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mommywei · 7 years

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As a result of my experience with the Glenn Doman programme, Son started GD’s Newborn Programme with QiiQ at age 3.5 months old.

At this time, I had re-read “How Smart Is Your Baby” and had made a faltering start on some of the stimulations instructed by the book.

Son is not at all like Daughter.

Daughter was a piece of clockwork. We put her on a schedule a few weeks after her birth, following the recommendations of “Baby Wise” by Gary Ezzo. As a baby, she ate according to schedule, she was cheerful, she would listen to stories and music, she slept through the night at 2 months old. Frankly, we were spoilt by Daughter – that’s why we decided to have another child.

I repeat, Son is not like Daughter.

He will not keep to a schedule. He cries an awful lot. He hates being on his back. He hates being prone. He hates sitting in his rocker. He hates his swaddle. He hates his cot. He hates sleeping. He doesn’t seem to like music. He just wants to be carried! At the time of writing, he is almost 4 months old, and wakes up at least once in the night and takes at least an hour to get back to sleep.

How does a fatigued mom to do more than keep him alive by giving him nutrition, keeping him clean, and putting him to (fitful) sleep? Glenn Doman, who?

Nevertheless, I try my best everyday with the Glenn Doman newborn programme.

I confess that I skipped the Stage I Visual and Auditory programs. First, I do not have a very dark room unless it’s night time, or I shut us in the store room which would be taking things way too far and risking a visit from social welfare officers. And when it becomes naturally dark, all I want to do is for Son to shut his eyes and go to sleep. Stimulating his light reflex with a pen light is the last thing on my mind. So I never do the visual stimulations.

I am sure he can hear. I do not need to clap two pieces of wood loudly to monitor his startle (auditory) reflex.

I’m sure Glenn Doman programmers would ‘tsk’ at me, but as I said, I am a super tired mom with no domestic helper.

What have I been doing?

Stimulating the Babinski reflex as many times a day as I can manage, but not meeting the instructed standard. This is the Stage I Tactile Program.

Doing as much of the Stage I Motor Opportunity Program as I can.

Lifting him to eye level and beyond.

Lifting him by his torso so that he is like an aeroplane above me.

Putting him prone for many minutes each day. Ditto on not meeting the instructed standard.

Rolling roll from back to prone. Left and right.

I’ll say something about the last two.

When I started these exercises with Son at about 2.5 months old, I had no intention of getting Son to flip on his own stead. In my perpetual tired stupor, I was just blindly following the book’s instructions.

By this time, Son had quite good head control. In fact, he achieved this milestone pretty early on in life.

With Son on his back, I let him grip my right thumb with his left hand and gently rolled him onto his front. Rolled him back onto his back. Let him grip my left thumb with his right hand, and rolled him onto his front.

Within a few days of the above exercise – I would put it at a week at most – Son started to roll over on his own, from his back onto his front. He is much more adept at rolling on his right side. At 3.5 months old, rolling onto his front has become a piece of cake for Son. Funnily, he starts crying when he achieves his roll. Whether the crying is out of fear or frustration at dropping his pacifier on the roll, I have no idea.

“Your baby may be able to kick himself over, from his tummy to his back, as early as age 4 months. It may take him until he’s about 5 or 6 months to flip from back to front, though, because he needs stronger neck and arm muscles for that maneuver.” (Baby Center, “Baby milestone: Rolling over”)

Did the Stage I Motor Program accelerate this milestone? Your call.

#glenndoman #babyflipping #babymilestone #babinski #tactileprogram #motorskills #rollover #babywise #garyezzo

#qiiq

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