Tummy time fail!

[SallyMischievo]

4 month old DD really doesn't like being on her tummy and will cry after a couple of minutes of being placed on it. I dangle a toy or roll a ball whilst making encouraging noises but she squirms and sobs so I end up rolling her back onto her back or picking her up and giving her a cuddle. Consequently she still can't lie on her tummy with her head held up and I worry that she is not going to be strengthening her neck and shoulder muscles and won't enjoy learning to crawl. We are supposed to be focusing on massaging our baby's back at our baby massage class next week and I just know that DD will kick off! Any tips would be amazing and very gratefully received!

My DD did everything early, could lift her head almost immediately etc etc. (please bear with me not a stealth boast) BUT she hated tummy time. Lying on her tummy on the floor was not at all interesting, she couldnt see me or look around and table legs and carpet are quite boring to look at.

I worried until someone pointed out that she did tummy time when she lay on me. I used to lay her face down on my feeding pillow so she was raised up at the front and we would watch tv together. She still crawled for a week until she realised she could stand

Ah something else for parents to get stressed about!!

Glad mine missed this trend as DS2 hated being on his front.

If babies are never laid on their front they may miss out on the crawling stage which some experts believe is important for development of large and fine motor movements see do babies need to crawl.
Also there seems to be a link between not crawling and dyslexia, lots of info if you google crawling + dyslexia.
I worked in child health when advice changed about sleep position and there was a definite increase in babies missing out on crawling and going straight from sitting to standing/walking. This prompted HCP's to start advising tummy time.

However some babies do skip crawling, tummy time or not.
I know of kids of a yoga instructor who have had every physical exercise suitable for babies who skipped it.

The dyslexia link is correlation not causation and actually from a child development standpoint likely to be a symptom not a cause as dyslexia is neurological in origin. Ie they don't crawl because they are dyslexic or dispraxic and struggle with coordination - not the other way round.

...And an American parenting magazine style article will not answer the question that accurately, frankly.

I would like to see the relevant documentation from a dyslexia charity, or perhaps research from the lancet.

Certainly it has always been presented as a symptom not a cause when I have been working with children with SEN/SN. Something to look put for. As far fewer children were accurately diagnosed in the days of tummy sleeping there isn't a great pool of data for comparison but not doing enough tummy time DOESN'T cause dyslexia or any other SN.

No sorry 3rd post as I'm quite cross. This could scare parents and stigmatise both children with neurological SN and additional physical needs.

Are physically disabled children more likely to be dyslexic then? Because - you know - they can't crawl and walk?

I did not crawl. I was born waaaayyy before you were supposed to put your child on your back. I'm not dyslexic. Well not that I am aware of.

Agree with squizita. The above is guilt riddled dubiously put together 'evidence'.

The article states there's no scientific evidence. Hard to get funding for this kind of research especially in the UK, no commercial benefit for anyone.

I suppose it just makes sense to give babies the opportunity to lie on their front. My DS hated it so I didn't push things, then someone suggested putting a mirror in front of him and he was fine with it, smiling and chatting to himself.

Some babies do skip crawling. Some come up with their own variations on it. Some find they can get where they want to be by rolling, so they do that. DD's second cousin did a weird variant on crawling with her legs held straight instead of knees bent.

A link between dyslexia and not crawling doesn't mean that not crawling causes dyslexia. Correlation is not causation. It could also mean that dyslexic people have some neurological differences that make crawling more difficult for them as babies.

People would love it if there were something simple they could do (or refrain from doing) that could prevent things like dyslexia, autism, or other disabilities. Then those things would be controllable by a parent in a way they aren't now. It's scary for a parent to think that their child might have a disability and there's nothing the parent can do to prevent or cure it. People will latch onto all kinds of false hopes of doing something about that. It's a lot like how people have worn amulets or done things like putting a horseshoe over the door to protect against various bad things since at least ancient Egyptian times. Those things can give an illusion of control, which most people would prefer to acknowledging that they have no control over whether or not something bad happens.

I'd take any advice from parenting magazines on preventing autism or dyslexia (or any similar disabilities) with a large dose of skepticism. Show me the scientific studies.

The people who run parenting magazines also know that making parents feel guilty is a good way to sell stuff. It sells magazines, it gets people to click on websites, and it gets people to buy stuff.

If I had put DS2 on his tummy, he would very soon have been lying in a pool of his own vomit as he had reflux. So I didn't! At 4 months, he could barely lift his head off the floor! He crawled and walked within normal parameters and is now a fit, active 15 year old.

this is what Peter Walker (world renowned baby massage expert / baby yoga / health guru) suggests happen from when babies are a few weeks old; after 6 week check follow the four steps and most importantly, make sure baby is happy at each stage before moving on.

Peter Walker's tummy time

This thread has taken a worrying tone. To add to my above post- which was pretty lighthearted and just meant as an encouragement to people who want to do tummy time but find their baby hates it- my older DC is nearly 14 years old and never really did tummy time as a baby.

She never crawled, she shuffled on her bum. She walked late at 17 months. She has no SEN.

Agree with geeky above. If we could ward off issues with things like tummy time or avoiding vaccinations that would be great, but it's not real.

Hiya, my LO (6months) really hated tummy time and is very prone to being sick, she has physio every 2 weeks since having a stroke at 12 weeks old, and the physio suggested a rolled up towel or blanket under her chest (as other posters have) but said ultimately not to worry too much. A couple of weeks ago she started rolling from back to front, and now I can't seem to stop her! Which is a problem when she has just eaten hehe. I suppose what i'm saying is try not to worry, but if it does niggle away at you (as these things tend to) drop it into the conversation next time you are with your GP or health visitor? Always good just to put your mind at rest (unless you have my health visitor, she is terrifying )

Oh dear came on this thread to share your pain (my 6 month still hates tummy time nor will he sit) and yuk it's gone all a bit serious and alarming!
I try not to worry but it's hard as DS1 was fine. However, I feel better as he has finally started to roll yesterday. Only from front to back which is making tummy time even harder as he just rolls to his back immediately!

My DD hated tummy time, too, so I didn't bother after not-very-long. My DD crawled at about 9 months old, so her lack of tummy time wasn't an issue for strengthening. Normal baby stuff like sitting on your knee looking around, being carried, having a bouncy chair, whatever, will do the same job for a 4-month-old. If she hates the baby massage session, then be a rebel - sit at the back and do something you learnt in a previous class with her instead.

My dd hated tummy time - it wasn't that she wasn't physically capable of lifting her head up, but she found it hard work, didn't like having her face near the floor, and would just go on strike immediately, put her face down on the floor, and cry. It got to a stage where she'd get so angry that she wouldn't calm down when I turned her round but would just carry on crying hysterically, and the whole thing was just really stressful. I tried putting her on my chest but I just got a close-up view of a furious baby face. The things I found that helped were:

• Doing it more often (but just for short times) I realised that her reaction stressed me out so much I'd avoid it, but when I braced myself, she started to get used to it a bit more and it wasn't such a catastrophe.

• putting a baby sensory video on my iPad (Google them) and propping it in front of her. She found the moving shapes and colours so enthralling that she would forget she was on her tummy for a minute.

• massage actually helped because she likes having her back rubbed and the sensation makes her push her head up.

• putting her straight on the floor (with a muslin under her face) instead of on her mat or a cushion, because on a harder surface she didn't sink into it and so could see a bit more

Now (5.5 months) she isn't exactly great at tummy time but it's not a major trauma any more.

I didn't crawl and I'm pretty sure I'm dyspraxic. Seems more likely to me that the dyspraxia is why I didn't crawl than the other way round!

Wait my last post doesn't make sense.

The dyspraxia is why I didn't crawl, rather than not crawling that caused dyspraxia.

Poorly constructed sentence but I think that makes more sense.

Now I'm gonna go do something cool over there...

I've had 3 babies who've all turned out fine and I've never even heard of tummy time till I saw this post !

There was no such thing as tummy time when my DC were babies. (Now 15, 13 and 11.)

I suspect from what I've read on his thread that it's another thing to make parents (and mothers in particular) feel guilty. 'Cos, you know, there wasn't enough, already.

I'm amazed that people buy into this advice, so much. If your baby hates tummy time, don't do it. Insisting your baby does tummy time, when they hate it is just as bad as letting them cry "because it's good for their lungs". And when a MIL suggests that, we all know what short shrift she gets on here.

If you are worried about strengthening the neck and shoulders, (and really, you don't have to be) use a sling, sometimes.

2minuts of tummy time is lots at 4 months! Go with what they can manage.

DD hated it, she just screamed so I couldnt see the point.

Instead I used to lie her on my tummy in the mornings in bed - she got all the neck/back exercise she need just trying to lift her head to see me.