These days I have encountered several headlines that have caught my attention: babies born in winter have a previous motor development to other babies born in summer. This has made me ask myself several questions, starting with the reason behind this amazing title. Why do babies born in cold months start crawling before?
Inquiring a bit about the origin of the news, we find the answer in the way that baby begins to explore its surroundings when it has a chance to start moving a little. That is to say, when a few months pass, the good weather arrives and the baby explores without ties of clothes, it may be barefoot, at home or away from home ... It is then that his body and his mind are stimulated mostly than those of a baby who It has no such possibilities.
We talk about babies born in summer, who will reach that stage of being able to explore (four, five months) in winter. Because if the little ones go with a lot of clothes, they don't perceive the outside so well, nor can they move so much. Here is the reason they start crawling or crawling five weeks later than children born in winter.
That is the stimuli that reach children are much greater if they go with less clothes, if they can move more freely, if it is a pleasant temperature to move in different environments, explore ... While, otherwise, less stimuli are received.
If the baby is in a pleasant temperature, it will also strengthen his muscles more easily due to this greater movement, which is essential to be able to crawl or crawl, when they have few months. Which does not mean that a child who moves less and exercises his muscles less does not end up crawling (if there is no motor or developmental problem), only he probably will do it a few weeks later.
It seems that sometimes we insist that our children do everything sooner and better, but this is not always possible and really a few weeks apart when crawling or walking will not mean anything relevant. However, not all babies born in winter will end up crawling before, as many other factors influence.
In fact, if you believe that your child takes or has difficulties to crawl or make certain movements, we should not look for the explanation in the calendar but rather we will have to detect delays in psychomotor development due to various causes.
The study data
This conclusion has reached an investigation conducted at the University of Haifa, in northern Israel. According to experts, the seasonal effect is perceived in some geographical locations, depending on the local climate. This is logical, since in places near the equator, where temperatures are quite similar throughout the year, there are no differences in this regard (way of dressing babies, allowing them to leave ...).
So, the differences were seen when in the home environment between summer and winter are significant (For example, this is proven in studies conducted in Denver, Colorado and in Osaka, Japan).
But a study in Alberta, Canada, where winters are long and cold, but the atmosphere in the home (due to heating in winter) is very similar throughout the year, the seasonal effect was not observed.
Specifically, the study of Haifa University It was made in Israel, where there is a difference between winters and summers, although data from very few children was taken into account. The research included a sample of 47 babies, 16 born in the summer period and 31 in the winter-spring.
The observation of the motor development in both groups was made in the homes of the babies at seven months of age, in a process of visits by the experts during which the parents also filmed the evolution of their children.
The development analysis, under the parameters of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS), showed that babies born in winter began to crawl at 30 weeks of age, while those in summer did so at 35 weeks, without registering any difference between boys and girls.
The time of the year influences the development of the baby, relatively. You can also do it in the state of adults.
In short, the time of the year can influence babies and adults very differently. In the little ones, the most logical explanation for this previous motor evolution could be that the experiences of babies are broader in good weather: less layers of clothing, more direct contact with the ground, there are more hours of activity during a Longer day, you go out into the street, to the garden ...
The good thing is that, month up month down, In the end, all the children will crawl and walk. And those parents who wish to provide the "same opportunities" for development may do so taking into account the aforementioned factors, conditioning the home so that the baby can be like in spring or summer. Already, more complicated, is the option to move to an area near Ecuador ...
Photos | Thinkstock
More information | University of Haifa
In Babies and more | Babies born in winter, smarter than those in summer ?, Babies born in winter, more risk of depression ?, The season of the year it is born influences the health of the baby
