So you're seeing during this time added new [01:10:00] abilities when it comes to locomotion and eating solid foods, and that the attachment system is something that you're able to now see behaviorally. And so this is the basis of what's happening during this window of time. And when we're looking at the, some of the research on this, there's a woman called Mona Delahooke, and her framework talks a lot about how the goal for parents, what we're looking to do during this period of time is not to manage behavior It's to support whatever state our child is in.
And so if our baby is crying for some reason, we're not looking to get them to be quiet as quickly as possible. We're looking to meet the need they have in this state and help them in the regulation of their nervous system by working to soothe them and [01:11:00] allowing them to borrow from our nervous system and our regulation and find their way back to nervous system regulation.
So, and this applies to everything that is happening during this new window of time, new types of mobility, new leaps in cognitive abilities, new attachment behavior, and new ways of feeding themselves when it comes to solid foods. Sally Goddard Blythe, again, her underlying message is consistent across the first year.
Babies do not need complicated input. They don't need complicated things. They just need consistent input. They need their parents' attention. They need their parents to be calm, as calm as they can be, as often as they can be. They need the freedom to move. They need the input of the senses that they were designed to use, so they need to be able to be [01:12:00] tasting things and smelling things and touching things and putting things in their mouth and using the senses that, that they're developing.
And this adds up to having as much time on the floor, again, as possible, having meals as fam- as a family so that we're learning the social component and the practice of mealtime through these family meals, practicing conversation before they have actual words but practicing the back and forth like we've talked about, giving them support during these new phase of sleep, being available for the changes that are happening with their behavior when it comes to attachment, and being a regulated parent.
The, this is what we need to be thinking about during this period of time. Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber Their principles are, we've talked about these also in the different stages, but you are-- We need to be respecting the [01:13:00] baby's pace, allowing them freedom of movement. Narrate what's happening during the day.
Do less rather than doing more. It's not about doing more for your baby all the time. It's just about being available and being observant. So this at home looks like building a daily rhythm around your baby's state, having predictable patterns of activity, things that happen, things that they can recognize, patterns around meals, patterns around rest and sleep.
As much time as possible on the floor, as little time as possible in containers. Having meals together as a family at the table with the baby participating in a highchair that's pulled up close to the table. Having a lot of face-to-face time and conversation and sustained eye contact, and working to support their sleep in a way that respects the new attachment behavior rather than fighting against it.[01:14:00]
Honoring this wariness to strangers, not pushing them into other people's arms, and these can be people that they know really well. It doesn't-- When we talk about strangers, it doesn't have to be people that they've never seen before. Sometimes it's their grandmother who they see every third day is suddenly, you know, they're a little bit...
They need to warm up again, and so honor that. And be doing the daily work of supporting your nervous system as a parent so that you can be as regulated of a parent because it's really hard for any of us to learn and grow when we're stressed out. And since your baby is constantly reading your nervous system state, if you are stressed out all the time, they will be stressed out all the time, and that's not a supportive environment for learning and for growth.
So think about that. You wanna be watching for, again, just to, as a little bit of a wrap up, an overall [01:15:00] sense that your baby is becoming more of themselves. They're becoming more mobile, more present, more cognitively engaged. You'll feel yourself also becoming more confident. You're better able to read your baby.
You're more trusting of your instincts. You're second-guessing yourself less You're finding a new rhythm by the end of this window when it comes to sleep, and you're seeing really clear big motor leaps, big leaps when it comes to cognitive development, and big changes and leaps when it comes to attachment behaviors.
So trust the design. Your baby's nervous system knows what it's doing if the conditions are as they should be. And so protect floor time, really honor this, this idea of having meals as a family. Be available for them when it comes to [01:16:00] attachment and the changes that are happening with this during this time.
Working on their language, working on the conversations, working on supporting them through sleep. And so just understanding this is a big time, an exciting time. They're all exciting, but this is really exciting because you're finally starting to see that they are able to... Your child is able to influence and affect their environment and participate in their environment in an entirely new way.
And so thank you for being here. I know that these episodes are really heavy 'cause neurology, I'm trying to make it as interesting and as fun as I can, but there's a lot of nitty-gritty in the neurodevelopment during the first year, and I want-- I'm repeating myself sometimes [01:17:00] a lot for a reason. Because the more I say things and the more you're thinking, "Yeah, you've already said that three times."
Well, yeah, because now you can remember it, and so there's a reason why I'm doing that. I need it myself when I'm learning new things, and so that's why some of it you'll think like, "Ugh, move on." And I am, I will. We're moving on. We're going from the nine to the 12-month window of development. We're gonna have the last two episodes that will be rounding out the last, the final window of development for this first year of life.
I hope that this series is giving you something that you can use, and this information, I really believe these episodes are really important for every new mother. So if you know someone who is about to have a baby or who has a new baby, I hope that you will share these episodes and continue to follow the show so that you're not missing the next episodes in the series.
[01:18:00] And again, if you are interested in the reference list, I will have those linked in the show notes. I'll have the other episodes in the series linked in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here, and I'll see you in the next one.
Thank you again for joining me today for this episode. I hope you found something valuable in the time we spent together, and I hope you'll join me again next week on the Create Thriving Families podcast. Until then, be well
