to not have time for "tummy time"?

[andiflondonburns]

my daughter is 3.5 months

i don't have time to do tummy time (single parent + other things) and the times i've done it the past i don't feel comfortable when i've done it, i know you pick them up when they start to show signs that they're not happy and sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind and all that but there's nothing else developmentally where i have to watch her struggle

is it really necessary? I'm quite happy for her to crawl later than she would have done with tummy time.....will she miss out with brain development?

surely she will do it herself when she's ready, once she's worked out how to get on her front? She can almost get herself on her side already.
thanks for any constructive advice/support!

I sometimes used to put them on my chest too so i guess thats the same as a sling was my Mils friend who was a retired health visitor who said to let Dd1 lie on her front for a minute or 2

Super sorry if you haven't got time to find 2 or 3 minutes to do something so simple with your child then something isn't right!

Now deciding not to do it because it distresses the child or whatever is a completely different kettle of fish but to use time as an excuse when it is hardly a time consuming activity is wrong or an indicator of a bigger issue somewhere!

My ds hated tummy time I did it when he was in an exceptionally good mood and now he can crawl/shuffle. Plenty of babies do it without but I have never heard anybody use not having time as an excuse. What do you do that makes you so busy ?

No you're not bu but I did say to myself I'd do a bit more next time as I felt he took a long time to learn to roll and it impacted on sleep as I felt he wanted to roll in his sleep more iykwim.

I didn't do much as he squalled fairly quickly as hated it and wanted to sit up - but I think he sat up too early independently (was sitting at 4 mo) and definitely made some reflux worse! He loved sitting though!

I've been told slinging helps in a similar was as they can press their arms against you/ hold head up more etc.

Tummy time? they used to say in our day leaving a baby on theyre tummy could contribute to cot death.

shazza I think this is where tummy time came from...Because babies are put to sleep on their backs now...

shazzarooney99 you don't just put them on their front and leave them. It's a few minutes while they're awake, not sleeping.
Neither of my kids enjoyed time on their front but carrying them in slings seemed to solve that issue.

They are awake shazza its so they can develop core strength lift their heads etc but im sure babies develop just fine without it

It isn't just about strengthening neck muscles though. Pushing up on arms develops core and shoulder strength, which is required for many things later on, including handwriting

Good grief - I think the intervening 4 years between learning to roll onto her front and starting school will probably be enough for the OP's DD to develop her shoulder muscles enough to hold a pencil

shinynew

My non tummy time teens have nice handwriting. DS1's has been described as 'exquisite'.
They also somehow manage to play football, which given how essential TT apparently is is nothing short of a miracle.

Tbh its just so they can move about really you would get the same result if they have a kick about on their changing mat on their backs most children learn to roll over

Problems with core stability and strength can have a big impact on the development of fine motor skills. My 9 year still struggles to use a pencil because of problems with them.

My Dd has a development delay even with letting her kick about and putting her on her stomach

I used to put ds on his tummy but he would instantly scream and keep screaming because he couldn't hold his head up. This was one of the first signs of his difficulties (still doing this at 6 months, a lot of young babies don't like it).

There really are a significant subset of children who have problems with core strength, shoulder stability and various other issues for whom time spent on tummy, crawling, etc would have been very beneficial. Just because your child didn't do tummy time or crawl and now has beautiful handwriting doesn't mean that it isn't an issue for others. In the same way there's a higher incidence of dyslexia amongst children who didn't crawl as babies which doesn't of course mean that all bottom shufflers will be dyslexic. If you don't me, ask a paediatric occupational therapist.

...If you don't believe me...

Tummy time also helps prevent flat head syndrome. It should be started very soon after birth, I believe 1 minute for each week of age. It doesn't have to be on the floor.

I wish I had known that putting the baby on my chest or carrying in a sling counted as tummy time. I could have guiltlessly avoided putting her down on her tummy and saved my ears from the screaming. Dammit

I think it all generally stemmed from the fact that babies nowadays tend to spend a lot of time in buggies/car seats/Bumbos/what-have-you. Then there's the Back to Sleep movement also meaning that babies don't get as much time as they might need to develop their upper body strength and prevent flag heads.

Carrying baby in a sling, holding baby on your chest, propping them on their tummy on a feeding pillow and breastfeeding all help develop the muscles.

YANBU not to have specific "tummy time" but YABU to find a few minutes each day to help your baby move around a bit.

Flag heads! FFS! flat heads

All my babies hated tummy time and rolled back to their backs as soon as they could

It is important; some sort of tummy/ on you/ sling kind of thing daily.

I teach Sen and since having ds really really notice the number of children with very flat heads. Some would have been quite floppy due to their conditions and lain on their backs a lot. At the same time this could have been helped at an earlier age. Obv this is extreme but with autism you don't know it's there at birth.

Crawling is linked to handwriting; something to do with hand eye coordination.

There really are a significant subset of children who have problems with core strength, shoulder stability and various other issues for whom time spent on tummy, crawling, etc would have been very beneficial

It is unhelpful to make parents feel anxious & guilty if their babies don't like tummy time.

Children who have problems with strength and co-ordination in one set of muscles are more likely to have the same problems with others. So it is not surprising that some children who have poor strength and co-ordination in shoulder and core muscles also have poor strength and co-ordination in the muscles of the hand when writing. But one has not caused the other - they are both manifestations of the same underlying cause: muscle weakness and poor co-ordination in that child.

You only need a basic level of strength in the upper arm/shoulder to be able to write. The musculature and innervation of the small muscles of the hand (used for writing ) are different from the muscles of the upper arm/shoulder. The small muscles of the hand would not be developed by tummy time.

To clarify; these children often come from homes where parents were also struggling / limited too.

You're right Eagle Most babies now spend a lot of time lying or sleeping in supporting seats, especially now we have pram travel systems so the car seat attaches to wheels instead of lying flat in a pram.
This isn't harmful to their development if they are allowed to stretch out on their tummies for some time during the day, preferably on a flat surface.

Turning baby over for a few mins after each nappy change is an easy thing to fit into your day.