1. 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.
We have built our work at Babies Project around the progressive states of safety, orientation, comfort, bonding and curiosity. In this post, we unpack these ideas.
Handling Practices: Some Historical Context
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.
Q&A: Follow-up on tummy time
This is a follow-up to our previous Q&A post where we responded to a question about tummy time on a pillow.
We've heard back from the parent, who sent new photos that we're happy to share as they beautifully illustrate our points.
Q&A: Tummy time on a pillow?
We respond to a 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 wanted to hear your thoughts on this.
Update: Preparing for Caring at Early Head Start
This is a December 2019 update on our project with Ellyce DiPaola, IDME and EdD candidate at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, which included offering our Preparing for Caring: Touch, Handling & Bonding Practices (PFC) workshop to an Early Head Start community in NYC.
Unpacking "Be in Relationship"
This post is the third in a series of 4 that unpacked our “be with, be a witness, be in relationship” tagline as part of our 2019 fall fundraising campaign.
We’re going to continue to unpack our tagline, this time taking on the last sentence, “Be in relationship.” What are some of the ideas and principles packed into this simple statement that are relevant to relating to a baby?
Unpacking "Be With"
This post is the first in a series of 4 that unpacked our “be with, be a witness, be in relationship” tagline as part of our 2019 fall fundraising campaign.
What do we mean by “be with” in our tagline?
Developmental Movement: Elders & Babies
At Babies Project, we offer developmental movement education for "babies of all ages." What do we mean by this?
We have a common personal history. We were all once babies and our earliest experiences as babies are still with us.
Developmental Movement: On Track or Behind?
A good part of our work at Babies Project involves talking about developmental movement— what it is and why it's important. The topic comes up in our discussions with parents and caregivers who bring their babies to Babies Project, often with questions like these:
“Is my baby on track?"
"Are they behind?"
"Should we be concerned?”
Agency, Relationship, & "You're OK"
Our topic here is agency and relationship. A baby's development is a relational process. A baby and their primary caregiver(s) are affected by and in turn affect each other. They respond to each other, they co-create their relationship, and they exist within layers and networks of other relationships.
Our Principles
Read about our principles and beliefs, which start with:
Babies come in as whole people, not as blank slates.
Our Values (the long form)
At Babies Project, the principles we teach, play, facilitate, explore and live from arise from our core values of agency, comfort, curiosity and movement. We believe these values are embedded in developmental movement, and they can guide us to be more responsible, resilient, interdependent, self-regulating and relational.
Developmental Movement for Babies & Toddlers: A Body-Mind Centering® Approach
The study of developmental movement is the study of how we learn to move in our first years of life. In Body-Mind Centering®, we specifically study the basic movement patterns, reflexive pathways and integration of our senses, as well as the progressive layering of rhythms, experiences and relationships that help an infant find a sense of self, integration and ease.
About Infant Developmental Movement Education (IDME)
All of our classes for caregivers and their babies are taught by IDMEs (Infant Developmental Movement Educators) who have been trained and certified by the School for Body-Mind Centering, and are Professional Members of the Body-Mind Centering® Association.
IDME training includes four core developmental movement courses in addition to two 10-day modules focused on working with infants. This training takes place over several years and includes over 500 hours of course work, observations and sessions.
About Body-Mind Centering®
Body-Mind Centering® is an integrated and embodied approach to movement, the body and consciousness. Developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, it is an experiential study based on the embodiment and application of anatomical, physiological, psychophysical and developmental principles, utilizing movement, touch, voice and mind. Its uniqueness lies in the specificity with which each of the body systems can be personally embodied and integrated, the fundamental groundwork of developmental repatterning, and the utilization of a body-based language to describe movement and body-mind relationships.
Babies - Guidelines for Observers
We welcomed observers to participate in our by-donation Babies! sessions when we had our space in Manhattan. These guidelines were sent to observers before their first visit.
Toddlers - Guidelines for Caregivers
We developed these guidelines as a way to help orient families to our approach and our space. They were sent to caregivers before their first visit to our weekly Toddlers session when we had our space in Manhattan (2017-2023).
Babies - Guidelines for Caregivers
We developed these guidelines as a way to help orient families to our approach and our space. They were sent to caregivers before their first visit to our by-donation Babies! sessions in our space in Manhattan (2017-2023).