Holding up head/tummy time

apostle922

My 13 week old has still not mastered holding up her head when lying on her belly.  Should I be concerned about this?  She is able to hold up her head pretty well when we have her sitting up and is meeting her other milestones (smiling, following objects, laughing and trying to roll from back to stomach).  She also really hates tummy time, but now I feel like by not doing it as much I'm causing her to be behind with that milestone.

First time mom here, just wanted to see if this was anything of concern. 

apostle922

I usually lay on the floor with her during tummy time and I'm always sitting on the floor with her when she's on her play mat. 

roo1oo

I feel like LO went from hating to liking tummy time overnight. Once he could hold his head up more and grab ahold of toys he loved it. Just keep working at it a couple times a day and she'll get better.

nolagal79

Have you tried rolling up a blanket and the putting her on her tummy over that? The roll would be at chest level with her arms bend and her hands on the roll or her arms over the roll? Can use the boppy and do the same thing. This helped my LO tolerate tummy time and now she is a tummy time pro with and without it.

I agree that it seems that she went from hating it and not lifting her head at all to lifting her head straight up and loving it over night! She'll get there, just keep practicing it in short intervals.

apostle922

Thanks everyone for the advice!  I have been putting her mirror in front of her and that seems to help some.  I think she just hasn't quite figured out what to do with her arms yet.  She is pretty good at holding up her head when we prop her up in a sitting position and when I am holding her/carrying her. 

I have been using the boppy to prop her up as well and it seems to be helping. 

shaunessa

I've been using toys and books, but when he's extremely fussy and doesn't feel like it, I'll place the ipad in front of him and voila!  I use the ipad as a last resort, but it helps when he needs to get his tummy time in!

jenmae123

It seems like all of a sudden my daughter mastered holding up her head.  One day she couldn't do it very well and the next she was an expert.

mommyginab

I'll admit I haven't done tummy time as much as I feel like I should, either. My LO is also 13 weeks, and I've been trying different things over the past week just b/c he always ends up pushing off with his legs (like he's trying to crawl without using his arms) whenever I prop him up on a blanket. One position he seems to do well is propped up on my knees while looking at a book, a video on my tablet or a mirror. Hopefully he will be pushing up on his arms soon.

Tess024

shaunessa said:

I've been using toys and books, but when he's extremely fussy and doesn't feel like it, I'll place the ipad in front of him and voila!  I use the ipad as a last resort, but it helps when he needs to get his tummy time in!

I've done this too with my Kindle.... no shame in what works!