What is your baby’s core and why is a strong core important?

As you follow your baby’s journey in the app, you'll notice we mention the core muscles and core strength. So, what is the core and why is core strength an important part of your baby’s development?

The core muscles are the muscles of your trunk and hips; these help us to maintain our posture and protect our spine as we lift and move. Your baby is gradually developing strength and control of their muscles and you might see that they are beginning to lift their body upwards slightly when they are lying on their back.

Why is a strong core important?
Our core helps us maintain our posture when standing, sitting and moving. A strong core helps us to keep our body still and stable as we do things like write, use tools, cook or play sport.

Our core protects our spine when we lift and move objects.

Our core helps us to balance as we move, and can help us to stop ourselves falling if we trip. Really, our core is involved in everything we do, so you can see why giving your baby lots of time to move in different ways to develop strong core muscles is important.

Tips for helping your baby develop strength and control of their core muscles.

• Give them plenty of time to move freely, and try to limit the amount of time they spend in a bouncy chair, car seat or buggy.
• Give them space to move and make sure their clothes allow them to move freely.
• Don’t help too soon – it can be tempting when you see your baby lifting their body up when they are lying down to step in and help straight away. Give them some time practising the movement, as long as they aren’t getting too frustrated.

Even as your baby develops more physical skills, such as sitting, crawling or walking, being on their tummy and practising skills they have mastered before helps them to continue to develop strength and control of their muscles.