OT for Newborns
Believe it or not… Occupational Therapy can start the day that a child is born! In hospital settings, many children that are born prematurely end up receiving services due to their early start out of the womb. There are NICU OT’s that work in hospitals to help parents with NICU babies connect and care for their little ones, and we also provide services once their home.
SMPLY OT doesn’t have NICU services just yet, but we do often see little ones that are younger than three. As with most of the age category of children 0-3, this age group treatment comes with a “parent training” model. This just means that a lot of our treatment will include education with the parents, teaching different techniques and exercises to get their child’s development accelerated!
The sooner the better.
With Occupational Therapy; The sooner you seek treatment, the better. It may be a minor delay in physical development that the pediatrician refers to OT for. But as time goes on, our little ones get bigger, with a larger spectrum of developmental milestones to reach. So that little 4 mo old may only need to work on tummy time and adaptive positions to be taught by the OT to reach their developmental level; But once they turn one and they are having trouble standing or taking side-steps, it may be more hurdles to meet to get up to speed.
Tummy Time ASAP!
One of the first exercises your child experiences. And you can start the day you bring your baby home from the hospital. Neck muscles that are addressed during tummy time are necessary for your baby to sit upright for play, and eventually start crawling, standing and walking. Once they can hold their head up, the other pieces of development start falling into place.
Some Great Toys for Tummy Time:
Mirrors - It can be a little one from the toy department, or it can be a long mirror you already have at home to help motivate that little one to hold their head up.
Rattle - It’s a classic and is great for newborns, the auditory and colorful stimuli really gets babies engaged.
Colorful ball - You can use this for your baby to watch go from one side to another. This may be good for babies who are able to lift up their chest a little and are almost starting to reach.
If you need more ideas, you can always reach out to us at smplytherapy@gmail.com!