My baby can't do tummy time

[KalamityKate89]

My DD is 3 months old and has extreme pain in her tummy and reflux so every time we've tried tummy time she screams in agony, we do "tweaks" like time in the baby carrier (she does sleep on her back but doesn't spend all day on it so doesn't have plagiocephaly) but I know that there was a time when tummy time didn't exist so what we're baby milestones like back then? Does tummy time really make that much of an impact on the rate that babies develop and hit milestones? I'm just curious to see the difference it makes but can't find it anywhere online.

[surreygirl1987]

Tummy time didn't used to be a 'thing'... but babies used to be placed on their front to sleep so strengthened their muscles that way. From.resesrch I've read, tummy time does make a difference. However, anecdotally, loads of people I know or have read about on mumsnet, didn't force their babies to do tummy time, and they mostly hit milestones absolutely fine.

My own baby is delayed DESPITE the fact that we were religious about tummy time. However, he was born with torticollis and hypermobility. That's actually why we were quite obsessive about tummy time.

My personal view (happy for others more knowledgable to dispute!) is that tummy time is good and useful and important, and that it does help with milestones, but that it is not the be all and end all - many babies do fine without it. Though I think it is especially important in a baby with a physical issue (like my son) that might cause a delay; I'm convinced he only ended up crawling eventually because we made him do so much tummy time... many babies like him (including my husband and my mother in law) don't crawl but bottom shuffle instead.

Hope that makes sense - sorry its garbled!

[KalamityKate89]

Thanks @surreygirl1987 we do try tweaks of it to get some strengthening in as I say I'm just curious how baby milestones have changed over the years.

[crazychemist]

Tweaking it sounds sensible. My DD HATED tummy time, she wouldn’t tolerate it at all at that age. I made sure she had lots of time held upright so that she could be turning her head, strengthening core muscles etc. We also did some other things to give her the chance to strengthen muscles - have you tried different positions. Sometimes I would lie on my back with my knees into my chest with DD lying along my shins while I held her arms and made flying noises. My DM also suggested just carrying her in lots of different positions so that she would strengthen different muscles e.g. sometimes picking her up lying across my forearms, or held sort of diagonally so that she would use her neck muscles. Also when lying on back putting a mirror just out of reach so she’d look towards it, and then moving it to the other side so she was doing lots of head turning. As she got bigger, she’d twist her body towards it a bit too, which eventually turned into rolling.

DD never did do much crawling. Maybe for a week or so - she learned to pull up and cruise, and then she found that a motivation to crawl so she could get to the sofa to pull up. But then she was walking a bit after a couple of weeks, so gave up on the crawling all together!

She’s 3 now. Always been great on verbal/cognitive milestones. She’s very gentle and not at all boisterous, so not as good at physical milestones as some others her age e.g. she’s ok on her balance bike, but not amazing, she can’t hold her weight hanging from a bar, but she can hop, run etc.

Basically I don’t think it’s made much of a difference that she did almost no proper tummy time. There are plenty of other ways of keeping a baby entertained and giving them opportunities to use their bodies.

[Rubyroost]

My baby refused to do tummy time and finally started doing it himself when he learned to roll over and acty wanted to do tummy time. I wouldnt worry about it. We used a sling/carrier quite a bit, my reasoning was that it would suffice as an alternative to tummy time

[doritosdip]

My refluxy son didn't do tummy time as it was clearly painful so we sometimes have him time on his side (propped by towels) and he rolled/crawled at a normal age. He was much better at tummy time by the time he was weaned