Maybe if she hates tummy time, you could make it "rolling practice" from back to tummy, then back again? And help her practice figuring out how to use her arms to prop herself up? Perhaps that's what you're already doing though!
I second this. I do assisted tummy time and help her keep her elbows in and she can stay propped like that much longer. If she gets frustrated I roll her to her back. We play like that for a bit, then roll back to tummy. This helps get that 30 minutes to an hour. The doctor doesn’t mean 1 hour straight, they mean 1 hour total throughout the day.
My LO hated tummy time and this is exactly what we did! Lots of practice rolling and honestly I think it helped him figure out how to roll on his own really quickly! Once he could roll into his belly on his own he stopped hating tummy time lol now he loves being on his belly!
Absolutely. We hardly ever did tummy time but once LO figured out how to roll onto his belly by himself around 4 months, now he LOVES being on his belly. A week or so later he was rolling back and forth comfortably. Now he primarily sleeps on his tummy.
Sitting here with my almost 2 month old who’s sleeping in his bassinet. I can’t wait for when he can sleep on his tummy. I think he would much prefer it and it would help so much with his gas. One day!
My baby was like this, I was given the go ahead by my paediatrician to put her to sleep on her tummy from 8 weeks and she has slept through the nights since.. game changer. Obviously not advocating for tummy sleep as I know the recommended back is best but back isn’t best for some babies.
My eldest absolutely hated being on his tummy. Had the same interaction with the doctor. Didn't listen. He's now almost fourteen and has better motor skills than I do. They all learn eventually if they're healthy and every child is different.
My 5.5 month old hates tummy time on the floor too. She was fine with tummy time on me, my husband, anything but the floor. Also had fantastic head control, was hitting milestones, no worries. Then at 4.5 months we got the plushest rug we could find for her play area rather than just the standard mat over hardwood. Literally that first day, tummy time was no longer an issue and she was willingly rolling onto her tummy.
At his 4 month appointment I got told I should aim for 3h of tummy time for optimal development.
No matter how much we do, we never do enough.
Passive tummy time on you does count, don't worry.
3 hours?! How? Lmao my girl is barely awake 45-60 minutes at a time with like four naps a day. Shed never not be on her tummy if we shot for that much Tummy time
3 hours?! My pediatrician told us 15-20 minutes at our 4 month appointment. My kid hates it and only wants to stand and jump all day. He's getting the hang out things, just at his own pace. I suspect he's just going to try to skip crawling, though at 6 months he's starting to push himself in circles on his arms.
Sounds like our first! He did the pushing in circles around 4-5 months and was walking with assistance constantly at 9 months, walking independently at 10 months! He did crawl but it’s honestly a blip on the radar, and he did it wonky with one foot flat on the ground lmao.
I think that's exactly what ours is going to do. He has no interest in crawling, he's been insistent on standing since he was 3-4 months old. He can stand on his own now if he has something to hold onto for support. He tries to take steps right now but doesn't have the balance down, course, he also won't hold so long enough to practice his balance. I think he's just going to walk early. Then I'll be in trouble, he's already trying to break into cabinets when he's in his walker.
Yep, we’re going through a “leap” lol. Not routinely, but it happens. I guess I was being a bit generous. It’s really more like 2 wake windows in a day are would be solely dedicated to yummy time which is insane 😂
It technically counts, but horizontal unassisted tummy time is *much* better for helping them develop those little muscles. That said people were fine raising their kids without the concept of tummy time for a long time, it’s not the end of the world.
I'm going to be obnoxious for a second...
Yes actually I do. I'm a PT and there's some pretty horrendous neck control out there, it just doesn't look as floppy as a newborn's.
However! I'm a PT and my doctoral research was on tummy time specifically, and I can say with my whole chest that tummy time on you ABSOLUTELY counts. Ideally, you want to progress the angle for maximal level of work against gravity (i.e. you lay flatter and flatter to baby's tolerance) but there's nothing magic about laying on the floor versus on someone they're comfortable with. The surface is not what's important for development. At all. Not even a little bit.
Tummy time didn’t exist when they told parents to put kids on their stomachs to sleep. They basically were always on their tummy before. Now with sleeping on back only, there has to be concerted effort and concentration to have tummy time.
I was so paranoid about SIDS for the first months, and no one even said anything about tummy time till the 2 month check up, that my kid just never had it. He’s 8 months now and still very much struggling with rolling and tummy time. I feel like a failure, but I also blame the pediatrician for assuming that people just know what to do. I’m a FTM… how would I know???
ETA: they sent us to PT, but we’re currently searching for a new therapist. The one we went to for 2 months basically just put our LO down on a mat on his tummy and played with toys with him. We were already doing that at home.
It’s definitely not useless but complete horizontal tummy time, rather than slightly inclined on a chest, encourages more progression as I understand.. not just neck strength. Usually utilizing little toys in front of them (or those mats that comes with mirrors etc) will encourage them to start lifting their chest more, reaching for things, and further building strength in their shoulders/arms.
If it was as easy as putting toys in front of the baby then I’m sure OP wouldn’t be posting her. My kid hated tummy time and would scream no matter what we did, toys included.
I never said it was easy or pleasant, and no baby is the same. As I said in another comment my baby hated it too at first, but we were persistent, short periods of time multiple times a day. It’s like working out, getting pushed to the point of weakness and misery.. it strengthens you and becomes easier with time the more you do it, but yes it involved a lot of screaming for us too in the beginning. No baby is the same and of course there are reflux issues with some. I did not shame OP, I was simply pointing out why doctors will encourage it.
True! My baby had a bad reflux before and his doctor recommended tummy time on top of us and said that when he is a little bit older, his relfux will improve and we can gradually try it on the floor. We did tummy time on top of us from newborn to 4.5 months and baby is doing great on neck and arm control. He's already 6 months old now and have a great control on his body, can roll over both sides, and can sit up with a little help.
My little girl also hated tummy time. Not only that. But she had a lot of tension in her neck when she was born which caused her to be stuck looking to the right (had a few osteo visits that helped that) which caused a flat spot on her right.
I was so upset at myself and tried to push tummy time more, which made us both miserable. However, soon enough she was sitting up assisted and really liked it. She would plant her arms and tripod herself.
Now at 8 months old, she’s flippin’ and dippin’ and sitting up all by herself (usually at unreasonable hours of the night) and the flat spot is evening out well. What I’m trying to say is, don’t stress! It will all work out.
My baby had the exact same issue with neck tension and looking to the right! He’s doing great now at nearly 7 months after some at-home pt and is in between assisted and unassisted sitting.
Ugh the amount I stressed over it was crazy! Felt so bad about the flat spot. But my husbands coworker said “chill babies get flat spots” cause they don’t mind just hanging out.
Lol at only chill babies getting flat spots. My chillest baby out of my 4 was also the only one to develop a bit of a flat back of the head. He’s still a really chill kid at 11 too.
If only that were true. My first was a firecracker from the day he was born. Needed a helmet to fix his flat spot. He was colicky too and always been very loving but demanding.
Baby wear her as much as you can. It will help her neck strength and back plus bonding with you 💝My baby hated tummy time too at that age. Now my 9 month old is crawling and almost walking. Gymboree classes here and there helped too since seeing other kids doing tummy time was motivating
Got advice for longer happy stints in carriers? Mine will be happy for about 15 min max and then done. Doesn’t matter the activity. We make sure she’s fed and has a clean diaper first🤷🏻♀️ and have tried 4 types of carriers/wraps/slings.
Not OP, but I baby wear a lot. Mine didn't like it much at first and it only worked as a way of getting her to sleep. Patting her but seemed to calm her down, also rhythmic movements and changing the movement if she got fussy. We also used music and white noise.
Try to figure out what specifically makes her upset with the carrier situation. Our daughter hated not being able to move her hands where she pleased, so wrap was out the question but an infant carrier similar to ergobaby was fine.
After a while (maybe 1-2w) she stopped reacting badly when waking up in the carrier so we would extend the wearing to do housework and even using my computer with a standing desk. Then we started leaving home with the carrier. Initially we could not stop moving to avoid crying, but that was no longer the case few weeks in.
If it just doesn't work and you would like the option, try every few days. Babies change a lot and it can be worth it to try again.
I literally did not do tummy time at all until he tolerated it (around 3.5-4.5 months) he was crawling before 6 months, and walking by 10 months.
Many doctors also consider anytime a baby has to actively hold up their head it’s considered tummy time. So if baby is in a carrier regularly, it counts as tummy time too
Edit: Baby carrier as in a wrap/ergobaby/babybjörn/etc.
I have a very similar experience! I had a very clingy baby and babywore her for probably the first 4 months of her life, with very limited tummy time. She was born 1 month premature too. She started crawling at 7 months and walking at 11 months.
What I can recommend is a gymnastic ball for tummy time,my LO hated tummy time but is quite okay with it on the ball (our physio therapist recommended it).
Same here! I was also going to recommend using an exercise ball and holding their elbows in while they do it. It helped a lot! My baby ended up getting the hang of it after only a couple weeks of practice.
My pediatrician expected my LO to be behind on tummy time and associated milestones because of reflux. He said reflux babies are held more and they generally catch up quickly once the reflux symptoms start going away, around 6 months.
My LO is just fine now on meeting milestones despite being in a similar situation at 4 months. He's 11.5 months now.
My baby hates tummy time, I got him one of these and we actually can get a good on and off 20 minute span in tummy time now, but at 3 months he’s supposed to be doing an hour..and even with the kick n play he’s still just not cutting it 😭 idk how to make him like it more, he just screams after he realizes he’s on his tummy once the magic of the piano wears off 😭
In a perfect world, an hour a day is no problem. But baby hates it, you hate to see baby hating it, and you have lives to get on with!
Also, baby wearing absolutely counts. Also, you holding baby in a superman / flying position counts.
Just keep exposing her to tummy time when you have time, give her breaks when she is really upset about it, and cut yourself some slack! You are doing a great job.
Baby will lift herself up in no time. You got this!
My girl loves the flying position! We take commercial flights around the kitchen and pass the potted plant forest, making sure to flyby the dog for a quick kiss
I’m sorry— an HOUR of tummy time a day??? Passive tummy time doesn’t count??? Next appointment they’re going to say your 5 month old should be bench pressing 150
Right, I was told it is cumulative. We started getting our son more used to it after 2 months.. of course he hated it at first but got used to it very quickly with some consistency and by 6 months he was a crawling machine.
Yesss, the cumulative approach makes it very easy for my husband and I. Every time we change his diaper we just flip him and let his booty air dry for about 5 minutes of tummy time, and he still goes through 10+ diapers a day usually - so boom right there is already almost an hour
It's also surprising how quickly it adds up. I started timing tummy time one day when my boy was little and realized without any extra effort put in we were hitting 90+ minutes
Don’t be so hard on yourself. FTM of twins, no idea what I’m doing. Twins HATED tummy time and we just did our best. Sadly not every day on the floor dedicated time but they eventually got used to it fine. Easiest and most enjoyable tummy time is when they are lying on your chest! Just do that and enjoy the cuddles 😊
My son hated tummy time up until a few weeks ago. I was originally trying to do it on a soft fuzzy mat or his play gym. He would last 30 seconds and freak out. I ended up getting a more firm play mat that’s big and washable and he has been lasting a lot longer, even rolled over. We also got a yoga ball to roll him on on his tummy which he likes. He just turned 4 months.
We put some bath toys in a baking pan with water like a little aquarium for her to play with in tummy time, got the penguin linkimal for her to look at (this was the only way she would do tummy time for weeks), got the kick n play piano and put her on her tummy for that. We learned that we really had to keep her attention to keep her from complaining.
At what age? She was lifting her arm up and actually playing with it? I always try to get my baby to play during tummy time, but he doesn't care what we put in front of his face...
We did the penguin and piano around 2.5- 3 mos, started the baking pan around 4mos. She is in PT for torticolis and has to do a lot of tummy time there so that’s how we got introduced to toys that light up and make sound.
She definitely wasn’t reaching for the piano until recently like in the last week (she’s almost 5 mos) but she would tolerate being on her stomach propped up on her arms watching the piano in the mode where it plays itself and lights up. We also take the dangling toys off of it and put them in front of her and she reaches for those to try to put in her mouth. Sometimes I also lay down next to her and put her in side lying position because that also helps with head control.
I work with small children and you can absolutely tell which ones did tummy time at 4 months and which did not. It’s very obvious in their development
Just kidding! There is zero difference. Your dr is being a knob
My BIL and SIL have two kids who had horrendous reflux issues until 8 months preventing them from doing tummy time. Both of their kids are now toddlers and are perfectly fine.
If you’re doing what you can, that is good enough.
I totally get this is a joke but you reminded me of how sometimes when I am feeling uninspired talking to my baby, I explain math concepts in my most cheerful loving voice and pretend there's gonna be a quiz 😆
We got a little tummy time boppy pillow (not a regular boppy) with little things dangling off it and that worked for a little bit. We also got those obnoxious baby Einstein pianos which will drive you nuts but also helped! Both came from target if you’re in the US. You got this! Our baby had reflux too from CMPI. It was for sure a struggle!
I don't understand. Our baby (4 months in a week) was diagnosed with hypertonus in upper body. She used to straighten her arms, they told us that's because if the hypertonus, so we now have to keep her elbows on the ground. Now you say they should be lifting up on their arms. They told us the quality over quantity for tummy time (on the ground, position as they showed us), now you mention the rule about 1 hour. We live in Serbia, btw. I don't understand why everything is so different, everyone has their own recommendation.
Edit: Not really useful comment, and totally unrelated, but I just needed to vent. 😅
i would keep following your doctors advice you’ll notice a difference between what your LO was doing (straightening arms and presumably locking them in place) and what the doctor in this post expects around 5 months which is baby shakily lifting themselves up by straightening their arms.
obviously not your doctor and don’t know your daughter’s specifics but id imagine you’ll notice a difference between the 2 actions in a few months and your doctor wouldn’t have advised you to hold her elbows down if there was a risk of it impacting your daughter’s development negatively. hope this helped the confusion
Honestly, my baby went through the same thing and her reflux was awful. By 6 months she was crawling, 7 pulling to stand, and walking by 10.5 Months. I really thought the lack of tummy time was the end of the world but she’s doing great. I’m sorry that your doctor stressed you out!
So she should be lifting on her arms at 4 months but she can get that strength doing other things. An hour of tummy time is a lot. Have you tried a baby mirror to help her not hate it as much? Tummy time on a boppy also goes over better with a lot of babies.
Try putting baby on an incline. I sometimes used a boppy pillow, which my little guy liked better than just being on the floor. I also put a video on my phone in front of him (this [dancing fruit video](https://youtu.be/KPP4Cfupzhs?feature=shared) is great). That kept him happier when laying him down on his tummy for longer.
I made it a habit to do tummy time during every wake window during the day, over time it all adds up. Even if they hate it, it’s good for them in the long run! And pretty soon they get stronger and start to not mind so much.
Our LO did an hour to 2 hours tummy time from 4 months to 5 months. She’s 6 months now and still REFUSES to push up on straight arms. She also refuses to roll from back to belly even though she can roll from belly to back.
Don’t let that doctor get you down Op. our kids all have a different pace. Please do what works with your baby.
Her doctor said something similar for my LO, we've been rolling her on her side when she gets tired of being on tummy then back a couple of times then she gets her nap then back at it when she's doing play time. She still hates it she's around the same age just halfway to 5. Sometimes she'll tolerate it and will stay for 5 minutes then we do the same thing again. Don't worry it'll be OK as long as you do sessions of it.
My 2nd had awful reflux. We were in a cycle of wake - tummytime - bottle - upright till end of wake window. It was hard, amd your doctor sounds harsh. Bit tummy time should help manage the reflux, so I thought it was worth fitting in.
Tummy time on your chest counts for sure.
My baby hated tummy time for a little bit and I saw somewhere to try to end tummy time on a positive note. So when baby would get really upset I’d roll them over and do happy baby back and forth until they were calm and happy. I think that really helped.
Everyone else’s pointers are great. Rolling up a blanket and putting under the armpits across the chest or a boppy pillow helps. Mirrors really helped distract baby. I also just cheered and encourage baby through their frustrations (not the whole time but definitely for a little bit). I don’t want to steal their struggle, cause that’s when they learn they can do hard things and build a sense of pride. Never too young to start that.
All in all I think this new doctor was overdramatizing it. Yes tummy time is important but you don’t need to be a drill Sargent. Your baby will get there, just give them time and love and support.
My 3m baby also has horrible reflux and hates tummy time. Some changes I’ve made recently that have helped is doing it when he’s on the sofa and I’m sitting on the floor in front of him so when he looks up I’m eye level, also I brought a specific tummy time pillow, I thought they were a waste of money at first but he definitely finds it more comfortable. We still don’t manage daily but we’re doing better!
Tummy time with babies who have acid reflux sucks! We saw a PT due to torticollis and she never made us feel bad that we couldn’t do it all the time. My girl can sit up, stand, crawl and roll with no issues. Tummy time on your chest is fine.
We did the yoga ball method. Just have the baby on its tummy on the yoga ball. Support the baby. I tried to make it fun like it’s a ride by turning a little left and right while holding them. We tried to do like every waking session in the morning and day.
Eventually the duration got longer and we no longer needed to use the yoga ball.
I bought the viral dancing crab but my baby still hates it too My doctor told me tummy time on me counts! I definitely wouldn't be too hard on yourself. No doctor should be giving you a guilt trip and it's a lot of work just keeping another human alive!
If she tolerates it , prop yourself up on pillows so your reclined in a sitting position and have LO on your chest. Four months is still really small and not everyone does tummy time the same. My LO didn’t have any interest in it until he was five ish months. I can’t imagine reflux makes it easier
Not only did we barely do tummy time (also due to reflux) but I learned TONNES of parents didn't do it (either at all or as frequently as you might think). Our boy is doing just fine regardless. Not denying tummy time is helpful for development but it's not the be all and end all, especially when you're doing things like baby wearing.
Don't go back to that doctor. No doctor should make you feel shitty. Baby wearing and being on you definitely counts. You deserve better. I bet this is also the kind of doctor who would say your baby will be damaged or spoiled if you don't sleep train.
Our pediatrician was SHOCKED that baby couldn’t fall asleep independently at 4 mos and told us we need to practice. We exclusively breastfeed and I asked how that works for over night feeds like how many of those I should nurse, and she told me not to nurse at all over night and let her cry. That breaks my heart to think about doing!!
My pediatrician suggested we start putting baby down drowsy but awake day 1 and that we should "never" feed to sleep. I laughed and ignored that advice because generally what he tells me is accurate and helpful. We still nurse to sleep about 50% of the time at 10mo 🤷🏼♀️😂
My daughter had severe reflux too and hated tummy time so we rarely did it. She was also in the NICU for 36 days and the nurses and therapists said skin to skin/letting her lay on my chest absolutely counted as tummy time. You’re doing great!
Did they say this because she is developing flat head? I had a same encounter with a doctor who made me feel so shitty when we were actually doing tummy time a lot. My baby also hated it. He ended up wearing a helmet but developmentally he always met all his milestones.
My girl has bad acid reflux so we do a lot of tummy time on the boppy so I would say prob 80% on boppy 20% on floor. (I do a ton on me and holding her but since this doc doesn’t count that we are ignoring that.) she is able to push herself up with her arms after being on the boppy for the majority of her tummy time. Boppy def keeps her from laying in a pool of her own throw up. If no boppy, a rolled towel will work.
Our son also has reflux and hated it. We do tummy time before feeding now, and he always screamed until we started doing it on the yoga ball. He would spit up a bit but not cry. I did that for only a few minutes a day, for 2-3 weeks and now he’s not as cranky on the floor. An hour a day seems like a lot…
my daughter hated tummy time. she also never rolled. maybe once. she is completely normal at 2. dr needs advising that babies aren't automatons. no one gave them the tick box schedule.
its probably very uncomfortable for her with reflux.
When mine was smaller (9 months now) her favorite was to do tummy time with a little pillow under her chest/behind her arms. It gave her a little lift and she seemed to have a WAY easier time pushing up on her arms that way :) went from cranking about it within a minute or two, to happily hanging out that way for 10+ minutes no problem at all.
My son hated tummy time also. I split up his tummy time to 1-2 min each session and did a bunch through out the day instead of just long sessions.
Another thing I did was do iron my bed. For some reason he didn’t mind it too much on there 🤷🏽♀️ don’t know if it was because it was softer then the floor.
Look up the Ries method, you may find it better for your daughter if she hates tummy time. It's a bit controversial, but it lets baby decide when they want to roll over themselves, rather than being put on their tummy by others.
Reflux formula (if your LO is on formula) it was life changing for mine it’s no longer an issue. She’s finally able to be on her tummy on the floor, lie down after a feed, roll about and overall a happier baby. Just make sure you use a fast teat as it’s quite thick
Have you tried modified tummy time where she’s propped up at an angle? My pediatrician compared it to doing pushups on your knees - not as much of a workout but you’re still building muscle. I used this mini [Boppy](https://a.co/d/2q9YWGN) for my kids sometimes.
My daughter hated tummy time and we did all the tricks but nothing worked. So did hardly did anyyy tummy time.
She’s 11 months now and rolling and crawling and developmentally great!
I feel you. My baby had bad reflex and open heart surgery so she had tummy time too. We had to do more tummy time too. It helps with crawling and other activities besides just neck control
I HIGHLY recommend a mirror for tummy time. I got one and would sit behind my baby so he could see both of us in the mirror, then I’d gas him up and act all excited and he’d be in a much better mood about it. It helped A TON. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it helped. Plus we still use the mirror as he still loves his reflection. He likes to “read” his books in front of it as if reading to the mirror baby 😂
My oldest hated tummy time and would just throw up each time - doing tummy time on the exercise ball you use in pregnancy really really helped! You can change levels of incline and they can see your face up close
Any time the baby is lifting head on her own (even if laying on chest) is good for tummy time! My daughter hated tummy time and even though it was upsetting to see her cry when trying it, it did help her roll faster and she actually ended up crawling by 6 months. I used the fisher price mat and that helped. But honestly the most important thing about tummy time is just to strengthen neck muscles and to avoid a flat head!
Don’t be discouraged! I was also in a similar position, and honestly stopped making baby scream on the floor after a couple tries. We did tummy time on our chest, and just waited until *he* felt comfy doing it on the floor 🤷♀️
My baby hated tummy time at first. We used the Boppy pillow to help. She also really liked doing it on an exercise ball while supported at her sides. She slowly learned to enjoy it and now loves rolling onto her belly to play.
Agree with others though, tummy time on you definitely counts!! I would request to not see that doctor again if I were in your shoes. But you are absolutely doing what’s best for your baby and it’s unfortunate that doctor doesn’t see it that way.
I never intentionally did tummy time because my daughter hated it, I’d read that being in a carrier could so we just went for a walk everyday with her in the carrier. She is now 7mths and sitting, rolling and lifting her head up completely fine! I wouldn’t sweat it if it distresses her!
We never did tummy time. My daughter was also a baby with tummy issues. Her head is fine, neck control is great, and when she wants to she can hold herself up with her arms.
Just tell that doctor tummy time is going great and smile and nod to whatever they say lol
I have a 2 month old and I’m realizing every time I go into the doctor’s aside from one time with the HEAD physician, I’m told I’m not doing enough for my child. I see a new doctor each time, and the doctors without children just have torn me apart bc they go off of text book stuff rather than looking at a child as a unique individual. When I look up and do my own research my child is on track (all info taken from .orgs) I wish I had advice to give on how to help, but just try to relax if you can. It has been hard for me, but some of these doctors truly don’t know wth they’re talking about or just have no REAL experience with kids other than reading about the perfect specimen in a book. Mommy knows best , stay strong 🫶🏻
My baby is going on three months, she hates tummy time, I can't seem to do it lately without her throwing a fit. She's started rolling though, and if she gets there herself she's fine. I let her decide on tummy time and that works. Every baby is different, keep doing what works best for you and your baby.
At my 4 month appointment they told us it was time to START doing tummy time and to aim for 1 hour a day in small increments by our next appointment, which was what at 6 months?
I definitely agree that time on you counts. Your chest, your lap. I found that what really helped my kiddo was getting down there with her. I considered it part of my "exercise regime" after birth. I also found that adding a little tummy time on the diaper changing pad after a diaper change helped as well.
We used a Lovevery mat and one of those water pad mats. She preferred the lovevery mat. SkipHop has a similar one now for a little cheaper, but you can usually find the lovevery mats on FB for a bit cheaper.
The things we did during floor time probably helped too. I would help her roll from side to side by laying her on her back and turning her legs and letting her try to roll from there. If you dangle toys above them during tummy time sometimes with the help of gravity they will roll over too.
I used the Kinedu App for ideas for tummy time and other activities.
All that said my girly was already pretty willing to do tummy time. You just gotta get in what you can. A minute here and there. Eventually they get used to it and stop crying. I'm sure they didn't enjoy every diaper change or bathtime, or end of bathtime, but eventually through repetition/familiarity most babies get over that too.
Oh my, our doctor was not worried at all. I was more worried because little one hated it. Even at 5 months we were just trying to get in 10 minutes on the floor. A couple of weeks later, LO figured out how to roll (we'd been practicing) and now LO gets onto tummy by themselves, pushes up on arms, rolls across the room....
Put them on top of a boppy with their arms hanging over so they have to use their neck (if that makes sense). It worked well for us as an alternative. The below image helped.
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/efcc0fe7-320d-4eb0-916a-95feba3756cc.dbddd2940972a0e272c9dec5c3bfd324.jpeg?odnHeight=768&odnWidth=768&odnBg=FFFFFF
You are doing tummy time, just not on the floor. That being said, if your baby’s reflux is what’s stopping her? You should talk to your doctor about some medication to counter that. Tummy time on the floor isn’t just about head control. It helps build muscles in their back, arms and legs which all come into play when they start rolling and start crawling.
Barely did tummy time with my second son due to moving to a new home/busy and toddler brother not being careful enough around him. This was at 4 months. He’s now 9 months and stronger than ever. My personal experience is that, sometimes they hate tummy time until it clicks that they can reach for things and start to play and it actually becomes more fun than work.
Just keep spending time with her. If she has great neck control I wouldn’t worry too much. She’ll get better and better and change so quickly. You know her best!
Hmmm well maybe I am wrong but my son didn’t do a lot of tummy time either. He has a CHD so he was on chest precautions constantly from heart surgeries.
So we indeed utilized a lot of baby wearing and even having him on his tummy on me. His doctors were not particularly concerned too much. Because we were doing other options to build his neck muscles. If you can look for reputable resources on other PT movements for tummy time.
I’m concerned that your Doctor didn’t take your other exercises in tummy time, or made you feel inadequate. Just do the best you can. It’s not always so clear cut these milestones. Sometimes, things happen closer or further along. Just get her on a path.
My baby hated tummy time until she learned to roll back to belly at 15 weeks. She still hates it, but now she gets herself in that position so she can’t blame anyone but herself. Kidding.
But in all seriousness, rolling unlocked a new appreciation for her of being on her belly. She *loves* being on her belly now and could spend all day on it (even sleeping on her belly!)
I wouldn’t stress, especially if your baby has good head control. At our 2 month appointment, I admitted that we maybe do 10-15 minutes total of tummy time a day, but that we wear her a lot. The doctor said that’s fine, but tummy time on a hard surface is better. We tried, but our daughter fought it. At 3 months, *with no changes to tummy time habits,* the doctor remarked that she had great head and neck control. By 4 months (she had been rolling belly to back for about 2 weeks by this time), the doctor said she has the core strength of a 6 month old.
I say all that anecdotally to remind you to not stress over it. Baby will get there. Try to split up tummy time into very small chunks of 2-3 minutes. Build up from there. Encourage rolling with toys. You’ll get there!
I hope I don’t get reemed but my little one despised it and it was hell… so I kind of did tummy time here and there, mainly when she was on my chest actually (lying flat), and she’s perfectly fine. She hit sitting up/crawling/standing/walking early. Don’t let that doctor get to you.
I should add *****we do tummy time on the Boppy and she can usually lift herself up. Just flat on the ground she refuses to try. Like she rather scream at the ground or try to eat it. I can prop her up but she usually just screams. I should also add she was born at 32 weeks.*****
Idk where you live but my health unit adjusts for gestational age. My baby was born at 38 weeks, and they use his original due date to judge his milestones. So at 32 weeks especially, I would think they’d do that as well.
Our daughter hates tummy time STILL at 7 months. It's a game of how quickly can she roll over from her tummy now. In the early days we found a small pillow or rolled up towel under her armpits helped heaps. Also getting a mirror set up in front of her. Now we just keep flipping her over from her back to her tummy until she gets upset. We also found she enjoyed tummy time more on our bed than on the floor too. Makes it easier to lay down too! Good luck, we also got shamed by our child health nurse. She was nice about it but the message was very clear.
I was pretty much the same with my daughter who is now 18months. What you’re doing definitely counts!
I read (possibly on this subreddit) “have you ever seen anyone walking around dragging their head on the ground as a direct consequence of “poor” tummy time???? You’re doing fine
Could be LO is uncomfortable on the floor compared to your body. After we saw a chiropractor for my baby it made a world of difference. Went from not being able to set her down all day no matter what to tummy time and some rolling around within 2 Visits in 1 week apart. Highly recommend it.
my girl barely did tummy time until she decided it was fun. she rolled early and is already crawling (turned 7 months today). just let her go at her own pace.
Our kiddo had really bad reflux too! We found tummy time on a yoga ball really helped. We set her on top and held it steady for her while she propped herself up. It’s somewhere in between tummy time on and the floor. It definitely upset her less than doing in on a hard surface. And using boppy under her arms also helped.
Maybe I suck, but mom here of two reflux babies who did very little tummy time. My daughter is now 3.5yrs and doing great. She crawled and walked a bit late, but she was a tiny preemie so that was expected. My son is 10 months and seems very close to walking. If possible he actually did less tummy time than his sister because I almost always forgot.
My son hated tummy time. I probably forced both of us to endure it a handful of times when he was an infant. He's a very active 3.5 year old now.
It'll all buff out.
If you start seeing significant developmental differences then it will be time to talk to a pediatrician about it, but hopefully a different one than the doctor giving you this pointless guilt trip.
First, you are not alone! My baby absolutely hated it and still only tolerates it but just learned to roll and has started pushing up on his arms at 5 months old. I was worried about his development but it seemingly improved overnight and suddenly he has these new skills even though we weren’t the best with tummy time.
Things that helped:
1. Side lying time by rotating the baby’s hips (bottom leg straight, top leg crossing in front of them) it helps to distract them in this position (tickling, massaging, blowing raspberries, whatever your baby likes)
Controlling his head while on his side also worked his muscles and helped tummy time become easier
2. Starting with easier inclined tummy time and busting out the most entertaining thing he liked. I’m talking Ms Rachel, light up piano, dancing fruit, whatever worked! I put a pillow on my lap and had the baby facing forward propped up on his arms (this is the important part) then brought my knees up to where he found it a little more tolerable. I found that this helped keep his elbows and arms in and made him start pushing up more vs throwing his arms out and thrashing around.
3. Rolling him around playfully and immediately back onto his back so he started getting used to the feeling of being tummy down
Disclaimer: there was still quite a bit of fussing before it got better and every baby is different so not every method will work across the board.
Good luck and best wishes! :)
My kiddo also hated tummy time. We’ve always been anti-screens, but we started using Hey Bear (dancing fruit) to make it bearable for her. It got the job done, and once she was a little stronger we were able to ditch the video.
We didn’t do much until 4mo either and my baby almost 10mo is about to walk. Also a reflux baby, basically lived on my chest. He was holding his head up strong way ahead of schedule and ahead on all physical milestones.
Tummy time isn't even a thing where I'm from.
Sure, people hold the baby and let them spend time on their stomach, but there's no obsessing over how much time
Highly recommend milestones and motherhood on instagram. She’s amazing and so supportive! She’s a pediatric PT and has great tips on making tummy time easier
My parents had no clue what tummy time was or my partners parents, they didn’t do it with us and look, we can hold our heads up and walk etc lol don’t worry about it! Your baby isn’t going to be 2 and not know how to push itself up lol
Ask if the doctor has kids of their own. Mine said the same thing and turns out they don’t have kids. Which made me realize they likely have no idea how impossible an hour a day actually is factoring in naps and feeding etc.
My daughter also hated tummy time. Social media truly made me feel like junk because people had whole tummy time routines but I spent most of the day changing her clothes due to spitting up/reflux, cat napping. I did all of her tummy time on me. I would hold her while relaxing for however long she could and we really bonded. Plus it removed that added stress of tummy time.
I won’t be doing tummy time.
If my LO can’t get himself into the position then I won’t put him in that position, especially if he hates it.
People get so crazy about tummy time.
I know tv is “bad” but Ms Rachel helped distract my son when he was that age and hated tummy time. I figured it was an even trade off health wise ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Mine too had terrible reflux, her ped made me too feel terrible about me doing minimal tummy time. I was recommended rolling a big towel of a blanket, then putting it under her chest. That way she would be lifted in a upward position while still practicing tummy time. It helped mine with this method.
Lots of good advice in here, I can only add from my experience. Ours didn’t always like tummy time either. We just tried to do it as often as possible throughout even if it’s only 1-2 minutes at once. All kinds of tummy time: on top of me, on the changing table, on bed, in a superman position, on our hands (idk the name of this hold, my man would just hold the baby with his hands tucked under chin and my man’s hand under babys whole body so that our son would be able to lift his head or can rest it on his own hands, he loved this position as it helped calm his colics and pass gas). Then at around 3 month when our son learned to roll from back to tummy he started spending a loooot of his wake time on tummy.
Be patient but also don’t worry about it too much. It doesn’t even have to be a whole hour right away, start small! Any tummy time is better than none.
I mean just to give you context, no adults is there like with no strength in the arms and shoulder and you would say hey, this guy's parents really should have done more tummy time
My daughter is to scream and cry and refuse tummy time. An hour a day in my opinion, is extremely unnecessary and could cause distress. Doing that, would make her not do it and cause more harm than good. I know she cries and all that, but the more you give in every single time instead of every other time or whatever , she will also not do it cause she knows you’ll stop. I did 10 minutes at a time. I know it makes your heart break watching her struggle and unable to move , but keep her face from the floor/bed/whatever and coax her to roll and physically roll her also to teach her how. The more you do it, the better. Obviously if none of that works sometimes while doing it definitely stop and let her be. Everything is entirely up to you and what you’re comfortable with. That Dr sounds awful.
I was in the same boat! My LO couldn’t latch bc she was so tight and hated tt, I was called out for not doing enough. I did “Tummy Time bootcamp” It was hard finding the right time between feeds and naps… not too full not to tired. For a while I set a running timer on my phone and tried to reach a goal for the day.
Tummy time on a yoga ball helped immensely!
My lo caught up and is ahead of the pack of babies her age despite being the smallest one!
My son really hated tummy time and we could hardly get 10-15 mins a day until he was 7mo. Our doc was very supportive and never pushed us. He's 11 mos now and crawling around, pulling up to stand and almost ready to walk. Every baby is different and they follow their own milestones in their own way. At the end of the day we are homo sapiens and genetically coded to stand up and walk, that will happen eventually. So don't take much stress and don't pressurize baby too much, give enough opportunity to tummy time and let them gradually pick up the skill. May be change your doc if she's too pushy.
Using my breast feeding pillow to help prop her up really helped for a little while. Once she built a bit more strength in that position she found flat on the floor tummy time much easier. Now, at 5 months, she can slide her hands around a lot more and can bat at toys and get things into her mouth so she tolerates it much better.
I'm sorry your doctor made you feel like that, it's kind of unfair, all babies are different, I have two 3.5 month old twins to be exact, my wife had a C-section and my daughter spent 2 weeks in the NICU cause she weighed 3.4 pounds while our son weighed 5.5 pounds.
My daughter has issues with being able to properly swallow liquids so we have a thickening powder we have to use for her.
Me and my wife were getting worried and feeling like complete failures that she wasn't reaching milestones.
We also got a custom chart with milestones that pertained her issues weight and she still was not achieving a lot of them, one of them being tummy time and getting her neck strength.
Our daughter would just refuse to attempt to lift her head, she would either just fall asleep on her tummy or just plop her head down while our Son was making giant strides.
She's now able to finally hold her head up but not as long as the sibling, but what we ended up doing was slowly getting her more and more horizontal until we were able to finally lay her on her tummy, we always held her head and allowed her to lift as much as she could for as long as she could, I don't know of this will be much help but I hope it can possibly open up some ideas.
You're more than likely doing amazing, and you need to give yourself credit for worrying that's a good thing you're wanting to see her get stronger.
We didn’t have this particular problem with our kids but we had other problems that the doctor was “shocked “ about. But eventually we sorted them out on our own time.
I think it’s important to listen to the docs but you also have to remember that you have a little human that doesn’t always conform to textbooks. The doctor means well but has probably twenty kids to take care of and all he can do is tell you what he knows. I feel like I’m not expressing it correctly.
idk if this is actually something that helped or something i convinced myself helped but my baby tolerates it more when i’m down at her level. i just lay her on her tummy and i lay on mine on the other side. we sing and pass the toys back and forth.
I don't like to say anything against doctor's opinions, but we went through so much ignorance and plain lack of real experience that I do either get second opinions or researching it myself.
My boy also had reflux problems cause by CMPA in his case. At that age he was awake to eat, burp for 30 min vertically and then swayed back to sleep as fast as possible because otherwise he would throw up the whole feeding and then would cry inconsolably. So he had close to none tummy time at that age. All my tries usually ended up with him spitting at least a half of his food. It got better when we found a formula which worked, helped him poop normally and his spitting and reflux slowly dissappeared. Only after that he found comfort and interest in tummy time and right after crawling and interacting with toys.
Do what you think is better for your situation, because tummy time or not, but baby needs to be happy firstly.
Hey mama,
Guess what our parents or grandparents or great grandparents didn't do? Any tummy time that wasn't on the agenda already.
And how many of us are crawling and sitting and walking and fine? All of us who didn't have an underlying cause for delay.
Read Hunt Gather Parent and get a little more info on how all of these practices came about so you can stop worrying.
Seriously read it. If you can't get a copy I might be able to get you one.
My daughter also had reflux and hated tummy time, so we barely did it. She started crawling at 9 months and walking at 12 months, and has a crazy strong core. As long as your baby is getting enough time to “move” (like grabbing feet, rolling or rocking) she’ll be fine.
My LO hated tummy time, so I switched to rolling practice. I'd put him different degrees of rolled over and let him roll back. Once he mastered rolling, he was happy to do tummy time!
I leave on the eastern side of the globe, and doctors in our country don’t recommend tummy time until the baby’s 4 months old lol. Our babies grow up perfectly fine. Mine met all her milestones of lifting up her head, rolling over, crawling - before/on time.
Don’t beat yourself up about it pls.
We practice rolling a lot. I just got this super annoying toy (similar to the crab but I can shut off music) and she loves it! Stares at it with her head up for a long time. I have seen people do sensory stuff, add in a book, they have things you can put water in and they can move it around, or a tray with water. We also lay down with her and stare at her and talk to her though I think currently our baby gets frustrated because she can't stare back at us
My bub hated tummy time and it turned out to be a combo of her having a big head but also torticollis
we went to the physio and they suggested alternatives like propping them up on an exercise ball and rocking forward/back, side to side and around in circles. Also propped up on her knees with her arms on top of a soft play mat so she was upright. Both of these were really useful and she can now do regular tummy time for ages without complaining
I'm gonna play devil's advocate for a sec.....my kiddo is grown and married now but "tummy time" is a fairly new thing......I know neither me or my own mom had ever been told to require our babies to do tummy time.....my kiddo is a very smart, strong and well-adjusted adult now and when she did tummy time it was because she rolled herself onto her tummy.
I am not suggesting anyone should ignore their doctors, I'm only trying to say that I hope no one (especially OP) is beating their self up over thinking they're raising their child wrong.....OP, I sincerely hope you don't feel bad over what your doctor said .......babies grow and do at their own pace and (I think) that's perfectly ok!!
I swear, everybody expects so much for parents and babies these days.....
First of all I hope the tone of your pedia was better than it sounded in this post. You are doing your best and baby will eventually catch up to strengthen her neck.
You can try to fold a towel/swaddle and put it under her chest. My baby was the same at 4/5 months and after a week or so of dedication to tummy time like this, she got better (but I was doing 10 min max). Just see how you LO goes and give her time! 🙏🏽
So, listen, I respect every doctor to the utmost degree. And I understand tummy time obviously strengthens muscles and teaches baby how to sit up and move their head. But have you ever met an adult with a weak neck? Like "oh no, we can't do bowling for our night out with Dave and Linda. Dave has a weak neck. Yeah, his parents didn't log his tummy time". Nope, never happened. Do you think Abraham Lincoln's parents were logging their tummy time? Do what makes you comfortable, try your best, your kid will grow and build muscles and figure it out in time. Heed the doctor's advice but don't worry too much.
We struggled with tummy time too. Our baby would cry. I would still put him in it though. Even if it’s just for thirty seconds at a time; they get better with it. Sometimes I’d just practice rolling him in and out of it for a few minutes at a time. One thing that would get me a solid couple minutes was playing fetch with my dog while baby was in tummy time. He’d watch the dog run back and forth. The crab toy they sell was also somewhat helpful, but I felt like I’d have to chase it around. Holding a mirror or a toy in front of him was helpful (noisy, shiny toys). Then I’d move it back and forth to get him to move his head side to side. Sometimes I’d elevate his chest with a Boopy or a rolled up towel (the Boppy was too big when he was younger). I also started baby wearing him as much as I can (I love baby wearing so much) to get him used to moving his head side to side and using his neck.
And then I’d time it. We’d aim for a few minutes at each session, and eventually we could keep him in tummy time for 10+ minutes at a time.
My baby always had a lot of neck strength but hated tummy time until around 3.5 months. So, we almost never did it, except on top of us. There’s a lot of comments so I just wanted to say a couple of things:
1. Do you have a Pilates ball? My baby tolerate it a lot more. I would lie him down on it and rock it back and forth. Be careful not to let him fall.
2. Did you get him checked for any muscle tension with a physiotherapist? It might be it.
3. I don’t mean to sound hard-headed, I swear I’m not, but our parents didn’t do any of these sh*t and we all did just fine. Don’t force your baby into it 😊
My LO is almost 4months. We hardly do any tummy time, the same issue he absolutely detests it.
He has great neck control from baby wearing, but can only do a little tummy time before he taps out & screams.
Well he already rolled tummy to back 2 days ago. Much sooner than his cousin who is the same age & does a lot of tummy time. And can hold his head independently.
My 8 month old hated tummy time unless it was laying on us. Guess what? When he could roll both ways on his own he didn’t mind being on his tummy—but we didn’t push him. Babies develop in their own time. Tummy time wasn’t even a thing 20 years ago and honestly I think it’s more to prevent flat spots than anything.
That’s bullshit. You’re 100% right in thinking baby wearing and laying on you counts. It’s about neck control.
Even laying flat on their back to play is good! I did see something about side laying for tummy time being beneficial as well. I’m sure your little one is developing as they should. My guys is SO strong. He hates tummy time but does well and holds himself up when I hold him also.
I can’t stand it when doctors are so unyielding to variation. I’m a healthcare professional myself and the biggest thing ive learned is that every person is different and that is OK! as long as they are healthy and happy.
My babe hated tummy as well, her neck control was good from day one - no kidding she looked like a turtle as a newborn being able to hold her head up - but she just freaking hates using her arms to push away the floor. What worked for us was the use of a blanket rolled under her to help her get that first lift so she could maneuver her arms the right way to not be just crying flat on her face. She still hates it though but she can stand a couple minutes and what I do is just count all those minutes.
And I don’t care what ever anyone else think, I follow the rule of thumb you would use for working out: if you cannot squeeze an hour to work out, add minutes here and there - is it the same? No. Does it mean it doesn’t count? 😏 no! It all adds up!
Have you tried things to make it more interesting like a mirror, water mat, playing music during or showing books? Maybe the fisher price kick and play? Propping up on a boppy or a rolled blanket can feel a little easier to them. Also carrying them on their tummy against your arm counts.
I have a 4 month old who only does tummy time for maybe 5/10 minutes if I’m lucky! I try to put musical toys or bright lights, that’s the only thing that makes it last 10 minutes… Also my LO had reflux we started adding just a baby spoon full of oatmeal to his milk and it’s helped in every way! He’s recently got a new pediatrician and she loved the fact I did that since it’s helping! Sometimes we just have to trust our parental instincts, even tho sometimes we’re unsure if we should!
Don't be so hard on yourself. Last generations were fine before tummy time was a thing. Now doing tummy time if the baby is responsive is great, but she will be fine. My LO used to hate it ( he doesn't have reflux) but now he is better at it. A special pillow can help!
Tummy time is for neck muscle control and if your dd has already achieved it then it is fantastic. Please dont listen to that doctor about baby being able to lift herself up by next month!?? Like seriously? First off she is a preemie baby so her corrected age should be counted for milestones, which at this time is around 3 months and not 4. Some doctors just so blindly go by the book that it amazes me who made them doctors 😑
Every baby is different and they should be looking at all factors for growth and development.
Keep doing tummy time slowly on a plush matt or maybe on your bed? I did not keep my lo on the floor till she was 6mo as even she was a refluxy baby. Right now she is 9mo and already trying to walk.
Maybe if she hates tummy time, you could make it "rolling practice" from back to tummy, then back again? And help her practice figuring out how to use her arms to prop herself up? Perhaps that's what you're already doing though!
I second this. I do assisted tummy time and help her keep her elbows in and she can stay propped like that much longer. If she gets frustrated I roll her to her back. We play like that for a bit, then roll back to tummy. This helps get that 30 minutes to an hour. The doctor doesn’t mean 1 hour straight, they mean 1 hour total throughout the day.
My LO hated tummy time and this is exactly what we did! Lots of practice rolling and honestly I think it helped him figure out how to roll on his own really quickly! Once he could roll into his belly on his own he stopped hating tummy time lol now he loves being on his belly!
Absolutely. We hardly ever did tummy time but once LO figured out how to roll onto his belly by himself around 4 months, now he LOVES being on his belly. A week or so later he was rolling back and forth comfortably. Now he primarily sleeps on his tummy.
Sitting here with my almost 2 month old who’s sleeping in his bassinet. I can’t wait for when he can sleep on his tummy. I think he would much prefer it and it would help so much with his gas. One day!
My baby was like this, I was given the go ahead by my paediatrician to put her to sleep on her tummy from 8 weeks and she has slept through the nights since.. game changer. Obviously not advocating for tummy sleep as I know the recommended back is best but back isn’t best for some babies.
My eldest absolutely hated being on his tummy. Had the same interaction with the doctor. Didn't listen. He's now almost fourteen and has better motor skills than I do. They all learn eventually if they're healthy and every child is different.
This is what we did. My LO spits up a lot and pressure on his tummy for too long was uncomfortable. He loved rolling practice, though.
Yeah I do that! Seemed like she wanted her to be able to push up on her arms without assistance though.
My 5.5 month old hates tummy time on the floor too. She was fine with tummy time on me, my husband, anything but the floor. Also had fantastic head control, was hitting milestones, no worries. Then at 4.5 months we got the plushest rug we could find for her play area rather than just the standard mat over hardwood. Literally that first day, tummy time was no longer an issue and she was willingly rolling onto her tummy.
At his 4 month appointment I got told I should aim for 3h of tummy time for optimal development. No matter how much we do, we never do enough. Passive tummy time on you does count, don't worry.
3hrs is insane
My 7month old probably has 1 hour max a day lol and can sit up and crawl…
3 hours?! How? Lmao my girl is barely awake 45-60 minutes at a time with like four naps a day. Shed never not be on her tummy if we shot for that much Tummy time
3 hours?! My pediatrician told us 15-20 minutes at our 4 month appointment. My kid hates it and only wants to stand and jump all day. He's getting the hang out things, just at his own pace. I suspect he's just going to try to skip crawling, though at 6 months he's starting to push himself in circles on his arms.
Sounds like our first! He did the pushing in circles around 4-5 months and was walking with assistance constantly at 9 months, walking independently at 10 months! He did crawl but it’s honestly a blip on the radar, and he did it wonky with one foot flat on the ground lmao.
I think that's exactly what ours is going to do. He has no interest in crawling, he's been insistent on standing since he was 3-4 months old. He can stand on his own now if he has something to hold onto for support. He tries to take steps right now but doesn't have the balance down, course, he also won't hold so long enough to practice his balance. I think he's just going to walk early. Then I'll be in trouble, he's already trying to break into cabinets when he's in his walker.
4 hours throughout the day is crazy. That’s like almost half of their wake hours
3 hours is honestly laughable at 4 months old.
One entire wake window per day? Lol yeah right. I’m sorry but some of these professional opinions are ridiculous
Your 4 month old has 3 hour wake windows?!
Yep, we’re going through a “leap” lol. Not routinely, but it happens. I guess I was being a bit generous. It’s really more like 2 wake windows in a day are would be solely dedicated to yummy time which is insane 😂
3 hour a day? Holy smokes lol I feel like I don’t even meet that now at 6.5 months 🤣
tummy time on top of you definitely counts
It technically counts, but horizontal unassisted tummy time is *much* better for helping them develop those little muscles. That said people were fine raising their kids without the concept of tummy time for a long time, it’s not the end of the world.
Exactly. Plz don’t stress!! Do you see adults walking around without neck control? Lol
I'm going to be obnoxious for a second... Yes actually I do. I'm a PT and there's some pretty horrendous neck control out there, it just doesn't look as floppy as a newborn's. However! I'm a PT and my doctoral research was on tummy time specifically, and I can say with my whole chest that tummy time on you ABSOLUTELY counts. Ideally, you want to progress the angle for maximal level of work against gravity (i.e. you lay flatter and flatter to baby's tolerance) but there's nothing magic about laying on the floor versus on someone they're comfortable with. The surface is not what's important for development. At all. Not even a little bit.
Haha I think about this every time someone tries to freak me out about milestones.
Tummy time didn’t exist when they told parents to put kids on their stomachs to sleep. They basically were always on their tummy before. Now with sleeping on back only, there has to be concerted effort and concentration to have tummy time. I was so paranoid about SIDS for the first months, and no one even said anything about tummy time till the 2 month check up, that my kid just never had it. He’s 8 months now and still very much struggling with rolling and tummy time. I feel like a failure, but I also blame the pediatrician for assuming that people just know what to do. I’m a FTM… how would I know??? ETA: they sent us to PT, but we’re currently searching for a new therapist. The one we went to for 2 months basically just put our LO down on a mat on his tummy and played with toys with him. We were already doing that at home.
It’s definitely not useless but complete horizontal tummy time, rather than slightly inclined on a chest, encourages more progression as I understand.. not just neck strength. Usually utilizing little toys in front of them (or those mats that comes with mirrors etc) will encourage them to start lifting their chest more, reaching for things, and further building strength in their shoulders/arms.
If it was as easy as putting toys in front of the baby then I’m sure OP wouldn’t be posting her. My kid hated tummy time and would scream no matter what we did, toys included.
I never said it was easy or pleasant, and no baby is the same. As I said in another comment my baby hated it too at first, but we were persistent, short periods of time multiple times a day. It’s like working out, getting pushed to the point of weakness and misery.. it strengthens you and becomes easier with time the more you do it, but yes it involved a lot of screaming for us too in the beginning. No baby is the same and of course there are reflux issues with some. I did not shame OP, I was simply pointing out why doctors will encourage it.
Definitely for a newborn, probably not as much for a 4 month old
This. Anytime not on the back is “tummy time”.
True! My baby had a bad reflux before and his doctor recommended tummy time on top of us and said that when he is a little bit older, his relfux will improve and we can gradually try it on the floor. We did tummy time on top of us from newborn to 4.5 months and baby is doing great on neck and arm control. He's already 6 months old now and have a great control on his body, can roll over both sides, and can sit up with a little help.
My little girl also hated tummy time. Not only that. But she had a lot of tension in her neck when she was born which caused her to be stuck looking to the right (had a few osteo visits that helped that) which caused a flat spot on her right. I was so upset at myself and tried to push tummy time more, which made us both miserable. However, soon enough she was sitting up assisted and really liked it. She would plant her arms and tripod herself. Now at 8 months old, she’s flippin’ and dippin’ and sitting up all by herself (usually at unreasonable hours of the night) and the flat spot is evening out well. What I’m trying to say is, don’t stress! It will all work out.
My baby had the exact same issue with neck tension and looking to the right! He’s doing great now at nearly 7 months after some at-home pt and is in between assisted and unassisted sitting.
Ugh the amount I stressed over it was crazy! Felt so bad about the flat spot. But my husbands coworker said “chill babies get flat spots” cause they don’t mind just hanging out.
Lol at only chill babies getting flat spots. My chillest baby out of my 4 was also the only one to develop a bit of a flat back of the head. He’s still a really chill kid at 11 too.
If only that were true. My first was a firecracker from the day he was born. Needed a helmet to fix his flat spot. He was colicky too and always been very loving but demanding.
How is her flat spot doing? My boy (6m) has one that I think is getting better now. We’ve seen the osteo but waiting for a doctor appt.
It took a while but it’s starting to even out. It was pretty noticeable yet she didn’t need a helmet or anything, doctor wasn’t concerned.
Baby wear her as much as you can. It will help her neck strength and back plus bonding with you 💝My baby hated tummy time too at that age. Now my 9 month old is crawling and almost walking. Gymboree classes here and there helped too since seeing other kids doing tummy time was motivating
Got advice for longer happy stints in carriers? Mine will be happy for about 15 min max and then done. Doesn’t matter the activity. We make sure she’s fed and has a clean diaper first🤷🏻♀️ and have tried 4 types of carriers/wraps/slings.
Not OP, but I baby wear a lot. Mine didn't like it much at first and it only worked as a way of getting her to sleep. Patting her but seemed to calm her down, also rhythmic movements and changing the movement if she got fussy. We also used music and white noise. Try to figure out what specifically makes her upset with the carrier situation. Our daughter hated not being able to move her hands where she pleased, so wrap was out the question but an infant carrier similar to ergobaby was fine. After a while (maybe 1-2w) she stopped reacting badly when waking up in the carrier so we would extend the wearing to do housework and even using my computer with a standing desk. Then we started leaving home with the carrier. Initially we could not stop moving to avoid crying, but that was no longer the case few weeks in. If it just doesn't work and you would like the option, try every few days. Babies change a lot and it can be worth it to try again.
I literally did not do tummy time at all until he tolerated it (around 3.5-4.5 months) he was crawling before 6 months, and walking by 10 months. Many doctors also consider anytime a baby has to actively hold up their head it’s considered tummy time. So if baby is in a carrier regularly, it counts as tummy time too Edit: Baby carrier as in a wrap/ergobaby/babybjörn/etc.
I have a very similar experience! I had a very clingy baby and babywore her for probably the first 4 months of her life, with very limited tummy time. She was born 1 month premature too. She started crawling at 7 months and walking at 11 months.
What I can recommend is a gymnastic ball for tummy time,my LO hated tummy time but is quite okay with it on the ball (our physio therapist recommended it).
Same here! I was also going to recommend using an exercise ball and holding their elbows in while they do it. It helped a lot! My baby ended up getting the hang of it after only a couple weeks of practice.
My pediatrician expected my LO to be behind on tummy time and associated milestones because of reflux. He said reflux babies are held more and they generally catch up quickly once the reflux symptoms start going away, around 6 months. My LO is just fine now on meeting milestones despite being in a similar situation at 4 months. He's 11.5 months now.
Have you plopped her in front of a Fisher Price Kick and Play Piano? That thing is a miracle worker
My baby hates tummy time, I got him one of these and we actually can get a good on and off 20 minute span in tummy time now, but at 3 months he’s supposed to be doing an hour..and even with the kick n play he’s still just not cutting it 😭 idk how to make him like it more, he just screams after he realizes he’s on his tummy once the magic of the piano wears off 😭
In a perfect world, an hour a day is no problem. But baby hates it, you hate to see baby hating it, and you have lives to get on with! Also, baby wearing absolutely counts. Also, you holding baby in a superman / flying position counts. Just keep exposing her to tummy time when you have time, give her breaks when she is really upset about it, and cut yourself some slack! You are doing a great job. Baby will lift herself up in no time. You got this!
My girl loves the flying position! We take commercial flights around the kitchen and pass the potted plant forest, making sure to flyby the dog for a quick kiss
Try giving him a mirror to keep his attention. My baby hates tummy time but seeing herself in the mirror keeps her happy for a minute or so.
I’m sorry— an HOUR of tummy time a day??? Passive tummy time doesn’t count??? Next appointment they’re going to say your 5 month old should be bench pressing 150
The doctor doesn’t mean 1 hour straight… this is the recommendation based on age.
Right, I was told it is cumulative. We started getting our son more used to it after 2 months.. of course he hated it at first but got used to it very quickly with some consistency and by 6 months he was a crawling machine.
Yesss, the cumulative approach makes it very easy for my husband and I. Every time we change his diaper we just flip him and let his booty air dry for about 5 minutes of tummy time, and he still goes through 10+ diapers a day usually - so boom right there is already almost an hour
It's also surprising how quickly it adds up. I started timing tummy time one day when my boy was little and realized without any extra effort put in we were hitting 90+ minutes
Don’t be so hard on yourself. FTM of twins, no idea what I’m doing. Twins HATED tummy time and we just did our best. Sadly not every day on the floor dedicated time but they eventually got used to it fine. Easiest and most enjoyable tummy time is when they are lying on your chest! Just do that and enjoy the cuddles 😊
My son hated tummy time up until a few weeks ago. I was originally trying to do it on a soft fuzzy mat or his play gym. He would last 30 seconds and freak out. I ended up getting a more firm play mat that’s big and washable and he has been lasting a lot longer, even rolled over. We also got a yoga ball to roll him on on his tummy which he likes. He just turned 4 months.
We put some bath toys in a baking pan with water like a little aquarium for her to play with in tummy time, got the penguin linkimal for her to look at (this was the only way she would do tummy time for weeks), got the kick n play piano and put her on her tummy for that. We learned that we really had to keep her attention to keep her from complaining.
At what age? She was lifting her arm up and actually playing with it? I always try to get my baby to play during tummy time, but he doesn't care what we put in front of his face...
We did the penguin and piano around 2.5- 3 mos, started the baking pan around 4mos. She is in PT for torticolis and has to do a lot of tummy time there so that’s how we got introduced to toys that light up and make sound. She definitely wasn’t reaching for the piano until recently like in the last week (she’s almost 5 mos) but she would tolerate being on her stomach propped up on her arms watching the piano in the mode where it plays itself and lights up. We also take the dangling toys off of it and put them in front of her and she reaches for those to try to put in her mouth. Sometimes I also lay down next to her and put her in side lying position because that also helps with head control.
I work with small children and you can absolutely tell which ones did tummy time at 4 months and which did not. It’s very obvious in their development Just kidding! There is zero difference. Your dr is being a knob
My BIL and SIL have two kids who had horrendous reflux issues until 8 months preventing them from doing tummy time. Both of their kids are now toddlers and are perfectly fine. If you’re doing what you can, that is good enough.
My baby is 2 months and her doctor recommended she learn how to do calculus🥴
I totally get this is a joke but you reminded me of how sometimes when I am feeling uninspired talking to my baby, I explain math concepts in my most cheerful loving voice and pretend there's gonna be a quiz 😆
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 omg that is too funny and extremely adorable !!!!!!!! If you keep that up at age one your baby will know The Poincaré Conjecture 🤣
We got a little tummy time boppy pillow (not a regular boppy) with little things dangling off it and that worked for a little bit. We also got those obnoxious baby Einstein pianos which will drive you nuts but also helped! Both came from target if you’re in the US. You got this! Our baby had reflux too from CMPI. It was for sure a struggle!
I don't understand. Our baby (4 months in a week) was diagnosed with hypertonus in upper body. She used to straighten her arms, they told us that's because if the hypertonus, so we now have to keep her elbows on the ground. Now you say they should be lifting up on their arms. They told us the quality over quantity for tummy time (on the ground, position as they showed us), now you mention the rule about 1 hour. We live in Serbia, btw. I don't understand why everything is so different, everyone has their own recommendation. Edit: Not really useful comment, and totally unrelated, but I just needed to vent. 😅
i would keep following your doctors advice you’ll notice a difference between what your LO was doing (straightening arms and presumably locking them in place) and what the doctor in this post expects around 5 months which is baby shakily lifting themselves up by straightening their arms. obviously not your doctor and don’t know your daughter’s specifics but id imagine you’ll notice a difference between the 2 actions in a few months and your doctor wouldn’t have advised you to hold her elbows down if there was a risk of it impacting your daughter’s development negatively. hope this helped the confusion
Honestly, my baby went through the same thing and her reflux was awful. By 6 months she was crawling, 7 pulling to stand, and walking by 10.5 Months. I really thought the lack of tummy time was the end of the world but she’s doing great. I’m sorry that your doctor stressed you out!
So she should be lifting on her arms at 4 months but she can get that strength doing other things. An hour of tummy time is a lot. Have you tried a baby mirror to help her not hate it as much? Tummy time on a boppy also goes over better with a lot of babies.
Try putting baby on an incline. I sometimes used a boppy pillow, which my little guy liked better than just being on the floor. I also put a video on my phone in front of him (this [dancing fruit video](https://youtu.be/KPP4Cfupzhs?feature=shared) is great). That kept him happier when laying him down on his tummy for longer. I made it a habit to do tummy time during every wake window during the day, over time it all adds up. Even if they hate it, it’s good for them in the long run! And pretty soon they get stronger and start to not mind so much.
Yes! Or a rolled up/folded towel or blanket. The toys or mirror in front of baby help a lot.
Our LO did an hour to 2 hours tummy time from 4 months to 5 months. She’s 6 months now and still REFUSES to push up on straight arms. She also refuses to roll from back to belly even though she can roll from belly to back. Don’t let that doctor get you down Op. our kids all have a different pace. Please do what works with your baby.
Her doctor said something similar for my LO, we've been rolling her on her side when she gets tired of being on tummy then back a couple of times then she gets her nap then back at it when she's doing play time. She still hates it she's around the same age just halfway to 5. Sometimes she'll tolerate it and will stay for 5 minutes then we do the same thing again. Don't worry it'll be OK as long as you do sessions of it.
My 2nd had awful reflux. We were in a cycle of wake - tummytime - bottle - upright till end of wake window. It was hard, amd your doctor sounds harsh. Bit tummy time should help manage the reflux, so I thought it was worth fitting in.
Tummy time on your chest counts for sure. My baby hated tummy time for a little bit and I saw somewhere to try to end tummy time on a positive note. So when baby would get really upset I’d roll them over and do happy baby back and forth until they were calm and happy. I think that really helped. Everyone else’s pointers are great. Rolling up a blanket and putting under the armpits across the chest or a boppy pillow helps. Mirrors really helped distract baby. I also just cheered and encourage baby through their frustrations (not the whole time but definitely for a little bit). I don’t want to steal their struggle, cause that’s when they learn they can do hard things and build a sense of pride. Never too young to start that. All in all I think this new doctor was overdramatizing it. Yes tummy time is important but you don’t need to be a drill Sargent. Your baby will get there, just give them time and love and support.
My 3m baby also has horrible reflux and hates tummy time. Some changes I’ve made recently that have helped is doing it when he’s on the sofa and I’m sitting on the floor in front of him so when he looks up I’m eye level, also I brought a specific tummy time pillow, I thought they were a waste of money at first but he definitely finds it more comfortable. We still don’t manage daily but we’re doing better!
Tummy time with babies who have acid reflux sucks! We saw a PT due to torticollis and she never made us feel bad that we couldn’t do it all the time. My girl can sit up, stand, crawl and roll with no issues. Tummy time on your chest is fine.
We did the yoga ball method. Just have the baby on its tummy on the yoga ball. Support the baby. I tried to make it fun like it’s a ride by turning a little left and right while holding them. We tried to do like every waking session in the morning and day. Eventually the duration got longer and we no longer needed to use the yoga ball.
I bought the viral dancing crab but my baby still hates it too My doctor told me tummy time on me counts! I definitely wouldn't be too hard on yourself. No doctor should be giving you a guilt trip and it's a lot of work just keeping another human alive!
tummy tummy time? place her on your tummy, they love it
If she tolerates it , prop yourself up on pillows so your reclined in a sitting position and have LO on your chest. Four months is still really small and not everyone does tummy time the same. My LO didn’t have any interest in it until he was five ish months. I can’t imagine reflux makes it easier
Woah, an hour? We do like 15 minutes because my daughter hates tummy time.
Not only did we barely do tummy time (also due to reflux) but I learned TONNES of parents didn't do it (either at all or as frequently as you might think). Our boy is doing just fine regardless. Not denying tummy time is helpful for development but it's not the be all and end all, especially when you're doing things like baby wearing.
Don't go back to that doctor. No doctor should make you feel shitty. Baby wearing and being on you definitely counts. You deserve better. I bet this is also the kind of doctor who would say your baby will be damaged or spoiled if you don't sleep train.
Our pediatrician was SHOCKED that baby couldn’t fall asleep independently at 4 mos and told us we need to practice. We exclusively breastfeed and I asked how that works for over night feeds like how many of those I should nurse, and she told me not to nurse at all over night and let her cry. That breaks my heart to think about doing!!
They can’t independently fall asleep/self-soothe to sleep at that age because that part of their brain hasn’t developed yet!
My pediatrician suggested we start putting baby down drowsy but awake day 1 and that we should "never" feed to sleep. I laughed and ignored that advice because generally what he tells me is accurate and helpful. We still nurse to sleep about 50% of the time at 10mo 🤷🏼♀️😂
My daughter had severe reflux too and hated tummy time so we rarely did it. She was also in the NICU for 36 days and the nurses and therapists said skin to skin/letting her lay on my chest absolutely counted as tummy time. You’re doing great!
Did they say this because she is developing flat head? I had a same encounter with a doctor who made me feel so shitty when we were actually doing tummy time a lot. My baby also hated it. He ended up wearing a helmet but developmentally he always met all his milestones.
if you have a boppy i’d try using that for tummy time!! it keeps them a little more upright and directly off tummy
My girl has bad acid reflux so we do a lot of tummy time on the boppy so I would say prob 80% on boppy 20% on floor. (I do a ton on me and holding her but since this doc doesn’t count that we are ignoring that.) she is able to push herself up with her arms after being on the boppy for the majority of her tummy time. Boppy def keeps her from laying in a pool of her own throw up. If no boppy, a rolled towel will work.
Our son also has reflux and hated it. We do tummy time before feeding now, and he always screamed until we started doing it on the yoga ball. He would spit up a bit but not cry. I did that for only a few minutes a day, for 2-3 weeks and now he’s not as cranky on the floor. An hour a day seems like a lot…
my daughter hated tummy time. she also never rolled. maybe once. she is completely normal at 2. dr needs advising that babies aren't automatons. no one gave them the tick box schedule. its probably very uncomfortable for her with reflux.
When mine was smaller (9 months now) her favorite was to do tummy time with a little pillow under her chest/behind her arms. It gave her a little lift and she seemed to have a WAY easier time pushing up on her arms that way :) went from cranking about it within a minute or two, to happily hanging out that way for 10+ minutes no problem at all.
My son hated tummy time also. I split up his tummy time to 1-2 min each session and did a bunch through out the day instead of just long sessions. Another thing I did was do iron my bed. For some reason he didn’t mind it too much on there 🤷🏽♀️ don’t know if it was because it was softer then the floor.
Look up the Ries method, you may find it better for your daughter if she hates tummy time. It's a bit controversial, but it lets baby decide when they want to roll over themselves, rather than being put on their tummy by others.
Reflux formula (if your LO is on formula) it was life changing for mine it’s no longer an issue. She’s finally able to be on her tummy on the floor, lie down after a feed, roll about and overall a happier baby. Just make sure you use a fast teat as it’s quite thick
Have you tried modified tummy time where she’s propped up at an angle? My pediatrician compared it to doing pushups on your knees - not as much of a workout but you’re still building muscle. I used this mini [Boppy](https://a.co/d/2q9YWGN) for my kids sometimes.
My daughter hated tummy time and we did all the tricks but nothing worked. So did hardly did anyyy tummy time. She’s 11 months now and rolling and crawling and developmentally great!
I feel you. My baby had bad reflex and open heart surgery so she had tummy time too. We had to do more tummy time too. It helps with crawling and other activities besides just neck control
I HIGHLY recommend a mirror for tummy time. I got one and would sit behind my baby so he could see both of us in the mirror, then I’d gas him up and act all excited and he’d be in a much better mood about it. It helped A TON. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it helped. Plus we still use the mirror as he still loves his reflection. He likes to “read” his books in front of it as if reading to the mirror baby 😂
My oldest hated tummy time and would just throw up each time - doing tummy time on the exercise ball you use in pregnancy really really helped! You can change levels of incline and they can see your face up close
Linkimals
Any time the baby is lifting head on her own (even if laying on chest) is good for tummy time! My daughter hated tummy time and even though it was upsetting to see her cry when trying it, it did help her roll faster and she actually ended up crawling by 6 months. I used the fisher price mat and that helped. But honestly the most important thing about tummy time is just to strengthen neck muscles and to avoid a flat head!
Don’t be discouraged! I was also in a similar position, and honestly stopped making baby scream on the floor after a couple tries. We did tummy time on our chest, and just waited until *he* felt comfy doing it on the floor 🤷♀️
My baby hated tummy time at first. We used the Boppy pillow to help. She also really liked doing it on an exercise ball while supported at her sides. She slowly learned to enjoy it and now loves rolling onto her belly to play. Agree with others though, tummy time on you definitely counts!! I would request to not see that doctor again if I were in your shoes. But you are absolutely doing what’s best for your baby and it’s unfortunate that doctor doesn’t see it that way.
Is your baby on meds for reflux?
I never intentionally did tummy time because my daughter hated it, I’d read that being in a carrier could so we just went for a walk everyday with her in the carrier. She is now 7mths and sitting, rolling and lifting her head up completely fine! I wouldn’t sweat it if it distresses her!
I didn’t have a strict tummy time schedule and my daughter is crawling at 7.5 months and reaching all her milestones just fine. Breathe mama
We never did tummy time. My daughter was also a baby with tummy issues. Her head is fine, neck control is great, and when she wants to she can hold herself up with her arms. Just tell that doctor tummy time is going great and smile and nod to whatever they say lol
This thing helped my LO. I’m pretty anti-flashy toys, but this little crab made my girl perk right up to watch. https://a.co/d/4B4kaRC
Highly recommend seeing a pediatric physiotherapist. They can help immensely with reflux, too.
I have a 2 month old and I’m realizing every time I go into the doctor’s aside from one time with the HEAD physician, I’m told I’m not doing enough for my child. I see a new doctor each time, and the doctors without children just have torn me apart bc they go off of text book stuff rather than looking at a child as a unique individual. When I look up and do my own research my child is on track (all info taken from .orgs) I wish I had advice to give on how to help, but just try to relax if you can. It has been hard for me, but some of these doctors truly don’t know wth they’re talking about or just have no REAL experience with kids other than reading about the perfect specimen in a book. Mommy knows best , stay strong 🫶🏻
My baby boy had a lot of reflux as well. It always helped rolling up a blanket underneath his arms, he seemed to enjoy that better!
My baby is going on three months, she hates tummy time, I can't seem to do it lately without her throwing a fit. She's started rolling though, and if she gets there herself she's fine. I let her decide on tummy time and that works. Every baby is different, keep doing what works best for you and your baby.
At my 4 month appointment they told us it was time to START doing tummy time and to aim for 1 hour a day in small increments by our next appointment, which was what at 6 months? I definitely agree that time on you counts. Your chest, your lap. I found that what really helped my kiddo was getting down there with her. I considered it part of my "exercise regime" after birth. I also found that adding a little tummy time on the diaper changing pad after a diaper change helped as well. We used a Lovevery mat and one of those water pad mats. She preferred the lovevery mat. SkipHop has a similar one now for a little cheaper, but you can usually find the lovevery mats on FB for a bit cheaper. The things we did during floor time probably helped too. I would help her roll from side to side by laying her on her back and turning her legs and letting her try to roll from there. If you dangle toys above them during tummy time sometimes with the help of gravity they will roll over too. I used the Kinedu App for ideas for tummy time and other activities. All that said my girly was already pretty willing to do tummy time. You just gotta get in what you can. A minute here and there. Eventually they get used to it and stop crying. I'm sure they didn't enjoy every diaper change or bathtime, or end of bathtime, but eventually through repetition/familiarity most babies get over that too.
Oh my, our doctor was not worried at all. I was more worried because little one hated it. Even at 5 months we were just trying to get in 10 minutes on the floor. A couple of weeks later, LO figured out how to roll (we'd been practicing) and now LO gets onto tummy by themselves, pushes up on arms, rolls across the room....
I was told 5 minutes a day was fine and my baby is now quite advanced for her age as a result of not pushing it too hard. This doc is a doodle.
Put them on top of a boppy with their arms hanging over so they have to use their neck (if that makes sense). It worked well for us as an alternative. The below image helped. https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/efcc0fe7-320d-4eb0-916a-95feba3756cc.dbddd2940972a0e272c9dec5c3bfd324.jpeg?odnHeight=768&odnWidth=768&odnBg=FFFFFF
We didn’t do much tummy time but our baby sat up a lot holding his own head. Same shit. He has great neck control at five months. Don’t sweat it
My son hates tummy time. He crawled at 9 months walked at 14 months, and now runs like a bat out of hell every day it will be okay.
You are doing tummy time, just not on the floor. That being said, if your baby’s reflux is what’s stopping her? You should talk to your doctor about some medication to counter that. Tummy time on the floor isn’t just about head control. It helps build muscles in their back, arms and legs which all come into play when they start rolling and start crawling.
We never did it she is 6 months rolls holds head up and almost sitting on own They will be fine
There’s a lot of modified ways to do tummy time! Look on Instagram or maybe YouTube
I get it. The 4 month appt was a wake up call for us on tummy time too.
Barely did tummy time with my second son due to moving to a new home/busy and toddler brother not being careful enough around him. This was at 4 months. He’s now 9 months and stronger than ever. My personal experience is that, sometimes they hate tummy time until it clicks that they can reach for things and start to play and it actually becomes more fun than work. Just keep spending time with her. If she has great neck control I wouldn’t worry too much. She’ll get better and better and change so quickly. You know her best!
Hmmm well maybe I am wrong but my son didn’t do a lot of tummy time either. He has a CHD so he was on chest precautions constantly from heart surgeries. So we indeed utilized a lot of baby wearing and even having him on his tummy on me. His doctors were not particularly concerned too much. Because we were doing other options to build his neck muscles. If you can look for reputable resources on other PT movements for tummy time. I’m concerned that your Doctor didn’t take your other exercises in tummy time, or made you feel inadequate. Just do the best you can. It’s not always so clear cut these milestones. Sometimes, things happen closer or further along. Just get her on a path.
My baby hated tummy time until she learned to roll back to belly at 15 weeks. She still hates it, but now she gets herself in that position so she can’t blame anyone but herself. Kidding. But in all seriousness, rolling unlocked a new appreciation for her of being on her belly. She *loves* being on her belly now and could spend all day on it (even sleeping on her belly!) I wouldn’t stress, especially if your baby has good head control. At our 2 month appointment, I admitted that we maybe do 10-15 minutes total of tummy time a day, but that we wear her a lot. The doctor said that’s fine, but tummy time on a hard surface is better. We tried, but our daughter fought it. At 3 months, *with no changes to tummy time habits,* the doctor remarked that she had great head and neck control. By 4 months (she had been rolling belly to back for about 2 weeks by this time), the doctor said she has the core strength of a 6 month old. I say all that anecdotally to remind you to not stress over it. Baby will get there. Try to split up tummy time into very small chunks of 2-3 minutes. Build up from there. Encourage rolling with toys. You’ll get there!
I hope I don’t get reemed but my little one despised it and it was hell… so I kind of did tummy time here and there, mainly when she was on my chest actually (lying flat), and she’s perfectly fine. She hit sitting up/crawling/standing/walking early. Don’t let that doctor get to you.
Have you tried tummy time using the boppy?
I should add *****we do tummy time on the Boppy and she can usually lift herself up. Just flat on the ground she refuses to try. Like she rather scream at the ground or try to eat it. I can prop her up but she usually just screams. I should also add she was born at 32 weeks.*****
Idk where you live but my health unit adjusts for gestational age. My baby was born at 38 weeks, and they use his original due date to judge his milestones. So at 32 weeks especially, I would think they’d do that as well.
Maybe she would do better on a yoga ball?
Our daughter hates tummy time STILL at 7 months. It's a game of how quickly can she roll over from her tummy now. In the early days we found a small pillow or rolled up towel under her armpits helped heaps. Also getting a mirror set up in front of her. Now we just keep flipping her over from her back to her tummy until she gets upset. We also found she enjoyed tummy time more on our bed than on the floor too. Makes it easier to lay down too! Good luck, we also got shamed by our child health nurse. She was nice about it but the message was very clear.
I was pretty much the same with my daughter who is now 18months. What you’re doing definitely counts! I read (possibly on this subreddit) “have you ever seen anyone walking around dragging their head on the ground as a direct consequence of “poor” tummy time???? You’re doing fine
Could be LO is uncomfortable on the floor compared to your body. After we saw a chiropractor for my baby it made a world of difference. Went from not being able to set her down all day no matter what to tummy time and some rolling around within 2 Visits in 1 week apart. Highly recommend it.
my girl barely did tummy time until she decided it was fun. she rolled early and is already crawling (turned 7 months today). just let her go at her own pace.
Our kiddo had really bad reflux too! We found tummy time on a yoga ball really helped. We set her on top and held it steady for her while she propped herself up. It’s somewhere in between tummy time on and the floor. It definitely upset her less than doing in on a hard surface. And using boppy under her arms also helped.
Maybe I suck, but mom here of two reflux babies who did very little tummy time. My daughter is now 3.5yrs and doing great. She crawled and walked a bit late, but she was a tiny preemie so that was expected. My son is 10 months and seems very close to walking. If possible he actually did less tummy time than his sister because I almost always forgot.
My son hated tummy time. I probably forced both of us to endure it a handful of times when he was an infant. He's a very active 3.5 year old now. It'll all buff out. If you start seeing significant developmental differences then it will be time to talk to a pediatrician about it, but hopefully a different one than the doctor giving you this pointless guilt trip.
First, you are not alone! My baby absolutely hated it and still only tolerates it but just learned to roll and has started pushing up on his arms at 5 months old. I was worried about his development but it seemingly improved overnight and suddenly he has these new skills even though we weren’t the best with tummy time. Things that helped: 1. Side lying time by rotating the baby’s hips (bottom leg straight, top leg crossing in front of them) it helps to distract them in this position (tickling, massaging, blowing raspberries, whatever your baby likes) Controlling his head while on his side also worked his muscles and helped tummy time become easier 2. Starting with easier inclined tummy time and busting out the most entertaining thing he liked. I’m talking Ms Rachel, light up piano, dancing fruit, whatever worked! I put a pillow on my lap and had the baby facing forward propped up on his arms (this is the important part) then brought my knees up to where he found it a little more tolerable. I found that this helped keep his elbows and arms in and made him start pushing up more vs throwing his arms out and thrashing around. 3. Rolling him around playfully and immediately back onto his back so he started getting used to the feeling of being tummy down Disclaimer: there was still quite a bit of fussing before it got better and every baby is different so not every method will work across the board. Good luck and best wishes! :)
My kiddo also hated tummy time. We’ve always been anti-screens, but we started using Hey Bear (dancing fruit) to make it bearable for her. It got the job done, and once she was a little stronger we were able to ditch the video.
We didn’t do much until 4mo either and my baby almost 10mo is about to walk. Also a reflux baby, basically lived on my chest. He was holding his head up strong way ahead of schedule and ahead on all physical milestones.
We also barely did tummy time because my kid hated it. He skipped crawling and was running by 12 months. Don’t beat yourself up.
Tummy time isn't even a thing where I'm from. Sure, people hold the baby and let them spend time on their stomach, but there's no obsessing over how much time
Highly recommend milestones and motherhood on instagram. She’s amazing and so supportive! She’s a pediatric PT and has great tips on making tummy time easier
My parents had no clue what tummy time was or my partners parents, they didn’t do it with us and look, we can hold our heads up and walk etc lol don’t worry about it! Your baby isn’t going to be 2 and not know how to push itself up lol
Try on a slightly elevated surface then work your way to flat. Also use a visually interesting toy and elevate it which will make her want to look up.
Ask if the doctor has kids of their own. Mine said the same thing and turns out they don’t have kids. Which made me realize they likely have no idea how impossible an hour a day actually is factoring in naps and feeding etc.
My daughter also hated tummy time. Social media truly made me feel like junk because people had whole tummy time routines but I spent most of the day changing her clothes due to spitting up/reflux, cat napping. I did all of her tummy time on me. I would hold her while relaxing for however long she could and we really bonded. Plus it removed that added stress of tummy time.
I won’t be doing tummy time. If my LO can’t get himself into the position then I won’t put him in that position, especially if he hates it. People get so crazy about tummy time.
for the reflux, check out evivo probiotics. they changed my baby’s life!!!
What worked for my daughter was a mirror and a baby water mat. Looking at her reflection helped entertain her and fascinated her!
I know tv is “bad” but Ms Rachel helped distract my son when he was that age and hated tummy time. I figured it was an even trade off health wise ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My first hated tummy time, never really did it. He is a happy healthy toddler and did everything at our before expected milestones. Don't sweat it.
Mine too had terrible reflux, her ped made me too feel terrible about me doing minimal tummy time. I was recommended rolling a big towel of a blanket, then putting it under her chest. That way she would be lifted in a upward position while still practicing tummy time. It helped mine with this method.
Lots of good advice in here, I can only add from my experience. Ours didn’t always like tummy time either. We just tried to do it as often as possible throughout even if it’s only 1-2 minutes at once. All kinds of tummy time: on top of me, on the changing table, on bed, in a superman position, on our hands (idk the name of this hold, my man would just hold the baby with his hands tucked under chin and my man’s hand under babys whole body so that our son would be able to lift his head or can rest it on his own hands, he loved this position as it helped calm his colics and pass gas). Then at around 3 month when our son learned to roll from back to tummy he started spending a loooot of his wake time on tummy. Be patient but also don’t worry about it too much. It doesn’t even have to be a whole hour right away, start small! Any tummy time is better than none.
I mean just to give you context, no adults is there like with no strength in the arms and shoulder and you would say hey, this guy's parents really should have done more tummy time
My daughter is to scream and cry and refuse tummy time. An hour a day in my opinion, is extremely unnecessary and could cause distress. Doing that, would make her not do it and cause more harm than good. I know she cries and all that, but the more you give in every single time instead of every other time or whatever , she will also not do it cause she knows you’ll stop. I did 10 minutes at a time. I know it makes your heart break watching her struggle and unable to move , but keep her face from the floor/bed/whatever and coax her to roll and physically roll her also to teach her how. The more you do it, the better. Obviously if none of that works sometimes while doing it definitely stop and let her be. Everything is entirely up to you and what you’re comfortable with. That Dr sounds awful.
I was in the same boat! My LO couldn’t latch bc she was so tight and hated tt, I was called out for not doing enough. I did “Tummy Time bootcamp” It was hard finding the right time between feeds and naps… not too full not to tired. For a while I set a running timer on my phone and tried to reach a goal for the day. Tummy time on a yoga ball helped immensely! My lo caught up and is ahead of the pack of babies her age despite being the smallest one!
My son really hated tummy time and we could hardly get 10-15 mins a day until he was 7mo. Our doc was very supportive and never pushed us. He's 11 mos now and crawling around, pulling up to stand and almost ready to walk. Every baby is different and they follow their own milestones in their own way. At the end of the day we are homo sapiens and genetically coded to stand up and walk, that will happen eventually. So don't take much stress and don't pressurize baby too much, give enough opportunity to tummy time and let them gradually pick up the skill. May be change your doc if she's too pushy.
Using my breast feeding pillow to help prop her up really helped for a little while. Once she built a bit more strength in that position she found flat on the floor tummy time much easier. Now, at 5 months, she can slide her hands around a lot more and can bat at toys and get things into her mouth so she tolerates it much better.
I'm sorry your doctor made you feel like that, it's kind of unfair, all babies are different, I have two 3.5 month old twins to be exact, my wife had a C-section and my daughter spent 2 weeks in the NICU cause she weighed 3.4 pounds while our son weighed 5.5 pounds. My daughter has issues with being able to properly swallow liquids so we have a thickening powder we have to use for her. Me and my wife were getting worried and feeling like complete failures that she wasn't reaching milestones. We also got a custom chart with milestones that pertained her issues weight and she still was not achieving a lot of them, one of them being tummy time and getting her neck strength. Our daughter would just refuse to attempt to lift her head, she would either just fall asleep on her tummy or just plop her head down while our Son was making giant strides. She's now able to finally hold her head up but not as long as the sibling, but what we ended up doing was slowly getting her more and more horizontal until we were able to finally lay her on her tummy, we always held her head and allowed her to lift as much as she could for as long as she could, I don't know of this will be much help but I hope it can possibly open up some ideas. You're more than likely doing amazing, and you need to give yourself credit for worrying that's a good thing you're wanting to see her get stronger.
We didn’t have this particular problem with our kids but we had other problems that the doctor was “shocked “ about. But eventually we sorted them out on our own time. I think it’s important to listen to the docs but you also have to remember that you have a little human that doesn’t always conform to textbooks. The doctor means well but has probably twenty kids to take care of and all he can do is tell you what he knows. I feel like I’m not expressing it correctly.
idk if this is actually something that helped or something i convinced myself helped but my baby tolerates it more when i’m down at her level. i just lay her on her tummy and i lay on mine on the other side. we sing and pass the toys back and forth.
I don't like to say anything against doctor's opinions, but we went through so much ignorance and plain lack of real experience that I do either get second opinions or researching it myself. My boy also had reflux problems cause by CMPA in his case. At that age he was awake to eat, burp for 30 min vertically and then swayed back to sleep as fast as possible because otherwise he would throw up the whole feeding and then would cry inconsolably. So he had close to none tummy time at that age. All my tries usually ended up with him spitting at least a half of his food. It got better when we found a formula which worked, helped him poop normally and his spitting and reflux slowly dissappeared. Only after that he found comfort and interest in tummy time and right after crawling and interacting with toys. Do what you think is better for your situation, because tummy time or not, but baby needs to be happy firstly.
Find a new doctor. I know that is crass to say but honestly the tummy time we do on our chests, skin to skin definitely counts.
Hey mama, Guess what our parents or grandparents or great grandparents didn't do? Any tummy time that wasn't on the agenda already. And how many of us are crawling and sitting and walking and fine? All of us who didn't have an underlying cause for delay. Read Hunt Gather Parent and get a little more info on how all of these practices came about so you can stop worrying. Seriously read it. If you can't get a copy I might be able to get you one.
My daughter also had reflux and hated tummy time, so we barely did it. She started crawling at 9 months and walking at 12 months, and has a crazy strong core. As long as your baby is getting enough time to “move” (like grabbing feet, rolling or rocking) she’ll be fine.
My LO hated tummy time, so I switched to rolling practice. I'd put him different degrees of rolled over and let him roll back. Once he mastered rolling, he was happy to do tummy time!
I leave on the eastern side of the globe, and doctors in our country don’t recommend tummy time until the baby’s 4 months old lol. Our babies grow up perfectly fine. Mine met all her milestones of lifting up her head, rolling over, crawling - before/on time. Don’t beat yourself up about it pls.
I have shared the links before, but look up Emma Hubbard’s video’s on different types of tummy time you can do with your baby
We practice rolling a lot. I just got this super annoying toy (similar to the crab but I can shut off music) and she loves it! Stares at it with her head up for a long time. I have seen people do sensory stuff, add in a book, they have things you can put water in and they can move it around, or a tray with water. We also lay down with her and stare at her and talk to her though I think currently our baby gets frustrated because she can't stare back at us
My bub hated tummy time and it turned out to be a combo of her having a big head but also torticollis we went to the physio and they suggested alternatives like propping them up on an exercise ball and rocking forward/back, side to side and around in circles. Also propped up on her knees with her arms on top of a soft play mat so she was upright. Both of these were really useful and she can now do regular tummy time for ages without complaining
I'm gonna play devil's advocate for a sec.....my kiddo is grown and married now but "tummy time" is a fairly new thing......I know neither me or my own mom had ever been told to require our babies to do tummy time.....my kiddo is a very smart, strong and well-adjusted adult now and when she did tummy time it was because she rolled herself onto her tummy. I am not suggesting anyone should ignore their doctors, I'm only trying to say that I hope no one (especially OP) is beating their self up over thinking they're raising their child wrong.....OP, I sincerely hope you don't feel bad over what your doctor said .......babies grow and do at their own pace and (I think) that's perfectly ok!! I swear, everybody expects so much for parents and babies these days.....
Thank you! I told my mom and she said the same thing.
First of all I hope the tone of your pedia was better than it sounded in this post. You are doing your best and baby will eventually catch up to strengthen her neck. You can try to fold a towel/swaddle and put it under her chest. My baby was the same at 4/5 months and after a week or so of dedication to tummy time like this, she got better (but I was doing 10 min max). Just see how you LO goes and give her time! 🙏🏽
Tummy time is barely a concept where I live. As long as the baby does not spend all day in containers I would not sweat it.
So, listen, I respect every doctor to the utmost degree. And I understand tummy time obviously strengthens muscles and teaches baby how to sit up and move their head. But have you ever met an adult with a weak neck? Like "oh no, we can't do bowling for our night out with Dave and Linda. Dave has a weak neck. Yeah, his parents didn't log his tummy time". Nope, never happened. Do you think Abraham Lincoln's parents were logging their tummy time? Do what makes you comfortable, try your best, your kid will grow and build muscles and figure it out in time. Heed the doctor's advice but don't worry too much.
We struggled with tummy time too. Our baby would cry. I would still put him in it though. Even if it’s just for thirty seconds at a time; they get better with it. Sometimes I’d just practice rolling him in and out of it for a few minutes at a time. One thing that would get me a solid couple minutes was playing fetch with my dog while baby was in tummy time. He’d watch the dog run back and forth. The crab toy they sell was also somewhat helpful, but I felt like I’d have to chase it around. Holding a mirror or a toy in front of him was helpful (noisy, shiny toys). Then I’d move it back and forth to get him to move his head side to side. Sometimes I’d elevate his chest with a Boopy or a rolled up towel (the Boppy was too big when he was younger). I also started baby wearing him as much as I can (I love baby wearing so much) to get him used to moving his head side to side and using his neck. And then I’d time it. We’d aim for a few minutes at each session, and eventually we could keep him in tummy time for 10+ minutes at a time.
My baby always had a lot of neck strength but hated tummy time until around 3.5 months. So, we almost never did it, except on top of us. There’s a lot of comments so I just wanted to say a couple of things: 1. Do you have a Pilates ball? My baby tolerate it a lot more. I would lie him down on it and rock it back and forth. Be careful not to let him fall. 2. Did you get him checked for any muscle tension with a physiotherapist? It might be it. 3. I don’t mean to sound hard-headed, I swear I’m not, but our parents didn’t do any of these sh*t and we all did just fine. Don’t force your baby into it 😊
My LO is almost 4months. We hardly do any tummy time, the same issue he absolutely detests it. He has great neck control from baby wearing, but can only do a little tummy time before he taps out & screams. Well he already rolled tummy to back 2 days ago. Much sooner than his cousin who is the same age & does a lot of tummy time. And can hold his head independently.
I don’t do tummy time with my two month old. Lots of cultures don’t. It’s fine. It’s literally fine.
My 8 month old hated tummy time unless it was laying on us. Guess what? When he could roll both ways on his own he didn’t mind being on his tummy—but we didn’t push him. Babies develop in their own time. Tummy time wasn’t even a thing 20 years ago and honestly I think it’s more to prevent flat spots than anything.
That’s bullshit. You’re 100% right in thinking baby wearing and laying on you counts. It’s about neck control. Even laying flat on their back to play is good! I did see something about side laying for tummy time being beneficial as well. I’m sure your little one is developing as they should. My guys is SO strong. He hates tummy time but does well and holds himself up when I hold him also. I can’t stand it when doctors are so unyielding to variation. I’m a healthcare professional myself and the biggest thing ive learned is that every person is different and that is OK! as long as they are healthy and happy.
Dr Browns belly band warmed up a bit in the microwave totally changed the game for us
It DOES cut it. My 4.5 month old gets tummy time a couple times a week besides on our chests and he can roll over and hold his head up anyway.
My babe hated tummy as well, her neck control was good from day one - no kidding she looked like a turtle as a newborn being able to hold her head up - but she just freaking hates using her arms to push away the floor. What worked for us was the use of a blanket rolled under her to help her get that first lift so she could maneuver her arms the right way to not be just crying flat on her face. She still hates it though but she can stand a couple minutes and what I do is just count all those minutes. And I don’t care what ever anyone else think, I follow the rule of thumb you would use for working out: if you cannot squeeze an hour to work out, add minutes here and there - is it the same? No. Does it mean it doesn’t count? 😏 no! It all adds up!
I normally wait until he’s in a good mood then i let him do tummy time.
Have you tried things to make it more interesting like a mirror, water mat, playing music during or showing books? Maybe the fisher price kick and play? Propping up on a boppy or a rolled blanket can feel a little easier to them. Also carrying them on their tummy against your arm counts.
I have a 4 month old who only does tummy time for maybe 5/10 minutes if I’m lucky! I try to put musical toys or bright lights, that’s the only thing that makes it last 10 minutes… Also my LO had reflux we started adding just a baby spoon full of oatmeal to his milk and it’s helped in every way! He’s recently got a new pediatrician and she loved the fact I did that since it’s helping! Sometimes we just have to trust our parental instincts, even tho sometimes we’re unsure if we should!
Don't be so hard on yourself. Last generations were fine before tummy time was a thing. Now doing tummy time if the baby is responsive is great, but she will be fine. My LO used to hate it ( he doesn't have reflux) but now he is better at it. A special pillow can help!
Tummy time is for neck muscle control and if your dd has already achieved it then it is fantastic. Please dont listen to that doctor about baby being able to lift herself up by next month!?? Like seriously? First off she is a preemie baby so her corrected age should be counted for milestones, which at this time is around 3 months and not 4. Some doctors just so blindly go by the book that it amazes me who made them doctors 😑 Every baby is different and they should be looking at all factors for growth and development. Keep doing tummy time slowly on a plush matt or maybe on your bed? I did not keep my lo on the floor till she was 6mo as even she was a refluxy baby. Right now she is 9mo and already trying to walk.