BabyGym with Christi Ermelo

18/08/2025

18/08/2025

MASTERING MILESTONES
See the comments section below for where this developmental journey started

Some babies need to LEARN to relax, especially if they had a rough start to life.

In the developing embryo, the skin and the nervous system both have the same origin; we can therefore think of the skin as the external portion of our nervous system. Because the skin and the nervous system have such a close connection, we can wake up or calm down the entire nervous system with deep pressure touch.

Objectives of the BabyGym Massage
- To bond with baby
- To relax and calm baby
- To stimulate development
- To build mom, dad or caregiver’s confidence in handling baby.

Benefits of the BabyGym Massage
- Gives baby a sense of safety and security
- Removes toxins
- Reduces pain
- Enhances circulation and metabolism
- Boosts the immune system to help baby fight infection
- Strengthens muscles
- Increases joint flexibility
- Activates growth hormones
- Creates a map of baby’s body in the brain.

Did you know? A newborn baby is not yet aware of the body, what it looks like and what it can do. By massaging the baby, we create a body map in the brain and increase awareness of the body. The brain can only use what the brain is aware of.

Massage is therefore a wonderful introduction to mastering milestones!

Would like to support your baby's natural brain and body development? Follow the link below to find a BabyGym Instructor near you:

https://babygym.co.za/instructor_list/

12/08/2025

Sara Wiles,
“I just heard someone describe another person on a podcast and say:

I love being around them because they are what an adult looks like when their parents loved them so well.

That. That’s my goal as a mother.”

https://babygym.co.za/

11/08/2025

MASTERING MILESTONES
See the comments section below for where this developmental journey started 👇🏻

SUCKING AND SUCKLING
Most babies can suck, but not all babies can suckle. The ability to feed, called suckling, starts many months before the baby is born. It starts around 9 weeks after conception when the Moro reflex prompts the newly shaped mouth and hands to open up. Around week 12, and after many times of opening and relaxing the mouth and hands, the baby has developed enough muscle tone to close his mouth. If his arms have grown long enough by now for his hands to reach his mouth, the baby starts to suck his thumb every time it touches his cheek or mouth.

Sucking develops the emotional brain and helps the baby to relax, releases feel good hormones that gives his immune system a boost and stimulates growth. A sucking baby is content, because the rhythmic pressure of his tongue on his palette is soothing and helps the baby to relax and dissolve the overdose of stress hormones, when he gets startled or stressed.

Sucking for nourishment is called suckling. Sucking with an ‘l’ – suckling, is much harder work than sucking because the baby needs to grasp moms breast firmly with his lips, his tongue needs to cup around the ni**le in such a way that he creates enough suction to get mom’s milk to flow. At the same time, he needs to co-ordinate swallowing and breathing too.

What an accomplishment it is for a baby to be able to suckle when he is not even an hour old!

❤️Would you like to support your baby's natural brain and body development? Follow the link below to find a BabyGym Instructor near you:

https://babygym.co.za/instructor_list/

09/08/2025

Support your baby's natural brain and body development

24/06/2025

Make every second count.

From 0 to age 3, your baby’s brain creates up to 1 million new connections every single second.

And what guides those connections?

Experience.

When your baby experiences warm, present, attuned care—your cuddles, your coos, your calming presence—their brain is literally being built for:

✨ Emotional resilience
✨ Lifelong mental health
✨ Strong immunity and physical health
✨ Loving, secure relationships

That’s the miracle of nurture.

Nurture is brain-building. Nurture is healing. Nurture is your baby’s greatest start in life.

Join me for a free event with other loving caregivers and learn how to use this sensitive window of development to grow a healthy, resilient brain—just by being your nurturing self.

🧠💞 Come bloom with us. Comment BLOOM and I’ll DM an invite to my free event 🌸🌸🌸

24/06/2025

EUSTACHIAN TUBES AND EAR INFECTION

Eustachian tubes are the channels that connect the middle ear to the throat.

The eustachian tubes have three primary functions. They:

• Drain excess fluids and secretions from the middle ear.
• Ventilate the middle ear and equalise air pressure on either side of the
eardrum.
• Protect the middle ear from microorganisms that cause disease.

Did you know?
Eustachian tubes in babies differ from adults in that they are shorter, more horizontal, and narrower. (See the comment section for an image.) This makes it easier for fluid and bacteria to travel from the nose and throat to the middle ear, increasing the risk of ear infections in infants and young children.

As children grow, their Eustachian tubes lengthen and become more angled, reducing the frequency of ear infections.

Proper eustachian tube function helps maintain overall ear health, including hearing. A simple massage can drain the eustachian tubes effectively.

Join BabyGym 1 Newborn Brain Essentials or BabyGym 2 Firm Foundations and learn how to support your baby's ear health at home:

https://babygym.co.za/instructor_list/

21/06/2025

"Developmental dates are moments of focused contact between mom, dad and baby when you lovingly and gently wake up as many of his senses and muscles as possible and engage as many parts of his brain as you can think of, while introducing him to the world around him." ADRIANO MILANI COMPARETTI

18/06/2025

15/06/2025

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

"Dads are ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, storytellers, and singers of song." ~ Pam Brown

https://babygym.co.za/

19/05/2025

At BabyGym, we believe:

• Life is the playground.
• The parent is the child’s first and most important teacher.
• All of life offers a learning opportunity.
• The best and most natural way to learn is by using as many senses and muscles as possible—simultaneously and in age-appropriate ways.
• The developmental reward of BabyGym lies in the repetition that takes place at home, over time, long after the classes have ended!

BabyGym is not a stimulation class; it's a lifestyle!

https://babygym.co.za/

16/05/2025

"The human body was designed to move. It is the early experiences that lay the foundation of what follows." - Charles Krebbs

Thank you, mom's for your dedication.

Well done to our graduates 2025.
You are R O C K S T A R S ! !

Athenkosi
CJ
Lafras
Milan
Carl
Amè
Elrich

Congratulations on building a better brain 🧠 and thank you that I could be part of your journey!