Baby’s Motor Skills:
"The ultimate goal of physical motor development is to make the human organism as independent of gravity as is possible within the limitations of the human body."
When babies begin to participate and engage in the world around them it is indicative of them becoming more and more independent. From the moment a baby is born into this world she will begin the process of developing the motor skills that are necessary for her to take command of that which is around her and for her to relate with her environment. Because of this a baby who has mastered the motor skill of sitting up without help, for example, will have a completely different outlook on the environment that they are a part of than a baby who has not yet mastered this skill and needs assistance from objects or adults to help them up. You will find as your baby begins to stack skill upon skill that her experience of the world, and in turn the complexity of newly learned skills, will grow exponentially. As your baby’s motor skills grow and become more complex, so will your baby’s overall interaction with her environment.
Physical development can be broken up in to three-month intervals and divided into two categories: gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are the term used to describe your baby’s ability to control different parts of her own body. Fine motor skills refer to your baby’s level of coordination of different body parts, such as picking up an object with her thumb and forefinger.
Infant muscle development starts at the head and works its way down. Your baby will first develop control over the neck muscles. Soon after that she will learn to control the torso, and finally the leg muscles. Your baby will then start sitting up on her own, crawling a bit, and turning over by herself. She will enjoy being bounced on your knee, which is an excellent way for your baby to begin to develop balance. By the time she is around eight months old she will start learning how to stand up on her own and will try to pull herself upright by holding on to objects with your help.
Typically, a baby will start walking between nine and fifteen months, with the majority of babies walking just after the age of one (around thirteen to fourteen months). If your baby cannot walk but has no problem crawling, standing, or sitting upright, this is completely normal. Some babies skip the crawling phase entirely and can start walking as late as seventeen to nineteen months.
