DS 17 weeks hates tummy time - affect crawling?

[sh77]

Hi

I have tried tummy time with DS since he was a newborn but he starts to cry after a minute and would rather lie on his tummy and suck his hands. He kicks vigorously and attempts to crawl but does not like it. The HV put so much emphasis on tummy time that I am worried he will crawl later. He has good head control, shuffles around, and rolls.

[peggotty]

My dd never had 'tummy time' as she had reflux and puked at the drop of a hat. Didn't affect her crawling. Ignore ruddy hv. Your son doesn't like it, don't do it.

[trixie123]

its totally different. tummy time when they are little is "good" for them because it helps them develop neck muscles or something but being face down and unable to do anything about it must be pretty horrible. Crawling on the other hand is about being mobile, in control and going to investigate interesting things. Sounds like he is doing great. My DS didn't roll until the same time that he crawled, about 8 months. he now charges around everywhere. They all do "get" these things and the minute they do you wonder why you were worried and move onto the next thing

[NotJoiningIn]

Crawling can happen from sitting up anyway, which is what my DD has been trying to do for a while- she has never done tummy time, she has always hated it!

[NormanTebbit]

Tummy time wasn't invented until I hadDD3. All of mine hated being on their fronts until they were freely rolling and able to hold up heads. Don't worry about it, crawling will happen naturally.

[DialMforMummy]

Mine hated it till last week (9months), so I tried every so often and left it when he got pissed off. But now he doesn't seem to mind so much and is going backwards so I am sure he'll "get it" soon. I wouldn't worry.

[RitaMorgan]

I never did tummy time because ds didn't like it - didn't seem any point! He didn't spend any time on his tummy til he could roll there himself around 5 months, and was crawling at 7 months.

[sh77]

Thank you all for the reassurance. I love MN :)

[sh77]

Thanks Lunatic. Hope you and Lew are well :)

[Haggisfish]

Mine hated tummy time as in being put on a mat and left to flail helplessly, but she loved tummy time as in lying on me and OH's chests while we were flattish and tying to raise her head to look at us/giggle etc. Both did exactly the same job of strengthening neck muscles!

[redelephant]

I second what haggisfish said. My dd is just over 5 months now and doesn't like being on her tummy for more than a minute. Her legs know what to do but her upper body isn't strong enough yet and she gets very frustrated. But she is so funny when she lifts herself up when on one of us if we're holding her on our fronts. Leaning right back and looking all around. She was a month early so I figure she might roll and crawl slightly later than some but she'll get there. X

[UKSky]

DD hated it and caused such a fuss everyone in the street could hear so we didn't bother. she also didn't roll until she started crawling.

What we did to was to lean back on the bed and pop her on our chests and she'd pull herself up to look at us.

[jeckadeck]

My little girl hated it until about 20 weeks and something flipped overnight -- she literally went from crying after a minute or so to loving it and having to be on the tummy. She also had reflux and pukes a lot so I try to make sure she has a good 20-25 minutes on her back or upright before I let her loose on the gym.

I wouldn't sweat it too much -- I think like a lot of these baby development theories there's a nugget of truth in tummy time but HVs and GPs overdo its importance, creating yet another thing to feel guilty about. Bottom line is your baby will eventually learn to crawl and then walk. Keep trying it from time to time because your DS might naturally start liking it, but don't beat yourself up about it and don't force him if he hates it.

[sh77]

Thank for the recent posts. We prop DS on chest and he loves nosying around. V interesting re babies who suddenly decided they liked tummy time - I will persevere a little every day.

[ilovedjasondonovan]

My 2 always HATED tummy time. Both went onto be fine crawlers, at 10.5 months old. They just preferred to be sitting up.

[moonbells]

mine hated tummy time as well. He much preferred sitting up and watching what was going on.

He didn't crawl until 10mo (which was quite handy!) and then would just crawl to the nearest chair and haul himself up for a cruise.
He walked at 11.5mo, just 6 weeks of crawling. He hasn't looked back.

[CinnabarRed]

Both mine hated tummy time, and neither crawled at all - both went straight to walking at around 13 months.

I did quite a lot of research into the importance of crawling (being a worried mother and all) and discovered that the reason HV try to encourage it is that it's good evidence of normal co-ordination and the child being able to move his/her body in left-right-left motions. BUT if your child doesn't crawl it doesn't mean that your child is badly co-ordinated or is in need of intervention. Both of mine are just fine (and amazingly well co-ordinated given that I still can't catch a ball!).

My HV (who is, luckily, one of the well informed and sensible ones) told me that the other reason that tummy time is encouraged in very young babies is to avoid their heads getting overly flattened by lying on their backs all the time. If your baby doesn't like tummy time then plenty of time in a sling, or sitting up, is equally valuable as tummy time (and being in slings has also been shown to help babies learn co-ordination because they're constantly reacting to your movements).

[smearedinfood]

My DS hated it to, but after a while he learnt to roll he preferred to roll on his front. Don't stress please, I went to mother and baby yoga and asked about pelvic thrusting and got a rant about not giving him enough tummy time. He started walking at 10 months and he's fine. Queue a long relationship with other people giving you lots of "well meaning" tips.
Someone did give me a fantastic tip though "you are the expert on your child", my fave love it.

[dribbleface]

DS never did it, hated it. My very nice HV laughed when i told her i was worried and reassured me. He didn't sit up till 9 1/2 months, then crawled for a week at 11mths, then walked. He had very dtrong neck muscles ane loved to be on his feet/upright.

[Bbee1]

My ds only tolerated tummy time once he could roll both ways and choose to be on his tummy rather than be put on it. Now spends all day on it!

[Rubyabcd]

My dd also hated tummy time and has eventually started crawling at 13 m from sitting up. She seems to be a late crawler but was quicker in other areas such as feeding herself, holding bottles and she also sat up early.

[gitinora]

My now 13 year old had problems when learning to write he seemed to find it difficult to hold the pen and control it properly, school sent him to have his co-ordination tested and it came back saying he had poor muscle control in his shoulders due to not enough tummy time (he never crawled) was a bum shuffler and walked at 10 months. but hated tummytime and would scream after a few min.
However they gave me lots of exercises to do with him and games (lots of crawling and press ups )and his writing improved
So i would say to encourage tummy time even if its only for a few moments each day.

[niccibabe]

Mine hated tummy time until we went to a baby massage class - after a couple of weeks, he loved tummy time. I think the constant interaction of massage was more rewarding for him than just struggling around. We went on to do baby yoga and he loved it. He has turned out to be well co-ordinated and has very good balance for his age.

We also did lots of him lying on our tummies (colicky baby) without realising that of course it has the same effect as tummy time, so we had stressed about him hating tummy time for no reason.

[WorrisomeHeart]

My DS hated tummy time until he could roll and he started commando crawling at 5.5 months and now (8 months) is gaining confidence in walking holding just one of our hands so it's not held him back!

[TableVamp]

DS loathed tummy time so we only did it for literally 30 seconds at most and not even every day. He sat unaided at 5m crawled at 7m and is now only 8m and is cruising and walking holding onto a walker.