Tip 7: Legs and Hands exercises

Its so exciting to be seeing a well formed newborn baby that is so small yet full of life. Its such a priviledge by God to be entrusted with such a big responsibility to care for and protect that which is fragile and weak and it sharpens our senses to be more sensitive to others around us. Though, I decided even in the first week to give some simple legs and hands movements for Haruka. Then, as she grew to her first month, I made those exercises more rigorously and before long, Haruka was all kicking about and have good motor skills and strong limbs. I believe its due to starting early, yet daddy needs to exercise gentleness and sensitivity at all times.

In the first week, I would just touch her delicate legs and hands and move them slowly up and down, left and right. I tried to be as gentle as can be. Then, past the first week, I made exercise rotations for each leg and hand. 15 cycles of ups and downs and 15 cycles of left and right movements for each limb. Sometimes, Haruka would start to cry due to being irritated by those movements or getting slightly tired by the rigorous movements. But, I tried to continue gently till the 15 cycles finish as 15 is not a huge number anyway. It worked well and I believe it did contribute somewhat to her physical developments as she enjoyed kicking at bath even in her first month. I will try to apply this for my next child and hopefully my next child will be kicking and moving around with more energy and zest through these exercises.