Learning to walk, the first steps of the baby

Learning to walk it is the result of a long process that begins at the moment of birth and that goes through some fundamental stages that we can stimulate! All of them lead to mastery of two basic aspects: the neurological maturation of the baby and the trial-error technique.

So that a baby can learn to walk, to give his first stepsOn the one hand, it needs to achieve a certain degree of neurological maturation, since walking and controlling all the movements that allow one foot to stand in front of the other supposes an important degree of brain development.

On the other hand, the technique of trial and error is very important, since to learn to walk you have to fall many times, try certain positions and take risks.

Basic stages to learn to walk

During the first year of life, the baby's motor area will evolve to allow our baby to walk. It will go from a state of total prostration to an upright posture. And in a short time, you can run, jump, go up and down steps. Each of these movements entails great complexity. In order to be able to execute them, and to be able to walk first, the baby has to learn to control different parts of his body, and for that, he must reach adequate muscular development, have a sense of balance, etc.

The development of the motor area of babies goes through some stages that you have to know to be able to help them pass them in the most efficient way possible.

- Control of the spine. The dominion that the baby exercises on his column is the first one that appears chronologically.
- Reinforcement of support reflexes, walking and, above all, crawling. Keep in mind that crawling is the first method of walking used by the child and is essential to obtain a bone maturity of legs, arms, spine and coordination of movements.
- Ankle control. The sole of the foot must rest correctly on the ground to avoid secondary deformations. When you are able to take the first steps, the support will consist of putting on proper footwear with reinforcements in the heel and ankles.
- Strengthening your own movements. One of the most common learning procedures at this age is imitation of the adult, so we must simply show how we are doing. For this we must bear in mind that the most important point of weight for maintaining balance is knee flexion.

Fine motor skills for the baby's first steps

Everything that supposes to force or tire the child will have repercussions on health problems, so we must let it be he who administers the time for each exercise. To do this, we can leave it on the ground, near a piece of furniture that serves as a support or, simply, where there is enough space to exercise in the process of walking without any risk at the beginning.

Motricity has a second step as important as gait control, which is called fine motor skills. Within this type of motor skills is the oculi-manual coordination, which consists in learning to pick up objects. Fine motor skills are fundamental for higher order learning, such as learning to read or write, or for handling small instruments.

Exercises to stimulate the baby to walk

1. With the feet. The baby has not yet learned to support his weight on his feet, but we can begin to teach him. For this, we will take him by the armpits and we will raise him above the ground. Afterwards, we will lower it until its feet touch the ground. It is a way to establish a first contact.

2. Already standing.We will place the child standing, leaning on a piece of furniture (a chair, for example), supporting his weight for as long as he can resist without getting tired. At first we will see him wobble and be insecure, and we will even have to hold him. Little by little he will learn to stand.

3. Come with mom.Our son is like a chick about to leave the nest for his first flight. He already walks alone once in a while and stands up on his own. Now, while one of the parents holds the baby, by the hips, the other one is placed at a distance and encourages him to go there. Little by little, we will increase the distance of travel.

4. Walking. We can also take advantage of the park and the walks to stimulate those first steps. Although the pace is much more tiring and slow, we can grab one from each hand, letting him be the one to walk.

Cristina Murcia