Acquisition of motor skills in 784 Benin infants under one year

Infant motility is not only the product of the operation of an informational machine of great complexity, but it is also the instrument of its development, its internal organization and its evolutionary development. And thanks to the many studies carried out in this field, several theories have been developed and it seems clear that the development of motor skills is no longer attributed solely to the effects of neurological maturation. This does not preclude that factors such as the environment, the socio-economic level of the family and traditional bodily practices influence the age of acquisition of motor skills of children. This is precisely why this study was conducted to verify the effect of these factors on the development of children in southern and northern Benin. Our goal is to study the motor development of 784 children under one year old from the cities of Dangbo, Copargo, Kouandé and Comè. Our results show that children can sit at 4 months, crawl at 5 months, stand with help and walk on all fours at 7 months, stand at 9 months and walk at 11 months. These averages of skill acquisition dates are within the time frame defined by the WHO development standards.