Walking

Exercise program for children who can already crawl on all fours. The program contains best-practice home exercises to support the next step toward strong and stable walking. The exercises strengthen the motor foundation by promoting the skills that are important for moving well through the motor milestones, and can be used both as cosy everyday play inspiration and in cases of motor development delay.

  • Prioritized, simple exercises
  • Designed for busy families
  • Illustrated with pictures & videos
  • Instant & perpetual access
  • Secure payment with QuickPay

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299,00 DKK

(inclusive of all taxes, VAT and fees)

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Program description

Being able to take those first steps is a big milestone, because it significantly increases your childโ€™s independence. But we shouldnโ€™t rush into walking by only training the muscles needed to move straight ahead. If we do that, we risk depriving the body of important strengthening of the core muscles, which is crucial for good postural stability later in life.

Thatโ€™s why Iโ€™ve created an exercise program for the path toward independent walking that focuses precisely on these muscles and movement patterns, so your childโ€™s journey into walking is supported with the best possible quality. The exercises are not a shortcut, but a way to make sure your child strengthens exactly the muscles needed to use their body in an upright position in a varied and stable way.

This program contains best-practice home exercises that support your child on the way to stable walking with good rotational trunk movements. The exercises focus on strengthening the relevant muscles around the tummy/back (trunk), hips, knees, and ankles, as well as promoting balance. Youโ€™ll also find lots of helpful tips on how to support your child in finding the courage to let go and walk freely through the room. The exercises can be used both as general play inspiration and when more targeted motor support is needed.

Note: If your baby is not yet crawling on all fours, please choose instead the program: Crawling on all Fours

This program is one of several in the category Walking – read about the differences in the program overview. Please find answers to frequently asked questions below. If you are still unsure which program is the right one for your child, you are very welcome to send an email to maria@develobaby.com.

Frequently asked questions to Walking

Ideally, a baby should be able to walk independently by 18 months. If this is not the case, the normal recommendation is to assess the baby to determine the cause of the delay and then help them progress with physiotherapy.

However, I don’t recommend waiting that long. If a baby is delayed in motor development (see baby milestones), you can always help with motor development. This has no side effects, is fun and easy. Focusing on motor development will always pay off in the long run.

A baby walker is not necessary for most babies. Using a baby walker deprives the baby of important rotation training (rotational movements of the body), which helps strengthen the core for better stability when standing and walking. Of course, using a baby walker is not necessarily harmful, but as a pediatric physical therapist, I would definitely recommend that babies focus on building the necessary core strength, gluteal strength (especially on the sides of the hips), balance, and technique first, rather than rushing to learn to walk with a baby walker.

Although many babies learn the necessary techniques and build sufficient muscle strength on their own, learning to walk can be delayed by external factors. If there is a significant delay in motor development, you can use the exercises in this program to support and accelerate natural development. In my experience, babies who follow their natural development – albeit with exercises – and do not use a baby walker, learn to walk faster, more stable and therefore more safely.

One exception is hypermobile babies, who are sometimes severely delayed in their motor development and have difficulty learning to walk. In this case, the use of a baby walker may be justified, e.g. to give the baby the courage to take its first steps as walking also requires a lot of courage.

No! The exercises are normal, anatomically correct strengthening exercises for the relevant muscle groups. The worst thing that can happen is that you are supporting your baby’s motor development. ๐Ÿ˜‰

I am aware that the exercises add to the stress of everyday family life. That’s why I’ve prioritized the exercises so that the five most important ones are at the top of the program and you can limit yourself to those if you’re short on time. You can do many of the exercises as part of all the little things you do in your everyday life anyway, and that’s why you can usually get your baby to walk without spending a lot of extra time on it. Of course, this is individual and depends a lot on your baby’s starting point.

Frequently asked questions to exercise programs

After completing the purchase process successfully, you can access your exercise program here on the develobaby.com. During payment, enter your email address and password. After successful payment, you will see an additional heading in the menu called “My Programs”, including links to all the exercise programs you have purchased access to. You could be reading your first program in under 60 seconds from purchasing. When you come back to DeveloBaby.com after a few days, the system will have logged you out automatically. Then simply log in again with your email address as your username and the password you chose during the checkout process.

My exercise programs are accessible online here on DeveloBaby.com. As the programs contain video clips that couldn’t be played in PDF or other types of print, there is no downloadable or hard copy version. That said, using a PC/Mac you can in fact print the exercise programs you have purchased by pressing Ctrl+P on Windows and Command+P on MacOS when you are on the exercise program page. However, the programs are not specifically set up for this purpose, so it’s much nicer and more user-friendly to view it directly on your mobile, tablet or computer.

You have perpetual access. However, I am obliged to adhere to certain privacy data regulations (such as GDPR), which state that I cannot store customer data longer than necessary. Therefore, the system limits your access to one year at a time. When a year is about to expire, the system will automatically send you an email so you can easily extend your access if you want to keep it.

No, this would be against the terms & conditions. You purchase access for yourself and the people living in your household. If you, however, buy an exercise program as a grandparent, you can of course share the access with the person you bought it for. In contrast, if you are a manager in an institution and want to procure access to one or more exercise programs for your employees, please write to me so we can work out an agreement on multiple licenses. For contact details and more, please see my Terms and Conditions.

Current legislation states that the usual 14-day right of withdrawal does not apply to digital products. The reason for this is that it is virtually impossible to argue that you haven’t used digital products once you’ve logged in. Therefore, I do not generally offer refunds. Please read more about my return policy under Terms and Conditions.

Yes, I’ve gone to great lengths to explain each exercise in layman’s terms so that everyone can follow. There are also pictures and videos to accompany the exercises, where I perform the exercises on a real baby.

No, certainly not. In my exercise programs, I have put the exercises in prioritized order. There are a lot of exercises in each program, so in principle you can spend your whole day doing exercises if you find it enjoyable, but you can also choose to do the top three or top five, and therefore the most important ones. This makes the exercise programs suitable for everyone, no matter how much time and energy you have to spare.

The exercises are basically just strength training, just like when you go to the gym. They are designed to strengthen your child muscles wrt the exercise programs’ purpose, e.g. addressing back arching. Therefore, exercises will always make your child stronger. Whether your child achieves each milestone with good quality using the exercises depends, of course, on the starting conditions and whether there are any special conditions that would require a individually tailored approach. But no matter what, helping your child build a stronger body will never be in vain. For the vast majority, standardized exercises, as presented in my exercise programs, will help the child move on to the next milestone well and strongly.

Related programs

Note: when purchasing two or more programs, a 10% discount is automatically applied. โค

  • Tummy Time

    Exercise program for babies from 4 weeks of age with simple and effective best-practice exercises for strong tummy time and rolling from back to tummy. The exercises support the gross motor foundation by strengthening the skills needed to pass through the motor milestones in the best possible way. They can be used both as cosy everyday play inspiration and in cases of mild motor delay.

  • Tarzan Crawling and Bottom Scooting

    Exercise program for children who crawl on one knee and one foot (Tarzan crawling) or move forward by bottom scooting and are not yet able to walk without support. The program contains the same exercises as the program for Walking, plus important additions and variations focusing on correcting the movement patterns that lead to Tarzan crawling and bottom scooting.

  • Belly Crawling

    Exercise program for babies who can already roll from back to tummy. The program contains simple and effective best-practice exercises to support the next step toward strong belly crawling. The exercises strengthen the skills that are important for reaching later motor milestones and can be used both as cosy everyday play inspiration and in cases of motor development delay.

  • Back Arching and Flat Head

    Exercise program for babies from four weeks of age who show signs of back arching. The program contains the same exercises as the program Tummy Time and Rolling and important additions and variations focusing on correcting the back arching, suppress skydiver position, and correct a flat back of the head.

  • DeveloBaby Sleep

    Exercise program for babies and very young children from 4 weeks up to 2 years who find it difficult to calm down, surrender to sleep, or stay asleep due to motor restlessness or other sensory seeking behaviour. DeveloBaby Sleep also includes a wide range of concrete regulating sensory exercises as well as best-practice knowledge about baby sleep and sleep hygiene.

  • Sensory Integration

    Exercise program for children from 2 years to around 12 years who show signs of sensory integration issues, whether your child finds certain types of sensory input overwhelming or has a strong need for specific kinds of sensory stimulation. Sensory Integration includes a wide range of concrete sensory-stimulating exercises as well as sensorimotor games and activities that help create better balance in everyday life.

  • Preferred Side and Flat Head

    Exercise program for babies from four weeks of age who show signs of a preferred side. The program contains the same exercises as the program Tummy Time and Rolling and important additions and variations focusing on correcting a preferred side, the C-shape (banana shape), and a asymmetrical back of the head.

  • Asymmetrical Belly Crawling

    Exercise program for children who belly crawl using only one side of the body and are not yet able to crawl forward on all fours. The program contains the same exercises as the program Crawling on All Fours and important additions and variations focusing on correcting one-sided belly crawling.

  • Crawling on All Fours

    Exercise program for babies who are already able to belly crawl, either with a normal cross-over pattern or by moving both arms and legs at the same time. The program contains best-practice home exercises to reliably move on to strong crawling on all fours. The exercises strengthen the skills needed to pass through the motor milestones well and can be used both as cosy everyday play inspiration and in cases of motor development delay.

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Disclaimer

All content on DeveloBaby.com is based on recognized professional standards in Denmark, and you can expect them to be in line with the advice you receive in the public health system. If you find that your child has pronounced sleep or motor challenges, or that there is a lack of effect from the general exercises, I recommend that you make an appointment with me, either in person or online, so that I can customize the program for your child. If your child is unwell, please always contact your health care provider or physician. Read full disclaimer…