Welcome Families

I believe IDME is a loving way to bond with your baby as they learn about their bodies and their relationship to the wider world through movement.

I value the emergence of a baby’s agency and felt sense of safety, and I believe they are both required for curiosity and learning to flourish.

I facilitate IDME sessions under the following principles and assumptions:

• Infant Developmental Movement Education assumes your baby is intelligent and whole, and that they already have all they need to learn, grow, move and explore, even if they have some physical or developmental challenges.

• Curiosity is fed by a felt sense of safety. Your baby’s nervous system is developing in tandem with their movement skills. Only when your baby feels safe - especially in a new environment - will they start to notice what piques their interest and follow it. This is normal. It’s important to honor your baby’s timing. In so doing, we reaffirm their intuitive sense of self, allowing them to engage with the world organically.

• IDME is child-led. The IDME philosophy prioritizes your baby’s sense of agency, which means we want to encourage without forcing their full range of movement, perceptions & experiences. 

• Your baby is shaped by their environment, and you - as their caretakers - are your baby’s environment. How you pick up, set down, hold and play with your baby will shape their perception of themselves and their movement choices. IDME prioritizes creating optimal and easeful movement choices for each unique baby.

• Landmarks, not milestones. Milestones assume your baby has to hit a certain skill by a certain time period. The IDME philosophy assumes your baby’s timing is perfect. We encourage learning a whole set of skills instead of a position - including how they get into and out of that position. These skills - like finding midline, rolling or belly crawling - can arise at different times, in different ways, for different babies.

• Your baby isn’t doing it wrong. They are doing it right within the limitations or environment they are working with. If they are struggling, IDME can help you determine the best ways to support them doing it with ease. 

• Your baby’s got skills! What’s most important in the precious early months of your baby’s life is that they are met where they are, not where we want them to be. Pushing them beyond their skill level doesn’t help them develop faster, but can cause disruption to their system. 

• IDME isn’t just for babies. It’s for the whole family. As caretakers, you are your baby’s environment. IDME skills are meant to help caretakers find best practices to support their babies - and themselves in the process.