A revolutionary work that guides new parents in helping their baby form healthy movements, strong muscles, and a fit body during the child’s critical first year of life, filled with vital information and over 400 full-color photographs that clearly show how to create a strong foundation for a baby’s musculoskeletal health and future wellness

A child’s first steps are one of the great miracles in life—one we think of as a natural, essential, intuitive process. But just as new parents foster positive digestive, emotional, and intellectual growth, we cannot leave it to nature and instinct alone to ensure that infants develop the strong musculoskeletal foundation they need.

Little bodies are malleable: nerves are elongating, bones are hardening, muscles are strengthening—newborns are a never-ending process of physical change. The problem is that the car seat, the bouncer, the carrier, the crib, the pack-n-play—the very devices modern parents depend on for hands-free parenting—leave that precious developing bundle at the mercy of gravity and passive, bodyweight-based alignment.

Shaping Your Baby’s Foundation gives new parents the information they need to safely and effectively build their baby’s muscle tone, strengthen the child’s growing body, and set their newborn on the path for a lifetime of wellness. Shaping Your Baby’s Foundation isn’t about hitting milestones (for example, walking early can mean a child missed some key areas of strengthening at earlier stages), it’s about growing well. Jen Goodman gives parents the tools they need to give their baby a body that will be strong and balanced by the time the child is vertical. By helping a baby meet gravity’s challenges during the first year of life, this book vastly increases the chances of that baby later remaining strong, fit, and healthy as a toddler, teen, and adult.

Written in Goodman’s gentle and accessible, yet authoritative, voice, and aided by over 400 full-color photographs to guide parents step-by-step through the first year of their baby’s life, Shaping Your Baby’s Foundation is a revolutionary parenting bible for a new generation.

Exercise