Muscle tone excercises for DD

[giggles]

Hi All,

My DD (17 weeks) is a little on the weak side according to the physio we are seeing. We were referred to her by the CHN after noticing a slight flat spot on her head.

Anyway, rather than telling me what I can do (other than tummy time) to strengthen her muscles all I got on our last visit was "shes useless to work with today" as DD was getting very tired and cranky.

Now we have to wait another 6 weeks to se her as she is off on Christmas holidays and I was hoping someone had some advice on what I can do to help strengthen her little muscles or websites with good info.

Initially, around the 10 weeks old mark, we had some feeding dramas which I think has put her back a few weeks. Since I have begun to supplement her breastmilk with formual she is coming on in leaps and bounds, apart from the strength.

Jeez, these babies make you feel pretty useless sometimes :o

Thanks,

[MonMic]

Hi,

some things I have found that are good for strengthening is to lay bubs lengthways on your lap i.e head on your knees and bum near your waist and put your hands on the bottom of her feet and let her push against you.

another good one is to hold her standing up on your lap i.e hold her up with her legs straight and lower her down onto your legs and let her bare teh weight for a secong or two then let her bend the knees and sit down. gradually she will be able to weight bare for longer.

take care
M.

[MonMic]

Hi,

some things I have found that are good for strengthening is to lay bubs lengthways on your lap i.e head on your knees and bum near your waist and put your hands on the bottom of her feet and let her push against you.

another good one is to hold her standing up on your lap i.e hold her up with her legs straight and lower her down onto your legs and let her bare teh weight for a secong or two then let her bend the knees and sit down. gradually she will be able to weight bare for longer.

take care
M.

[Manxie]

Hi Justcooked

I'm interested in this too as my DD has some minor tone issues and is a similar age :D .

I definately wouldnt wait 6 weeks to see that grumpy physio. Start banging on some doors to get a referral to someone else. 6 weeks is a long time in baby development language.

I am taking DD to babyroo where they give you some good tips for excercising bubs, I am going to quiz them today to get some more specific stuff to do with DD. They are used to working with bubs with low tone so can give some good advice but you just have to keep in mind that they are not medically trained. There is also Kindergym which is a lot cheaper than babyroo but I think does similar things.

I am also taking DD swimming, not sure if it specifically helps but I figure while she's kicking her legs around its all helping develop muscles.

Please feel free to PM - I'll try and remember to come back and tell you what Babyroo suggested for my DD but if I forget just pm:D :D

[Manxie]

Hi

Well I quizzed the woman at babyroo - just keep in mind that she is only going on her experience and isnt a physio or dr or anything.

But basically her advice was tummy time, tummy time and more tummy time. Also massage is good for improving tone. There are a couple of exercises we do using a "fit ball" a smaller ball will do, lie bubs on their tummy across the ball while holding them on the hips and roll the ball backwards and forwards, do the same exercise with them on their back. This is all I can think of for now, how this helps:D

[giggles]

Thanks heaps Manxie. I have started using the fit ball with Ava recently so hopefully that will help.

I feel awful that she is not progressing but all I can do is keep excercising with her I guess!

The more I think about the physio, the more P!@#$ed off I get that she was able to say this is what's wrong but I can't tell you how to go about fixing it today or anytime in the future bnecasue I have holidays!

I might see my CHN and see if she can recommend somewhere else, or even speak to my GP when we go for needles tomorrow.

Also, thanks for lettingme know about BabyRoo. Have looked into it and will check out an open day being held soon!