Why belly time?

Kelly asked why Natalie does so much belly time, even though she's walking. Since the response is pretty long, I thought I'd answer in a new post instead of comments.

We feel blessed with THE BEST physical therapist for Natalie. Caryn has an orthopedic background and really works on muscle balance with Natalie. Since Natalie has low tone, she compensates for her weakness by going to the easiest movement for her, which then develops muscles for that movement, but that may not be the best way to do a movement, AND it can develop further muscle imbalance.

Natalie has strong stomach muscles, but weak back muscles. So to develop stronger back muscles, since we can't hook her up to a weight machine :) Caryn has us doing exercises on her belly. The best way to strengthen her back is to have her on her belly, reaching out as far as she can with an arm, and then doing something with that arm. A good example is picking up a block and putting it in a box that is at arms length, while on her belly.

Natalie still has muscle imbalance between her stomach and back, but I think it's a lot better than it would be without massive amounts of belly time. I'm not completely sure if this is related, but I often see special needs adults who walk in a hunched over manner, and I see Natalie has good posture when she walks (very upright back)...so I think it is related.

Anyway, that's why we do belly time: to strengthen the back so Natalie will do movements that she currently doesn't find easy, but will be necessary as she moves on to other levels of physical development. If your kiddo isn't doing a lot of belly time right now, you would need to work them up to it by doing 30 seconds, then a minute, then a few minutes, because it's not easy to do! (Unless your kid has strong back and weak stomach!)