Why Do Babies Do Airplane Arms? (and what to do about it)

Watching a baby grow is one of any Mom’s precious moments and more precious is seeing the baby respond to what is expected through developmental stages.

It is a great joy to see babies achieve different milestones; they lift and turn their heads, they roll from belly to side, and much more but at some point, some mums notice between 4-8 months or even from birth, that their babies do airplane arms and want to know if it’s a thing for worry. So, such mothers wonder, who else has an airplane arms baby?

Airplane arms in babies, just as the name implies, simply means a situation where a baby’s arms are usually out like an airplane. The baby doesn’t seem to be able to balance himself a lot of times and unable to put his arms forward or bring them in. Airplane arms is mostly noticeable during tummy time when the baby puts arms behind him. This is not much of a concern as you will see below.

Reasons Why Babies Do Airplane Arms

According to some osteopaths who specialize in children, airplane arms babies might have ribs that are curving inwards, sometimes because of their position in the belly, so they put their arms out as a way of trying to “open up” their chest. Now, even if this is the case, it is not something to worry about as few exercise sessions will help correct it.

Here are other reasons why babies do arms like airplane so you don’t have to worry as a mum.

Reasons for Airplane arms in babies

• Airplane position baby is excited having watched the surroundings, learned to sit and taking first life experiences, and warming up for new experiences like crawling.
• Babies use this to strengthen the muscles around the thighs as they prepare themselves for more developmental milestones such as standing and walking.
• They use it in training the muscles around their arms and it helps babies to improve shoulder strength.

What to Do If Baby Does Airplane Arms

Do you have a baby with airplane arms? All they need is a little help here and there to build their arm muscles and get them to know how to keep the arms in/bring them down. Here are some things you can do to help an airplane arms baby:

• Put your baby on the floor with their arms bent and their weight resting on their forearms.
• Put a folded towel under your baby to help support their body up. This will make the baby start putting weight on their arms.
• You can blow bubbles for babies or put their favorite toy up above their heads to encourage them to push their bodies up with their arms.
• You can sit on the floor, place your baby in a horizontal position across your lap with their arms on the floor at one side, and their legs on the other side of the floor. Ensure their arms are put forward and their hips are flat; then, show them something to watch as they rest their weight on their arms.
• Place your baby on his belly on the floor and surround him with toys in a semi-circle but within his reach with a little movement. This serves as motivation and will encourage your baby to make more movements.
• Play different airplane games with your baby such as holding the baby across your arms and in front of you. Gently swing him forward and back while supporting him beneath the hips and abdomen. Such games can also be placed by carrying the baby in a horizontal position.
• You can also promote the use of the arm and weight-bearing by trying to make the baby use his arms to push on a surface. Baby can push fun things such as a large ball, a cushion, or even a person who will pretend to fall down. This pushing can be from different positions like supported kneeling or supported sitting.

You may be wondering what this whole exercise will do for your baby and why it is important for your airplane arms baby. Here are some benefits:

Strengthening of Muscles

Placing a baby on his belly automatically helps him lift his head upright. With constant practice, he learns to prop on his forearms and then pushing up the hands with extended elbows. What these positions do is that they strengthen the muscles of the neck, back and buttocks, and also increase the length of the hip and abdominal muscles which have been short since birth.

Putting weight on the hands and arms supplies strength to the muscles of the shoulders and arms which teaches the baby to stay balanced and gives them a base for the development of good control of arms and hands which in turn stops your baby from doing the airplane arms.

Encouraging the Development of Motor Skills

When a baby leans over on a side of the body, making the other side free to reach, weight shifting occurs. Weight shifting does not just build strength and increase stability, it also brings basic balance reactions through the trunk which leads to more balanced reactions.

A baby’s ability to control changing pressure as his weight moves from one hand to another sends sensory information to the hands and helps the baby to develop a good sense of touch. The smaller muscles of the hands and fingers get develop which is an important good motor skill coordination. This of course improves your baby’s ability to coordinate the arms, putting the arm down or forward, push up onto his arms and explore his environment.

Improving Vision

These exercises help your baby develop eye and hand coordination. They are able to look down at their hands, see how they move, and know that they can do much more than just spreading out the arms like an airplane.

Apart from airplane arms in babies, some babies also does some funny and weird stuff during tummy time as seen below:

1. Baby puts arms behind him during tummy time: Why do babies put arms behind them during tummy time, you may ask. There are three major reasons why babies put arms behind them. One, it may be Cerebral Palsy. Second, it can be torticollis. Third, it can be tight muscles. You need to see your Pediatrician immediately you noticed that your baby holds arms behind them during tummy time or at any other time. If it is tight muscles, it means that the muscles of the arms need to be worked out. So, for this, you can help the baby to put the arms back and gently push the arms to go in front during tummy time or any other times.

2. When should babies push up on arms?

Babies should be able to do mini push-ups when they are 4 months old. However, every baby has its own timeline but some pediatricians posited that more babies reach this milestone when they are 6 months of age. But if your baby doesn’t use their arms during tummy time and they are 5 to 6 months old, there are things you can do to encourage them. Find them listed below:

How to get baby to push up on arms

Baby not pushing up on arms? The tips below will help them to reach the milestone.

1. Put a shiny or colorful toy in their front and encourage them to reach out for it. Check out the Sunay Roly Poly Baby Toys and baby musical toys on Amazon.
2. Put the baby on your chest to do some tummy time while you lay down. Then start talking, the baby will attempt to push herself up to look at your face.
3. Put the baby’s arms by his head so he can attempt to push himself up.
4. Prop the baby up on a small pillow or rolled blanket to show them how to hold their head higher. There are good tummy time pillows on Amazon such as the VTech Tummy Time Discovery Pillow, Infantino Prop-A-Pillar Tummy Time & Seated Support – Pillow Support, and Baby Einstein Rhythm of the Reef Prop Pillow. You can also use the boppy pillow if you have one. This Burt Bee’s blanket also will work for this purpose. Click the links to check them all out on Amazon.

Does your baby hate tummy time? Some babies do. If so, then read these posts – Effortless ways to get baby to like tummy time and Tummy time milestones and activities.

Conclusion

If you have been bothered about your airplane arms baby and wondering what is wrong with him, then you should know that there is nothing to worry about as it is part of the baby’s development process. Moreover, you are not alone because a lot of babies do airplane arms while trying to improve their development.

Making out time to do the simple exercises shared above with your baby will help strengthen your baby’s arms muscles and you can finally give him that loving cuddle. In case it bothers you so much, taking your baby to see an osteopath or a physiotherapist can also be of great help.