Tummy time (or lack thereof)

[estornudar]

We are adopting a LO who will be approx. 11 months when he comes to live with us. His foster carer has said she has tried to do tummy time with him for months but that he's just not having any of it. The social worker said we should look into what impact this might have on him and what we could do about it. I've read up on all the theory as to why it's important but there is little about starting it at a later age or what can be done to prevent health issues. I'm worried about his neck in particular, though he is sitting by himself fine and bum shuffling. Am I right to worry? Anything we can do at this age to counteract a lack of tummy time early on?

If his social worker is that concerned then why the heck hasn't she been pushing the foster carers to encourage it more? I really hope she's raised it with FC's as they've had him when he was a tiny little baby with no free will when it was arguably much easier and more important to do it. It's hard when there's such a shortage of fc's but they should expect the same from them as they expect from adopters for goodness sake. I don't think it's the end of the world though tbh. Just do the research and it'll score you some brownie points but in reality it is what it is. It doesn't mean he's especially going to suffer. At his age and beyond I think your best bets are doing things like encouraging crawling games even when he learns to walk. This could be playing chasey games, getting one of those play tunnels, play tents etc. Also you could try lying him front ways on you superman style either for snuggles or as play. Can he pull to stand and cruise? It doesn't sound like he's massively behind or there's an awful lot to worry about but just humour the sw's. Do you feel his foster care in general has been good? Remember this will have a massive impact on him at this crucial stage of development and is worth exploring. We adopted our LG at 9MO and she luckily had wonderful fc's. It might.be worth popping this post over to the adoption section (under 'becoming a parent') and you might get more response. Good luck and congratulations with the match x x

My son hated tummy time because he had severe baby reflux until he was 18months old. He started crawling later and didn't crawl for long before walking which was later than his peers (by about 4-6months). Now as a 4yr old, he is a right jumper, off the back of the sofa headrest to the floor with ease. I did worry and the paediatrician told me not to and he would catch up and he did. We did lots of gross motor skills games and activities to support that development phase. As part of the adoption can you get it agreed that you gain physio support if you are worried?

Thanks both for your replies! The foster carer has been great and has said she has tried and tried but he just has been having none of it! You've given me some good stuff to think about and research there, and have definitely put my mind at ease! Thanks again!

DD also refused to do tummy time - she would sob and sob and lie flat on the ground. It really isn't as easy as just making them do it, it's awful to see a baby in so much distress!
She is a late crawler and Walker - almost 13 months and only just started standing up. I don't know how much is a lack of tummy time and how much is because she constantly has things in her hands and it took her a while to coordinate crawling with her hands full - and pulling up therefor required quite a lot of leg strength. I have found that it had a knock on effect so rolling and sitting and crawling were all later.
Excellent fine motor skills though from all that sitting and holding things! HV wasn't concerned as progress is being made and now that she is crawling she said just to focus on that as it builds strength in all the areas needed for walking.
Congratulations on your new arrival OP!!

Congrats! I do think tummy time is important but it's not necessarily the be all and end all. I was very vigilant with my oldest son's tummy time and he was a very delayed walker - 16 months - didn't roll and crawl until 10 months. My friends son never did tummy time and didn't crawl but went straight to walking before he turned a year old. Bum shuffling is normal for babies who didn't crawl - my husband did that then walked at 18 months apparently. So please don't panic too much. Maybe a physio evaluation would be useful to put your mind at ease - you can get a private paediatric physio appointment (though not sure about Covid times) for around £100 round where I live.

My DD was NOT cooperative with tummy time. I stuck with it, but in all honesty I don’t think she got any benefit from it because she was so miserable!

Tummy time develops muscles in the neck/back etc. But if he is sitting and bum shuffling he’ll be strengthening these through those activities now, so I suspect it would at most be a very minor delay in some gross motor skills, and not something that would persist. E.g. my DD never did get the hang of crawling, but that didn’t affect walking/jumping/hopping etc. It also is good for hand development becUse it encourages then to open their hands and place them flat. These muscles can be developed in lots of different ways e.g messy play, play dough etc. You can also just encourage them to open and close their hands a lot through play e.g. round and round the garden, songs like “open them, shut them” etc.

I was worried that I couldn’t get my DD to cooperate with tummy time and spent hoouuuuurrrrrs looking into it. It’s not a big deal if they have plenty of other ways to use their bodies and develop their coordination, so just offer them lots of different positions and activities and they’ll be fine.