The newborn baby for some time maintains the position to which he is accustomed, being nine months in his mother’s tummy, this position also includes the position of the feet, which he holds with a crescent. After the first month of life, the muscles begin to relax. At the age of three, three and a half months, the tone remains symmetrical, the child has arbitrary movements. A state of somewhat increased tone can persist for up to six months.
What is muscle hypertonicity and how it can threaten a little man
Muscle tone - this term refers to our ability to move using muscles. If it is elevated in relation to the norm, then this condition is called hypertonicity. There are muscles that flex the limbs and there are those that extend them. The tone of those and others is usually balanced, that is, neither one nor the other dominates.
When the prevailing muscles of the flexor over the extensor muscles, the child walks on tiptoe. What if he puts his foot like that even in shoes? Contact a neurologist, especially if the child is tiptoeing for a long enough time, and he does not manage to put his foot completely on the foot, and also to straighten it even with the help of an external force when someone unbends it forcibly.
What may be cause for concern
If your baby begins to hold his head from the first week of his life, and your attempts to move his arms apart meet with resistance and anxiety, then you can talk about increased muscle tone. Such children fall asleep very badly and sleep uneasily. They are disturbed by light, sounds, not even very loud, he is ready to react to the slightest rustle, he cries easily and often. The head in children with hypertonicity often tilts back.
When such a baby grows up, parents wonder why the child is tiptoeing. But the totality of signs should alert them even when he is just starting to walk and cannot put his foot on the whole foot. A proper, attentive attitude to the baby will help to cope with the deviation and subsequently nothing will remind you of how he began to walk.
What causes muscle hypertension
As a rule, due to complex births, improper presentation of the fetus, prolonged labor, the child receives injuries and, as a result, insufficient nutrition of the brain, increased intracranial pressure, increased excitability of the nervous system. Excessive tearfulness, a number of other signs should complement the picture when the child is tiptoeing. What to do if a pathology is detected, the doctor will tell you, having prescribed the necessary treatment.
You should not panic, you just need to understand that such a deviation from the norm is quite common in recent years, does not threaten anything in the future, children grow up completely healthy. When practicing therapeutic gymnastics and massage, the condition stabilizes and the baby runs and walks like everyone else. Medication is rarely prescribed.
It may happen that there is no pathology, just for some reason, known only to him alone, the child walks on tiptoe. What to do in this case. You can do massage and gymnastics. In case of hypertonicity, massage should be started from two months. To do on an empty stomach, before feeding or an hour after it.
During the massage, you need to do all massage movements in the direction from the edge - to the center, if the baby is very small, then at first no more than 5 minutes, increasing the time gradually. With hypertonicity, a gentle, soothing massage is best suited.
• Easily massage pads near children's fingers on the foot by clicking on them. If the fingers open, then everything is fine, there should be no pathology.
• Mentally draw a cross on the foot and then massage the point of intersection of the lines. Draw a circle around the point and continue the massage in a circle. This will help your baby relax his foot.
• Place your baby on the ball with her legs, supporting him under the armpits. Let him roll the ball 10-15 times with each leg.
• When the baby is tiptoeing, what should I do? A path made of gravel, a bristly hard rug, a massage rug. Let the child walk on such a path with his bare legs alone or with the help of his mother.
• Put on the floor buttons, large and small, let the baby pick them up with his toes and move them.
• Make the child a massage roller, with it you can perform various game exercises for the legs.
• Teach your baby to roll his foot from sock to heel and back, waddle like a duckling, on the edge of the foot or like a penguin, socks together, heels apart.
These exercises will help your child learn how to walk.