Let the baby go barefoot! Conducive to promoting a series of positive developments

Watching your baby begin to explore the world is probably the most beautiful thing in the world. Babies will bring innocent joy and excitement, allowing all new experiences to establish rich connections with their living environment and inner world.(Do you really understand why your baby cries?)

The sensory system is the initial foundation for high-level brain development. We are familiar with the following five senses: touch, taste, vision, hearing and smell. Through these basic senses, the baby can establish neural connections and begin to perceive outside the mother's womb world.

Understand the two important sensory systems for baby's growth: "proprioception" and "vestibular system"

The "proprioceptive system" and the "vestibular system" are two sensory systems that are rarely mentioned but are equally important. They dominate the baby's coordinated movements and interact more with the world.

Proprioception (proprioception) refers to the ability to be aware of the movements and positions of one's own body. Receptors are located in joints, connective tissues, and muscles. When pressure and movement stimulate proprioception, messages will be sent directly to the brain and reported back to the body. direction and positioning.

The vestibular system is responsible for creating a sense of balance and coordination when the body's center of gravity, posture, or head position changes. As the perception of the above five senses gradually improves, the baby will begin to develop fine movements, and gradually learn to support the head, turn over, sit up, crawl, and finally start to walk. 

SmilyMia suggest that it is important to encourage your baby and stimulate his five basic senses with some small activities that he enjoys. However, we may underestimate the importance of proprioception and vestibular system. We should also promote the development of these two. The simplest way is to let the baby be barefoot as much as possible!

Putting on shoes too early will limit the baby’s positive development

The feet are one of the most sensory-rich parts of our body(baby teether is also important for 0-12 months old). The soles of the feet are extremely sensitive to touch, and the joints and muscles of the feet also have a large number of proprioceptive receptors. In fact, there are as many proprioceptive receptors in the feet alone as there are in the entire spine!

This is exciting news, but in today's culture, wearing shoes all day long is the norm, and because of this, we have greatly inhibited nerve conduction pathways and connections. Parents often put on shoes for their babies early, and some babies even wear shoes before they can walk. This limits the normal movement and exploration of the little feet, which is precisely to prepare them to move on their own.

Then, when babies start to walk, they have become accustomed to restricted movements, the soles of their feet cannot directly feel the ground, and their proprioception cannot receive complete stimulation. Also, because the muscles and joints of the feet have no chance to adapt to changes in the ground, sensory input from the vestibule was inhibited.

Let your baby go barefoot to promote high-level brain development

If the baby can bare his feet, he will feel the surface of the ground through touch, and the vestibular system will respond to pressure. The imbalance caused by the unevenness of the ground can enhance neuromuscular strength, spatial orientation, balance and coordination.

When your children are playing in cold or dangerous environments, of course our priority is to protect them and keep them safe. However, if there is adult guidance and it is in a soft area or on grass, dirt, or ground covered with wet leaves, you can encourage your child to stomp around and feel how good their bare feet feel! In doing so, you provide an excellent opportunity for your child to develop higher-level brain responses, including emotional control, problem solving, language, social skills, and self-confidence.

Going barefoot is also good for training concentration and awareness

This is an important message for adults too! It’s never too late to improve your proprioception and vestibular system, as new neural connections continue to be formed even as we age. Often, proprioception and the vestibular system are suppressed in adulthood, and we no longer balance and care about our bodies and lives, and therefore lose our rich connections with our environment, ourselves, and others.

Think about it, how long has it been since you took off your shoes, walked barefoot on dirt and grass, or stepped into a puddle? Allow yourself to explore and play more with your children! Open yourself up and let the world bring you various sensory experiences! This magical experience, the intimate connection with the earth, will not only be good for your feet, but your bare feet will also remind you of your childhood, and the world will return to a place where everything is amazing... Why not find you? With a pure heart, how about re-exploring this myriad worlds?