Book Review – Baby Moves by Marianne Hermsen-Van Wanrooy
This is a book that I wish I had known about before Bubba G was born. We found out about it when she was 5 months old.
My husband is a paediatric chiropractor and most of the things in this book he had already shared with me, however there were a few things that we learnt from it that we were excited to implement in our care of Bubba G.
In essence, Marianne found that putting a baby or child into positions that he or she cannot get into by themselves can be unhelpful (e.g. sitting a baby up before they can get into a sitting position on their own), as this can encourage muscle imbalance and prevents the child from correcting movement abnormalities. This can have significant effects on brain development and may contribute to behavioural and learning difficulties.
ABOUT BABY MOVES
“This book is written for all parents and shows how babies ideally develop their movements.
The development of a child’s brain mostly takes place during infancy and a baby’s movements are vital for this.
Most movement patterns develop in the first nine months of your baby’s life and it is important to know what you as a parent can do to help with this in the best possible way.
This book also tells you what equipment you need for your baby and also what is better not to use”. Baby Moves
ABOUT MARIANNE HERMSEN-VAN WANROOY
Marianne is a physiotherapist from The Netherlands. She specialises in neuropaediatric physiotherapy. She has a special interest in children with learning difficulties and coordination challenges.
Since the late seventies, her work has been influenced by the philosophies of Dr Emmi Pinkler, a Hungarian paediatrician who has done extensive research on child development, and Dr Vaclav Vojta, A Czech neuropaediatrician.
Over the years her views on the development of children’s movements have changed. She now encourages children to develop their own milestones by providing the best environment for them.
The sequence in which motor milestones develop is very important in her philosophy. In her work with disabled children, she has seen the difference this approach makes. In turn, she realised how important this approach is to all children.
If you would like to purchase this fantastic book, you can do so here Baby Moves.
MAGDA GERBER AND RIE
Magda Gerber, the founder of RIE studied with Dr Emmi Pinkler in Hungary, and she too is an advocate of this approach.
Janet Landsbury has written some excellent articles about this approach to children’s milestones. Here are a couple of her articles:
Sitting Babies up – The downside
With love and light
2 Comments
very frustrated with how to buy this book!!! Please advise
http://www.evolvingmamma.com/2014/01/book-review-baby-moves-by-marianne-hermsen-van-wanrooy/
There is a link in this post that you can use to purchase the book. You need to purchase it from the author in NZ.
Best wishes
Helene