We ask caregivers who come to Babies Project with babies to follow these guidelines.
- You are welcome to come and go anytime. You do not need to be present for the whole class.
- Please, no cell phones and no photos in the room.
- Infant Developmental Movement Educators (IDMEs) will be moving around the room to be with different age groups and in different areas of the room.
- Feel free to listen in on what the IDMEs are sharing with other caregivers — and ask questions!
- The IDMEs have expertise in developmental movement from birth to walking for the normal developmental spectrum. We may have opinions on nutrition, medical conditions, etc. but as IDMEs we aren’t trained in these areas.
- Stay with and aware of your infant. The room is often full, and IDMEs don’t take responsibility for tracking every baby in the room.
- Feel free to nurse, feed and/or change your baby in the room.
- You are welcome to stay in the common area area to talk, feed, and get ready to go back out into the world.
- Babies might respond to their experiences here by crying, sleeping, eating, peeing and pooping more than usual later in the day, or over the next few days.
- We encourage you to come back as regularly and as often as you like. Please email us at babies@babiesproject.org each week when you are planning to come. Please also check the schedule to see if there are cancellations.
- Spread the word – babies of all ages from newborn to walking are welcome at Babies! sessions, and once they are taking a few independent steps they are welcome to join Toddlers. We require pre-registration here.
The IDME’s role:
Be with the baby, as a witness and in relationship to what the baby is doing.
Support the baby’s comfort, so they can follow their curiosity and learn through their own agency.
Appreciate and start from where the baby is, and focus on the process rather than meeting developmental timelines.
Facilitate pathways and movement choices that are appropriate for the developmental stage the baby is exploring, in order to support what is already present.
Follow the baby’s rhythms of attention as it moves from outer exploration to inner processing.
Support a balance between flexion and extension, and offer different experiences of “baby ball” as a resource for recuperation and self-regulation at all ages.
Show possibilities for handling and moving the baby that encourage their spatial awareness and support movement pathways.
What our Babies! sessions offer:
Opportunities to observe how much is already happening with a baby. Space to ask questions about a baby’s process, and how to support them.
A chance to be supported in making choices that value the many different ways that development can unfold, and that value the relationships between caregivers and infants.
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