Tummy Time

JackieP1023 · May 2014

LO is 3.5 months, and still will not tolerate tummy time. She has decent head control when we hold her. She even tries to sit herself up sometimes. But she won't do tummy time. She lays there, buries her face in the playmat, and cries until someone picks her up. I've tried playing with her, getting down on her level, talking to her, propping her elbows underneath her (she just brings her arms out and face goes back into the floor), propping on the boppy (she gets her feet under her, and curls herself over the boppy, almost doing a summersault). I think she would be close to figuring out the rolling if only she would be on her tummy longer than about 1min at a time! Any tips/tricks I'm missing here?! I'm not so much worried about head control, but how will she get the rolling figured out?!

djtippietoes · May 2014

I have this Baby Einstein music thing that lights up and I'll hold it in front of his face to sort of distract him from the fact that he's on his tummy. Sometimes works.

Missy0483 · May 2014

DD still hates it and does the face plant thing most times. Our sitter is working with her and she sometimes tolerates it better on the boppy. Her head control is great, I think she just hates the pressure on her stomach. I'm not too fond of lying on my stomach either!

MamaHollywood27 · May 2014

I hate laying on my belly to. My LO has been rolling over for about a month but I will admit I really think its just cuz he has a big head that once he turns it body follows. He will do runny time for a bit but always ends up spitting up

JackieP1023 · May 2014

Thanks everyone! We do tummy time on our chests, too, which she seems to like. I've even considered that maybe the floor + playmat is just too hard, so tried on our (relatively firm-for a mattress) bed. She doesn't really do any better, although the mattress has enough give that she sprawls and somehow gets both hands and both feet up off the mattress. I'm glad 4-6 is average... I know the pedi said that by 4m, she should be pushing her chest up off the floor when doing tummy time-which isn't happening. She does do that when on our chests, though, so maybe I am worried for nothing! I will definitely ask at her 4m appt!

MissDemeanor · May 2014

My dad was just telling me that my brother used to hate being on his stomach. He practically went straight to walking, he hated being on his tummy so much. And he still walked in the 'normal' timeframe. Personally, as long as your LO is doing well with neck strength I couldn't worry too much. No parent sends their kid off to college, reminding them to have fun, study hard, and do their 15 minutes of allotted TT.

Metreky21 · May 2014

This may sound weird but we do tummy time on the changing table. He usually can't stand normal tummy time on the floor so I asked my pedi and he suggested just flipping him over on the changing table for just 30 seconds to a minute after every diaper change. I don't so it that often but probably at least 3-4 times a day. He actually seems to like it! Worth a try maybe? :-??

snowwhite1979 · May 2014

My first hated tummy time with a burning passion, and we never did it as often as we should have. We still did lots of bouncing on legs, sitting up and pulling up to stand. She crawled at around 9.5 months, walked at 11. It hasn't made a huge difference in her life. I say as long as you are trying it once a day for a few minutes or so, you are doing your part. Don't sweat it too much.

boogerbearoriginal · May 2014

TT on your chest counts same as on the floor. Basically all the time you spend holding LO upright helps develop the neck/abdominal muscles so don't get too stressed about needed x minutes on the floor so long as LO isn't sitting in a bouncy seat or whatever all day.

My older LO hated TT with a fiery passion, he started sitting at 5m and never really did traditional laying on the floor tummy time. We used wraps a lot to carry him, and did lay with him belly-to-belly. He never had issues with flat head and had great neck control. When he crawled, he just did it from a sitting position not pushing up from the floor. He never rolled much, but he (obviously) can now.

LO2 really likes TT. We put her on a blanket and she'll lay there looking around watching LO1 play, etc. Although now she rolls onto her back all the time lol, sort of defeats the purpose kid.

I really stressed myself out with "needing" to do TT with LO1, which was pointless since he'd just lay there and cry. It's just one tool to help baby develop, but it's not the only option.

Codypup · May 2014

TyrannosaurusLex said:

I was starting to question this as well, my LO has fantastic neck control but hated conventional TT and showed no signs of rolling. Out of nowhere she just started to roll this morning! We do almost all our TT on my chest, and I wear her a lot/she loves sitting up holding onto my fingers. It's also considered early for babies to roll at 4 months - anywhere between 4-6 months is the norm. One thing that has managed to distract LO on occasion during floor TT is a baby mirror, ours is from Lamaze brand.

@tyrannosauruslex - Thank you for saying that. My pediatrician, at her 2 month appointment, said "By 4 months she'll be rolling!" and so I had that date in my head this whole time. W rolls to her sides, and has rolled over except it's on top of her one arm, so I don't count it as really flipping. I was starting to worry (because apparently that's all I do, worry) that something was wrong.

She also hates tummy time. She doesn't seem to realize that she can use her arms to push up. So she kind of scrambles with her legs, and her little butt wiggles around in the air, but her arms and head stay pretty flat.

versed · May 2014

My DS1 (my chunky monnkey) didn't roll until 6m. Even that first roll was back to belly. He was a big boy, and just didn't feel the desire to move. This one is very close to rolling (4m today), but I'm not worried about when ... it'll happen!

JackieP1023 · May 2014

These comments all make me feel so much better! She has rolled while on our chests before, but never on her own. She also will roll to her sides (both sides) while in bed. As I said before, she has great head control-sits up in her bumbo fairly well, and enjoys being held front out so she can see what is going on. She rolled up into DH's face the other day! (Photo proof-she started on her back)

mythaldo · May 2014

One thing to try is to roll up a baby towel or receiving blanket and placing it under her even with the armpits or nipples. Our LO absolutely hated tummy time and wouldn't lift her head more than about an inch off the floor until we tried it. She's still only tolerate it for about 5 minutes at a time, but she'll actually lift her head up into crawling position and even laugh as long as I keep her entertained. The Boppy still makes her curl over it and teeter forward, but the rolled blanket gives her a nice little boost to get her head up. We eventually bought a playmat that came with a little propping pillow and that also works for us.

kak808 · May 2014

mythaldo said:
One thing to try is to roll up a baby towel or receiving blanket and placing it under her even with the armpits or nipples. Our LO absolutely hated tummy time and wouldn't lift her head more than about an inch off the floor until we tried it. She's still only tolerate it for about 5 minutes at a time, but she'll actually lift her head up into crawling position and even laugh as long as I keep her entertained. The Boppy still makes her curl over it and teeter forward, but the rolled blanket gives her a nice little boost to get her head up. We eventually bought a playmat that came with a little propping pillow and that also works for us.

Yes, the little pillow helped a lot! LO still doesn't love TT but the pillow usually gets us a few minutes before the crying.

kak808 · May 2014

kak808 said:

mythaldo said:
One thing to try is to roll up a baby towel or receiving blanket and placing it under her even with the armpits or nipples. Our LO absolutely hated tummy time and wouldn't lift her head more than about an inch off the floor until we tried it. She's still only tolerate it for about 5 minutes at a time, but she'll actually lift her head up into crawling position and even laugh as long as I keep her entertained. The Boppy still makes her curl over it and teeter forward, but the rolled blanket gives her a nice little boost to get her head up. We eventually bought a playmat that came with a little propping pillow and that also works for us.
Yes, the little pillow helped a lot! LO still doesn't love TT but the pillow usually gets us a few minutes before the crying.

And here's a pic if her using it:

Metreky21 · May 2014

kak808 said:

kak808 said:

mythaldo said:
One thing to try is to roll up a baby towel or receiving blanket and placing it under her even with the armpits or nipples. Our LO absolutely hated tummy time and wouldn't lift her head more than about an inch off the floor until we tried it. She's still only tolerate it for about 5 minutes at a time, but she'll actually lift her head up into crawling position and even laugh as long as I keep her entertained. The Boppy still makes her curl over it and teeter forward, but the rolled blanket gives her a nice little boost to get her head up. We eventually bought a playmat that came with a little propping pillow and that also works for us.
Yes, the little pillow helped a lot! LO still doesn't love TT but the pillow usually gets us a few minutes before the crying.
And here's a pic if her using it:

I have that same playmat and I was wondering when it was safe to use that pillow.

:-/

journeyrock92 · May 2014

My son is also 3.5 months, but has decent tummy time experiences. He has great head and neck control, and often smiles through the whole thing. The only problem I still have with him is getting him to turn onto his back by himself. He has done it a few times on his own so far, the first being a few weeks ago. Then, he waited a few weeks before doing it again in front of his Grandma. Unpredictable babies! But I'm waiting for him to take his own initiative to do it more often.

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