My adorable nephew (age 8 months) sports a simple neck collar[/caption] In Glenn Doman's "Fit Baby, Smart Baby, Your Baby" (and "How Smart is Your Baby"), he outlines some fun, playful balance activities that you can do with your baby.
The first set of activities is for newborns, and the second set of activities is for slightly older babies up to walking age. Because of the more playful, motion-heavy nature of the activities for older babies, Doman recommends using a simple neck collar to support the baby's neck during all of these activities as a safety precaution.
Doman says of the neck collar,
"This should fit like a thick collar on a turtleneck sweater and keep his neck in a stable position."To create this neck collar, Doman has a pattern for sewing one out of padding, cloth, and velcro. However, if you don't have the time, money, or skills to do this, or simply don't want to, you can simply use a "rolled towel". Here are the instructions on how to make one in just a few seconds:
A perfect size "towel" for this is a Gerber (or any brand) prefold diaper. I have always had these around even though I have never used them for diapers - they make great burp rags, cleanup towels, or pads to place under your baby while potty training.
Lay on the floor and roll towel into a tube. Bring it together in a circle, and gently wrap it loosely around baby's neck (again, it should fit like a turtleneck sweater: in the proper position to support baby's head, but it should in no way restrict breathing or motion).
To hold it together I simply used cloth bandage tape. Cloth bandage tape is the perfect material for holding this together, as it's:
- Sticky enough to hold very well, but not so sticky that it is hard to reposition or take on and off.
- Strong, cheap, safe, and reuseable. You don't need to get new tape every time you take it on and off - just unhook the tape and it can be reattached multiple times over.
This is just what I needed! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteVery nice..thank you..
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