Do you do tummy time

[Vics100pink]

Do you do tummy time, and if so how and if not why not

It wasn't a thing when ds was little. We did "lying on a play mat" instead

Tummy time is really important as it encourages rolling and crawling.
Lay your little one on the floor on a mat for just a minute with their head on its side if they are very little. They can take longer as their head strength develops in time.
Laying them on your chest when your leaning back or laying down is also tummy time.
It's all about them getting used to the feeling being in the position. If they don't have that sensation it can feel odd or not nice as the months go on and they may refuse to go on their tummies.

Yes we do tummy time. Baby 6 months so rolling onto tummy himself now. We started when we he was very little mostly because he's always enjoyed it.

Yeah because as much as I love my dd's I do not want to be holding them all the time! They're 3 and 7 months and are actually pretty independent. But they have always enjoyed tummy time and my youngest even learned to roll over at 4 weeks.

Never bothered. DD walked at 13 months and is very physically capable now at 20 months. I think it's unnecessary for typical children who get a decent amount of time out of car seats/buggies etc.

Surely everyone does it because it's essentially just putting them on the floor.

DD hated it with a passion, in the end I gave up and just smiled and nodded when the HV asked how it was going.

It's a relatively new thing, I'm sure it helps with some development but LT it makes no difference. I don't know anyone of my generation who can't manage to hold their head up because their parents didn't do it.

Ds does loads of tummy time now he can roll.onto his front. Unfortunately he can't roll back yet though! I never really actively put him on his front as he wasn't keen but he seems to like it now

We did it when DD was relatively 'old'. We adopted her from foster care at 8 months old. She'd had very little time out of her rocker or high chair so it was important to us to help her get her strength up.

I read a good article about it in a baby magazine which had tips like putting toys she likes on the floor with her, getting down to eye level and having a chat...just anything that makes it more entertaining and doesn't seem like they've been dumped there (not that you would).

I had a major whatever the adopter's equivalent of a PFB moment is when I bought furry animal slippers so I could tap dance in front of her when she was having tummy time. I've calmed down a bit now.

Oh @Rainatnight - that's adorable

We didn't do tummy time as he had reflux and it made him sick. He rolled at 11 weeks and is pretty much sitting up unattended now at 6 months so I personally don't believe is massively vital but if your baby doesn't hate it then it can't hurt

Not specifically, they spent a lot time upright though in a sling, being a carried or just nosing around. It wasn't really a big "thing" when mine were babies (now 11 and 4). They both rolled around 6 weeks and doctor said they had pretty strong neck muscles from birth anyway.

As PP have said, I don't think it's that important to development as like most things unless there is a serious medical issue it will happen naturally. If anything I think it's more about avoiding flat head syndrome following the advice to put them on their backs.

I've worked with kids of all ages in various capacities and me never never once come across someone who just couldn't hold their head up despite "tummy time" being a relatively new phenomenon..

Err... Excuse the typos!

Not until about 3 months cos he hated it. And even then not every day probably. He could roll over onto his belly himself by 4.5 months. Lots of time on the floor though exercising his legs and arms

Ten different threads in one day, Vics? You need to chill out - you've got this, OK?

Not much. Both mine were reflux so would tend to:

Scream.
Vomit.
Scream again.
Flop face into vomit.

Wasnt so nice.

I did give them time lying on my chest so they were sort of face down but not horizontal (much less vomit). They were happy, I was happy (apart from when they still vomited). DD1 wasnt a great crawler (early sitter, late crawler, didn't look that comfortable crawling and got up and walked early).

We tried but probably didn't do as much as we should. She hated being in the floor or sofa in that position, toys or not. She did get some on our chests and she used to feed in that position a lot.

She could sit before she could roll, and stand holding things before she could crawl, she just seems to prefer being upright to face down.

9 months now and she is happily rolling, crawling, pulling herself to standing, and lowering herself back down again.

If you're struggling in the floor try it with baby on top of you, or baby on the sofa and you sit on the floor so your face is level for reassurance/entertainment.

DD HATED 'tummy time' with a passion, would scream and scream and scream until you turned her back over, she could roll from her back to her front (but not the other way) and hold her head up as a newborn so I wasn't too concerned about her missing out on it and not building her strength. She would only tolerate it if she was lying on her tummy on DPs chest and even then only for a short while until she started crying and head butting.

Once she learned to roll both ways by about 4 months she was happy to be on her tummy but before that she wanted to be held up either standing or sitting position and would only be cradled like a baby when feeding. She was a bit slow to crawl and started at 8 months, but was cruising along the sofa, albeit a bit wobbly, from 7. Sitting unaided from 5 months. All babies are different and as long as they aren't just sat in a chair or bouncer all the time they will build their strength in other ways and won't miss their milestones.

My dd liked being propped on her tummy on a v shaped pillow so she had more chance of being able to look around a bit!

My ds hated tummy time he never liked being on his belly at all so I stopped it as it was too upsetting for him, he didn't crawl but he started walking around 10 months. My dd loved tummy time and did crawl early on however she didn't walk till she was around 12 months.

Nah, he hated it and it seemed pointless to just lie a floppy baby on the floor and let them wriggle and cry, like some sort of weird torture!

He rolls and crawls very proficiently now at 8mo and has a normal shaped head so I don't think it made much difference

Nope. We follow the pikler and RIE advice of natural gross motor development. Babies don't need tummy time, unless they have rolled and put themselves in that position, which is fine.

Never bothered. There was all sorts of chat about this being important at baby groups, but I sort of figured unless DD loved it, it was pointless.

FWIW she crawled at 5 months, cruised at 6 and was a fairly early walker, so doesn't seem to have made any difference.

Tried it with DD, she never lasted more than about a minute. And she never crawled; went straight from bum-shuffling to walking.

DS (4 months) loves it, he kicks his arms and legs like he's swimming. In terms of how, I just plonked them on their fronts on the floor/bed/sofa on the their tummies. DS likes going on my feet (me sitting on the floor with feet together, him on his tummy on my feet, facing away from me. Got that one from a baby yoga class!)

I do sometimes. Dd is three months and doesn't mind it, she spends lots of time upright in her sling or laid on my tummy anyway and her necks been pretty strong since birth so I don't go out of my way to do it.

Mine both hated it so we didn't do it. They sat at 4&5 months crawled at 8 ds1 walked at 11 and ds2 is taking steps at 9 months so I doubt it's hindered them much. As long as you don't have them constantly lying flat I dont see a problem with no tummy time if it upsets them.