Stregthening Activities (Tobias's Journey)
Because of Tobias's Moebius Syndrome, he has a weaker upper body. Up until he was 4 month old, he was reaching all of his milestones. Now that those milestones are more physical, he is starting to fall behind. With the help of his occupational therapist and physical therapist, they have given me a few activities to help him reach those fun milestones like sitting up and standing.
His occupational therapist has been working with him for a couple months now, and boy does he love her! She has been so awesome with him. Her main goal for Tobias is to strengthen his core to help him sit by himself.
When we first met with his occupational therapist, she told us the importance of giving him plenty of toys with textures and colors to catch his attention. During tummy time, she had me put a ton of toys on a bumpy feeling cutting board. That helped keep him interested without being fussy. I also used that time to make sure he was using both of his hands to grab and play. When he was smaller I did tummy time in between each feeding while my fiance was at work. So at that point Tobias was doing tummy time about 5 times a day. I know not all moms can do that, but I truly think all of that time on his tummy was the main attribute to keeping him on track, despite his lack of upper body muscle.
The next week she brought a peanut ball. She showed us two new activities for us to do, both aimed at continuing to strengthen his core. The first one was to have him do tummy time on the ball. This one is easier with two people because she wants us to dangle a toy out in front of him. While he is strengthening his back, we encourage him to reach out and grab that toy with BOTH hands.
After that, we switch to the second activity she showed us. We sit Tobias on the peanut ball, supporting him at his sides/hips. This one is also easier with two people because our goal for this activity is to have Tobias lean from side to side with little help from us. The person with the toy dangles it to one side, make sure its in reaching distance, and Tobias will lean to grab it. Then after about 30 seconds, we move the toy to the next side. Tobias has to use his core to sit up from the leaning position and transition to the other side of the ball where the toy is now at. This activity is a lot harder for him, so he is not always in the mood to do it and that is ok. We have found that switching up the toys helps keep in interest. Also, if he is fussy I will just put a toy in front of him and simply let him sit on the ball, without moving from side to side. It has been so awesome seeing him get better and better at his activity.
We recently started seeing a Physical Therapist. After observing me work with Tobias for a few minutes, he quickly realized that Tobias was not wanted to put a lot of weight on his legs. Which I think is because he spends so much time in his brace and bar. He saw that I had a peanut ball, so the activity he has me do is stand Tobias up and lean on the peanut ball. This was a challenge at first. Tobias was not wanting to do it and I thought maybe I was hurting his ankles. But then I found the magical powers of the Baby Shark song. So now I put that song on and stand Tobias up in front of the T.V., and he will stand there for a few minutes!! The below picture is not the best because he was getting tired so this was him trying to turn out of it. But when he is distracted by the song, I face him straight on to the ball and put my legs right behind his feet so they do not slide.
These are just a few things we are doing with Tobias everyday. I know not all mamas are able to do this, but I think even just incorporating some of these peanut ball activities 2 or 3 times a week, could really do wonders for a baby's core strength. I like these because almost any child can do these activities. These are great for children like Tobias who need a little more help because of his low muscle tone, but also for other babies who are getting tired of the same tummy time routine everyday.
I have linked the peanut ball below for anyone who wants to purchase one.
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