who doesn't do tummy time?

mrs_massie

DS absolutely hates tummy time. He cries only seconds after i put him on his tummy.  Then he gets so fussy after that. So if he is happy, i dont want to do tummy time to make him upset and if he is already upset, i don't want to make it worse.  I've read about all the delays not doing tummy causes, but I've talked to a few other moms who said they never did it either and their kids crawled and walked at the typical age.  Does anyone else skip tummy time too?

Second time moms: did you skip tummy time and how did it work out for you?

ChardeeMacDennis

I don't really do it very often. With three kids any time that her good moods align with a free minute for me is really precious and I'd rather spend it enjoying her company than making her cry. I'm sure I did a lot with my first and less with my second. #1 was a late sitter and #2 was a late walker. I prefer to think of "tummy time" as "not on her back time" and she does get lots of that- being held, carried, playing on her side, etc.

karaelaine1991

One thing that I've found helpful is to prop LO up during tummy time. Her activity gym came with a tummy time pillow and last night I tried propping her up on the boppy. In both cases, she tolerates tummy time more, does it for a longer period of time, and is more interested in toys while she's on her tummy. As soon as she starts to get upset I do switch her to her back, but she lasts at least 5 minutes with both of these pillows. I do sometimes put her right on the floor, but that's a hit or a miss for us.

You may have already tried pillows and if you have sorry for the redundant info! But I thought I'd throw it out there just in case you're interested

beemaya83

My little one hated it initially as well. Tummy time was just so foreign for him since he is always on his back. Rather than putting him on floor I started holding him on tummy on my legs. He seemed to like that better. Now that he is familiar with being on his tummy I started doing it on the floor again and he doesn't hate it as much. I'm just like you and hated seinf him cry. Like why piss him off if he is in a good mood right? Just remember this is for their own good! On the other hand, I have heard of other moms skipping tummy time and babies were fine. Also, if you do 1-2 minutes of tummy time after each diaper change, baby will star associating tummy time and it will keep you consistent in doing it. Babies need at least 15 minutes PER DAY of tummy time.

ChardeeMacDennis

beemaya83 said:

Babies need at least 15 minutes PER DAY of tummy time.

Or what? I mean that earnestly. I understand that it encourages trunk development and sitting and crawling, but is there any evidence that slightly delayed sitting and crawling has any long term effect?

KaLikeAWind

We had a tummy time thread a while back that got some good discussion. It may not answer your questions, but its another source of info for ya. https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12613096/tummy-time/p1

For myself, I rarely do tummy time. For real. Maybe once a week do I do 'official' tummy time, where I put him on the ground on his tummy. I admitted as much to his ped on Monday at his appt, but told her what I do instead is when I feed him and burp him, I put him up against my chest (vs up by my shoulder) with his elbows right about at my boobs and his head below my chin, then I lean my torso back so my upper body is in recline. He frequently will push himself up onto his elbows, or lift his head and look to one side or the other, or right at me and make eye contact. I always hold the eye contact to encourage him to keep looking, thus keeping his head up. His ped during his exam said he had pretty good head control for his age (10 weeks) and that what I was doing was fine... She figures if he gets 5 minutes of that every feeding, and he is fed 4-6 times a day... It adds up and is a time when he won't be frustrated with exercising his neck and torso.
I also sit on the couch, put my feet on the coffee table so my legs make an upside down V, and lay him tummy down on my shins, then support him on either side. This way he is kinda tummy down, but also half upright so he feels more comfortable.
When I do official tummy time, I use the propping pillow that came his with activity mat. He tolerates tummy time better with it.

Also, in a thread somewhere else someone posted this article... I've started to do some things in it, namely the upside down holding technique with him in my arms. He doesn't dig that, but he doesn't hate it either. I bookmarked it so I have the link, but don't remember who initially shared it. Whoever that was - big thanks for sharing, I've found it real helpful!
https://mamaot.com/tips-for-making-tummy-time-a-little-less-um-miserable/

karaelaine1991

mellymar said:

We had a tummy time thread a while back that got some good discussion. It may not answer your questions, but its another source of info for ya. https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12613096/tummy-time/p1

For myself, I rarely do tummy time. For real. Maybe once a week do I do 'official' tummy time, where I put him on the ground on his tummy. I admitted as much to his ped on Monday at his appt, but told her what I do instead is when I feed him and burp him, I put him up against my chest (vs up by my shoulder) with his elbows right about at my boobs and his head below my chin, then I lean my torso back so my upper body is in recline. He frequently will push himself up onto his elbows, or lift his head and look to one side or the other, or right at me and make eye contact. I always hold the eye contact to encourage him to keep looking, thus keeping his head up. His ped during his exam said he had pretty good head control for his age (10 weeks) and that what I was doing was fine... She figures if he gets 5 minutes of that every feeding, and he is fed 4-6 times a day... It adds up and is a time when he won't be frustrated with exercising his neck and torso.
I also sit on the couch, put my feet on the coffee table so my legs make an upside down V, and lay him tummy down on my shins, then support him on either side. This way he is kinda tummy down, but also half upright so he feels more comfortable.
When I do official tummy time, I use the propping pillow that came his with activity mat. He tolerates tummy time better with it.

Also, in a thread somewhere else someone posted this article... I've started to do some things in it, namely the upside down holding technique with him in my arms. He doesn't dig that, but he doesn't hate it either. I bookmarked it so I have the link, but don't remember who initially shared it. Whoever that was - big thanks for sharing, I've found it real helpful!
https://mamaot.com/tips-for-making-tummy-time-a-little-less-um-miserable/

That's an awesome article! First time I've read it - thanks for re-sharing, @mellymar!

ChardeeMacDennis

Yeah, thanks, @mellymar ! We just tried a variant on #5 and she was legitimately happy for a whole minute and it was another couple before she cried.

janat1717

There is a school of thought out there too that says you shouldn't do tummy time until they are ready. This is just the first article I brought up but it makes sense. Do tribal people do tummy time??

I personally try to do a little almost every day but it's over as soon as he is upset

https://www.regardingbaby.org/#article/112

delujm0

We do it for like 5 minutes a few times a week. She seems to have good neck control when we hold her upright so we're not stressed. She also starts daycare on the 14th, and in the infant room they say they do 10-15 minutes of tummy time daily so I'm happy to let them handle that. That's what we pay them for, right?

jessieR358

My 7 week old loves tummy time!

AlwaysSunny1012

I only really do it on my chest a few times a day. Very occasional floor tummy time as well.

ksimo6

We are not great about it but he gets it on our chests and we are working on sitting up in the bumbo. To be honest, we weren't that great about it with our daughter either. Didn't seem to deter her any. LO has great head control... But we should get him on the floor more so he can work on rolling.

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MamaSky

You can do tummy time on your own tummy. I started my LO out that way and it really seemed to help him out. It's less scary than just being on a playmat alone and they can lift their head up and look at your face. It's like when you hold them to burp them but just slightly reclined and with them down a little lower. So you can be tummy to tummy. If he works up his neck muscles enough he may be confident enough to do tummy time on his own. That's what happened for my LO. But once he starts to cry I roll him to his back for a few minutes.

delujm0

MrsWilson830 said:

My little guy loves it with a pillow. But instead of tummy time I started him in the bumbo and at 6 weeks he was holding his head.

I was just wondering the other day when we could start using the bumbo. We're 10 weeks now. Maybe I'll try her in there for 5 or 10 minutes tomorrow. She has pretty good head control when we hold her upright so this should be ok?

On a related note, anyone know when we can start using the exer-saucer? I think she'd like it but we haven't assembled it yet bc we don't know if she's ready to use it.

klkonwi

I'm waiting to get the exersaucer out until he starts reaching/grasping toys. I think he will be bored with it until then!

HoosOnFirst

@mellymar I was the original poster of the article - thanks for reposting, I think it got a bit buried when I posted it

I also heard that babies kinda just one day stop hating it... A few days ago, I think we made it! LO doesn't love it, but no longer screams. We do it mostly on my chest. I think she hated having her face on the ground (and she refused to use her arms). This week - week 13 - she finally started to use her arms to prop herself up. I think she just likes seeing stuff and tummy time was limiting her field of vision.

KaLikeAWind

@hoodoll82 thanks for the article! It really helped me consider alternate ways to work towards tummy time and I found it super helpful.

karaelaine1991

Is anyone's baby spitting up during tummy time? It doesn't happen for us every time or even every other time but it's happening often enough that I'm wondering if I should be concerned.

HoosOnFirst

^^ all the time. My LO has reflux so I'm not surprised.

emcnmla2015

My LO just woke up one day (right before 12 weeks) and held himself up loving tummy time out of nowhere. Before that he hated it and mostly face planted the whole time. It's more fun now that he smiles and enjoys it so I've been more motivated to do it daily. I stop right when he cries and don't worry much about doing it a certain amount of time.

karaelaine1991

hoodoll82 said:

^^ all the time. My LO has reflux so I'm not surprised.

Hmm interesting. I've actually been wondering about reflux for my LO. She spits up a few times a day and usually doesn't seem bothered by it but I know that's a sign of reflux. But I also know it's fairly normal for babies to spit up. Maybe I should start keeping track and bring it up at our next pediatrician visit. Thanks!

mrs_massie

Thanks everyone. It makes me feel a lot better knowing I'm not a "bad" mom for not taking tummy time so serious.  My MIL makes me feel terrible about it all the time

slr1229

While we use a pillow too for support under her arms, we work on her neck control with us just holding her up and she likes being higher to see things. We do this on our thighs, holding up in our arms while walking around, etc. She likes it enough now we're holding her hands and she's working on balancing. Just as long as you're doing something to help them build those little muscles you're good!

ChardeeMacDennis

Well, I was the first comment on this post and pretty anti-tummy time but the discussion has totally motivated me to try alternative positions. Newest one is her sitting on my lap facing out with the boppy wrapped around her middle. I push her forward so her chest is on the boppy. She uses her arms, neck, and trunk but she's still happy because she thinks she's just chilling in my lap. Trickery!

house86

I don't do it.. And my Dr said my Lo has excellent head control, she's 12 weeks now and looks around everywhere..Never did it with my older children either