As soon as she starts grasping at items, usually around 3 or 4 months, use what you have around the house—rattles, small toys, and other objects of varying sizes and shapes—as her personal weights. Sit your baby in her high chair or bouncy seat and place a small assortment of these items in front of her.

Babies should be encouraged to be active throughout the day, every day in a variety of ways, including crawling. If they’re not yet crawling, encourage them to be physically active by reaching and grasping, pulling and pushing, moving their head, body and limbs during daily routines, and during supervised floor play.

Some Other Ideas

1. Gently clap your baby’s hands together or stretch arms (crossed, out wide, or overhead).
2. Gently move your baby’s legs as if pedaling a bicycle.
3. Use a favorite toy for your baby to focus on and follow, or shake a rattle for your infant to find.

Bouncing on your ball holding your newborn can feel soothing for them as they enjoy the gentle rhythm. It can also be a great help if your baby is suffering from colic, helping them to settle. When you’re ready (no earlier than six weeks after birth) your birthing ball is great for post-pregnancy exercise.

Depending on how old they are, you can play with them by laying them on their tummy or sitting them on their bottom while you roll, rock, and gently bounce them on the ball.

Can bouncing cause shaken baby syndrome? No. Young infants should have their head supported at all times and caregivers should avoid jostling them or throwing them in the air, but gentle bouncing, swinging or rocking won’t cause shaken baby syndrome.

Shaken baby syndrome does not result from gentle bouncing, playful swinging or tossing the child in the air, or jogging with the child. It also is very unlikely to occur from accidents such as falling off chairs or down stairs, or accidentally being dropped from a caregiver’s arms.

4-month-old baby activities

1. Exercise routines. Here are a few activities to help your baby start rolling over and crawling.
2. Games with objects. At the age of four months, your baby will start to grab objects and examine them with their hands, eyes, and mouth.
3. Talk to your baby.
4. Music stimulation.
5. Reading stories.

Once you are comfortable handling baby on the therapy ball and baby is happy to be on the ball, you can begin to change up the direction a bit by slowly rocking her side to side. This provides a new sensation to baby’s vestibular system (the sensory system that senses movement and helps with developing balance).

Here is how you can use a therapy ball (also referred to as an “exercise ball” or “Swiss ball”) to help baby enjoy tummy time: Whatever it is you use, just make sure you keep it in front of the ball rather than to the side of the ball in order to promote balanced development of those neck, shoulder, and trunk muscles.

Leg Lifts: go on all fours on the floor with the therapy ball under the stomach. Hold and lift the right leg up for 5 seconds. Repeat on the right leg. Superman Lifts: on all fours with the therapy ball under the stomach lift your arms (with elbows straight), head and shoulders off the therapy ball and hold for 5 seconds.

Sit on a therapy ball. Put a basket on the right side of the therapy ball. Reach to the left and grab an object. Sit back up and drop it in the basket on the right side.