Mommy & Me Classes in Mt Kisco
Time on the floor with your baby, in a room built for babies to move in. Not therapy and not an evaluation. Guided play, with other parents in the room doing exactly the same thing.
What is a Mommy & Me class?
A parent and baby movement class is exactly what it sounds like. Everyone gets on the floor. Babies play, roll, reach, push up and generally do the work of learning to control their own bodies, and the grown ups stay down there with them instead of watching from a chair. There is no performance element and nobody is measured against anybody else. The point is simply that a baby who spends time on the floor, in a range of positions, on surfaces that are not always flat, gets more practice than a baby who spends the same hour in a seat.
That matters more than it used to. Modern babies are safely on their backs to sleep, and then in car seats, bouncers, swings and carriers for a good part of the rest of the day. All of that is fine and much of it is necessary. It does mean floor time has to be deliberate now, because it no longer just happens by default. Time on the stomach builds the neck and shoulder strength that later shows up as crawling. Time reaching across the body builds the trunk control that later shows up as sitting without toppling. Varied positions also help keep pressure off any one spot on a soft infant skull.
Developmental Steps runs the Mommy & Me class at the Mt Kisco clinic. It is a community program, not a therapy appointment, and it is separate from the one on one physical therapy that runs at both Mt Kisco and Port Chester. Plenty of families do one and never need the other.
Who is it for?
Babies and the grown ups who take care of them. Call and ask which age range the current class suits, since that changes with the group.
Babies who are not enjoying the floor
Some babies protest the moment they are put on their stomach, so the floor time gets shorter every day and everyone gives up on it. In a class you get positions and props that make the position tolerable, and you get to watch other babies complain about the same thing. That last part helps more than people expect.
Parents who want to know what to do next
You have read that babies should have floor time. Nobody explains what to actually do down there for more than four minutes. A class gives you a sequence, a handful of positions worth repeating, and a chance to ask a question out loud rather than typing it into a search bar at two in the morning.
Anyone who has been home a lot
Early parenthood can be a very small world. A class puts you in a room with people at the same stage, doing the same unglamorous work, on the same week. The babies get movement out of it. The grown ups often get something they needed just as much, which is a morning where they are not doing it alone.
What happens in a class?
Every group is a little different, because babies are involved. The shape of it stays the same.
Everyone gets settled
You arrive, find a spot on the mats and let your baby adjust to a new ceiling and new noises. Some babies are delighted by this and some are deeply suspicious of it. Both are normal, and neither means the class is going badly. Wear something you can sit on the floor in comfortably.
Guided movement and play
The class works through positions and activities together: time on the stomach, rolling both directions, reaching across the middle, weight through the arms, supported sitting, and transitions between them. Songs and props keep a baby interested longer than a bare mat does, which is the whole trick to making floor time last.
Questions and what to do at home
Because the class runs inside a pediatric therapy clinic, this is a good place to ask the question you have been sitting on. You leave knowing a few things to try at home during the week, which is where nearly all of the repetition actually happens anyway.
Mommy & Me is a class, not a physical therapy visit, so it does not replace an evaluation. If something specific worries you, book an evaluation instead, and note that New York State requires a physician's prescription for a child to receive physical therapy. Classes currently run Wednesdays at 9:45 a.m. at the Mt Kisco clinic, $50 per class. Call (914) 864-0855 to confirm the schedule and hold a spot, since class times can change. Community classes are paid at registration, and please leave outside food and drink at home, since we have families with allergies in the building.
Amazing! My daughter felt at home and at ease immediately and hasn’t stopped having fun at what she calls “gym class” since she started! We wouldn’t go anywhere else.
