Move Baby Move

Research shows us that 70-85% of mothers prefer holding their baby on their left side. That bias is even showing up in pre school aged girls, who prefer carrying their dolls in the left side.

The preference has to do with how our brain sends signals. The right brain receives signals from the left side of the body and the left brain receives signals from the right side of the body.

Right brain is responsible for social relationships, intuition, emotion, organizing information, face recognition and more.

Left brain is responsible for reading, writing, listening, number skills, grammar, logic and more.

The other really cool thing about holding our children on the left is that their right ear is next to our body (mouth). Which means their left brain is firing up! The side that’s responsible for building language, reasoning and listening.

If you prefer holding your baby on your right side it doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. While this is interesting research to learn about it doesn’t really matter when it comes to what kind of mothers we are. There is so much more that goes into being in tune to our children and their needs. 💛💛💛

We want our babies to experience slightly stressful situations while learning and exploring their bodies. Running into a road block during tummy time, rolling, sitting up, standing or walking, allows the brain and body to problem solve.

Ideally we want these roadblocks to be something they explore and figure out on their own. If your baby keeps getting stuck in a roll it doesn’t grow the brain if we come in and roll them in/out every time they get frustrated. Nor does it grow the brain if we let them unravel in their frustration. We’re looking for the balance of “not too hard but not too easy”.

✨ let them experience the frustration of not being able to do something.
✨Be there for support by acknowledging the hard work they are doing. Use encouraging touch on their body.
✨And before they fall off the emotional cliff of tears - give them a break or the assistance they’re searching for and shower them with love and understanding.

Learning and growing new skills is really hard. Allowing space for the stress that comes with learning, while continuing to be their biggest cheerleader allows for growth to happen.