physical therapy for babies using a laundry basket

How does a baby in a laundry basket = physical therapy?

As our PT teams transitioned to doing more video visits the past few months, our physical therapists had to get creative with what parents could use at home to guide their children through the exercises.

“When PT is working on sitting balance and trunk control/core strength, using a laundry basket at home works great,” says Janet Squires, physical therapist.

The child is typically placed in the corner of the basket (best seen with the baby in the photo) and toys are placed in the basket. The “corner” placement offers a bit of side support and the toys are all within easy reach to distract and entertain. Kids love to drop the toys out of the basket.

“I also encourage families to include the child in the laundry folding chore this way which makes it practical to do therapy while getting laundry done!” says Janet.

“To make the exercise more challenging I often have a sibling push the child in the basket (with supervision of course!) which makes the “static” sitting more “dynamic” because the child has to react to the movement and this challenges sitting balance.”

The opportunities for physical therapy with a laundry basket are endless! It just takes a little creativity and willingness to look at things in a new light!