Babies exposed to poverty show delays in motor development as early as 6 months old, but identifying risks and intervening early can reverse these effects.
A Brazilian study followed 88 babies, 50 of whom from families experiencing socioeconomic vulnerability, from ages 3 to 8 months.
The researchers used an approach called the “Infant Motor Profile” to assess motor development, analysing factors such as a baby’s repertoire of movement patterns, smoothness and coordination of movements, presence or absence of movement asymmetries and whether they met age-appropriate milestones.
“In addition to these babies reaching motor milestones [such as grabbing objects, rolling over, and sitting up] later than those not exposed to poverty, they showed less diversity in their movements, always repeating the same strategy to pick up a toy, for example,” says Carolina Fioroni Ribeiro da Silva, who lead the research during her PhD at Brazil’s Federal University of São Carlos and is now a researcher at Heinrich Heine University in Germany.
While mothers living in better socioeconomic conditions on average about 32 years old at the time, the average age of new mothers with babies experiencing poverty was 24.
Living with both parents, higher maternal education and access to age-appropriate toys was also associated with better outcomes.
“Most of the mothers exposed to poverty were teenagers and didn’t know how to stimulate their babies after birth,” says Fioroni Ribeiro da Silva.
“In many homes, the babies spent more time confined to strollers, with few opportunities to explore their surroundings, strengthen their muscles and try out different ways of moving, as there was no space for that.
“During the visits, we taught them simple practices such as placing the child on their stomach, using crumpled paper as a toy, or talking and singing to the baby.
“All the mothers were very receptive, copied the actions during the evaluations and began to interact more with their children, favouring their motor development.”
As a result, the delays in motor development were no longer significant at 8 months old. The findings underscore the need for early monitoring and intervention strategies for low-income families.
Fioroni Ribeiro da Silva says that the first 2 years of life are the period of greatest neuroplasticity, when children intensely absorb stimuli from their environment.
“Since it isn’t possible to immediately eliminate structural factors such as poverty or teenage pregnancy, home visit programs would be an excellent palliative measure,” she suggests.
The research is published in the journal Acta Psychologica.