Babies Project Writing – Babies Project

Handling Practices: Some Historical Context

written by Sarah Barnaby on 08/15/2023

If you’re familiar at all with our approach to supporting infant movement development, you’re likely aware that a main focus of our work is teaching infant touch and handling skills to parents and other caregivers. (If you’re not familiar, read more about our Preparing for Caring project.)

We’d like to share a bit of context and history about our handling suggestions. Where did they come from? The short answer is that we didn’t make them up! There’s history behind them, though we do like to think we’ve honed, curated and elaborated upon them over the years.

The longer story … Read more

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Chaos Theory & Babies

written by Sarah Barnaby on 07/09/2023

…development is the outcome of the self-organizing processes of continually active living systems

…development does not “know” where it is going from the start

…the very nature of development itself — its contingent, evolving, emergent nature

(Esther Thelen, 1941-2004)

We’re inspired by the writing of Esther Thelen, a developmental psychologist and multidisciplinary out-of-the-box thinker who applied chaos theory (or dynamic systems theory) to infant development. Per a colleague’s tribute, Thelen “saw a child’s development more akin to a jazz improvisation than to a biological process driven by genes.”

Esther Thelen’s approach and research ring true for us: it … Read more

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Q&A: Follow-up about tummy time

written by Sarah Barnaby on 06/14/2023

In our previous Q&A post, we responded to a mother’s question about whether we recommend tummy time on a pillow for her 4-month-old. Our short answer was that we don’t think propping a baby on a pillow is particularly helpful for their movement development. What we encourage instead is supporting a baby to develop their midline and hands skills so they can spend time on their belly while engaged in play with an object.

We’ve since heard back from the parent, who sent new photos of their now 5-month-old engaged with toys on her belly and for contrast, propped … Read more

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Q&A: Tummy time on a pillow?

written by Sarah Barnaby on 05/31/2023

Question from a mother of a 4-month-old: Someone told me that it’s good to put babies on top of pillows (on the floor) so they can get perspective and help them develop. I am a bit hesitant but wanted to hear your thoughts on this.

Our response: Thanks for asking for our perspective – we’re happy to share our thoughts on the topic!

In short, we’re not huge fans of the practice of using pillows when positioning babies prone (on their belly). We don’t agree with what seem to be the reasons behind it – particularly focussing on strengthening muscles … Read more

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Big News

written by Sarah & Amy on 03/03/2023

We’re writing to share BIG news with you: we are moving out of our beloved space in Manhattan at the end of March 2023.

Babies Project is not closing! We’re just giving up having a dedicated space.

First, our apologies for the late notice: we waited to be certain about the timing before making a public announcement. We long ago decided not to renew our lease, which ends in April, and now we’ve come to an agreement with our landlord to move out a month early.

As for so many, the pandemic has had a seismic effect on our operations: … Read more

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Picking Up, Putting Down, and What to Avoid

This is the last of four in a series of companion articles and recorded zoom sessions. It is part of our Preparing for Caring Project to build awareness and educate about the importance of handling skills in caring for a baby. Read more about how these ideas play out in practical suggestions.

Our previous posts in our Preparing for Caring series – Safety, Orientation, Comfort, Bonding, and Curiosity, Baby Ball, and Four Surfaces – looked at our underlying principles and how they inform our suggestions about holding and positioning a baby. In this final post, we’ll apply our … Read more

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Four Surfaces: We Are Their Environment

This is the third of four in a series of companion articles and recorded zoom sessions. It is part of our Preparing for Caring Project to build awareness and educate about the importance of handling skills in caring for a baby. Read more about how these ideas play out in practical suggestions.

In our previous blog posts (Safety, Orientation, Comfort, Bonding, and Curiosity and Baby Ball) we looked at the fundamental principles that underlie our approach to working with people, and the way of holding a baby that we teach first to caregivers. Building specifically on the ideas … Read more

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Baby Ball: A Responsive Container

This is the second of four in a series of companion articles and recorded zoom sessions. It is part of our Preparing for Caring Project to build awareness and educate about the importance of handling skills in caring for a baby. Read more about how these ideas play out in practical suggestions.

Variations of “baby ball” Illustrations by Joanna Cotler

Having laid out our guiding principles of safety, orientation, comfort, bonding and curiosity in our previous post, we’ll now begin looking at the practical suggestions that follow from these principles.

At Babies Project, we often say that if we … Read more

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Guiding Principles: Safety, Orientation, Comfort, Bonding and Curiosity

This is the first of four in a series of companion articles and recorded zoom sessions. It is part of our Preparing for Caring Project to build awareness and educate about the importance of handling skills in caring for a baby. Read more about how these ideas play out in practical suggestions.

We have built our work at Babies Project around the progressive states of safety, orientation, comfort, bonding and curiosity. While it is similar to Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs”, this layering of ideas comes out of a Body-Mind Centering® approach to developmental movement.*

Watch a recorded Zoom session

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NOBL Change at Work Conference

We’re honored to have been included in a virtual conference hosted by NOBL, an organizational design firm, called Change at Work: Leadership, Resilience, and Remote Work in a Post-COVID World. We talked about our philosophy and values, and our focus on teaching touch and handling skills to parents and other caregivers.

It was inspiring to be part of a bigger conversation in this potent moment of change and uncertainty. We were heartened to be among people who made the principles that underlie our work with caregivers and babies immediately relevant to their personal and work lives. And we’re … Read more

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