Sleepy baby - How do we work on neck strength?

[KalamityKate89]

Hi,
My DD is a very sleepy 1 month old (to the point that she used to sleep through feeds and lost a lot of weight- problem solved now tho). She now feeds every 2-3 hours, cries until she is fed and as soon as she is fed she will fall back asleep.

Because of this tummy time is near impossible apart from when we have tummy to tummy/chest to chest time to sooth her if she gets fussy.

She finally put on enough weight to go in her baby carrier/sling. Can this help her neck muscles even in her sleep? Can she be in the carrier too much? I really want to help her muscles strengthen but we've tried everything we can whilst she is awake (but that tends to be whilst at the doctors/hospital/children's centre so not much chance to do tummy time then either).

If there's anything else anyone can suggest i would be really grateful. x

I would say not to worry too much about it yet. Shes only little still, plenty of time to learn neck strength. Tummy time in the early stages should only be a few seconds at a time anyway. Wait until she switches to being a bit more awake, she'll get there!

Honestly chill out about tummy time and don't worry. I know these days it's presented as super important and, while I don't doubt the benefits, I also think we need to remember that before it was 'a thing' everyone was fine and had good strong necks. Baby is still little and it'll all come with time. Enjoy your baby

Another vote here for honestly don’t worry. Both my babies did the most of their tummy time on me, whilst feeding, pushing up and cuddling. Enjoy those magical newborn sleepy cuddles

Agree with PP! I worried so much about tummy time. DS has a massive head so it took quite a while for him to hold his head up straight consistently. He's now 1 and absolutely fine, just on the slow end of average for gross motor skills. His head is a good shape, not flat at all

Tummy time wasn’t a thing when my kids were babies, well not consciously anyway, and they were both holding their heads up at an appropriate time

When I say quite a while: I have pics of him at 3.5 months with his head lolloping sideways. He was holding it up, but not straight

I would think you can lay down with her and do it on your chest. I don't see the difference? My son hated tummy time but he used his neck muscles plenty when he was on us and looking around.

I suspect it's more of a 'thing' now because babies spend their lives on their backs whereas in the past people used to put them to sleep on their fronts.

Thanks everyone. We've had such a struggle with how poorly she was in the first few weeks that just getting her to wake for feeding was a fight so adding on top all of the constant stressing that babies need to do so much tummy time and should have done it from when she leaves hospital.

I am curious if anyone knows if babywearing is as good as they say it is for muscles though. x

Agree with pp, tummy time isn’t something to worry about. If you hold your baby, out her in sling etc then she’ll still be strengthening her neck muscles. My dd had such bad reflux there was no way I could put her on her stomach as she’d lose a feed! But we held/wore her plenty and her neck muscles developed normally.

I found around 3-4 weeks my daughter suddenly seemed to ‘wake up’ - she went from constantly feeding or sleeping to being awake but not hungry. I was a bit lost about what to do 😂 suddenly she needed entertaining! Hopefully this will happen for your baby too - she won’t be sleepy forever and so then you can do tummy time. I’m sure I read that time in a sling does count as tummy time as it’s the same muscles - though logically I think perhaps only when the baby is awake and trying to look around?

Don’t stress 🙂

My tip for tummy time - each time you change a nappy, when you’re finished flip them onto their tummy for a quick burst while you clean your hands/put things in the bin etc. Make sure it’s a safe surface - we change on a mat on the floor so they can’t roll off anywhere.

If they’re happy you can leave them longer on their front (my DS loved looking at the bathroom tiles!), but even if it’s only 30 secs at a time it’s an easy way to remember to do it and get the daily time in.

she's 1mo! don't worry about it. her neck will be fine and she'll do it when she's ready. 1mo is tiny. let her sleep... ENJOY the sleep!

Oh OP, you're doing fine! DS was poorly at the start too and it just bowls you for six. If she's eating, growing, sleeping, peeing and pooing you're doing fabulous!

Baby wearing is good for many things op, I'd recommend it (if your baby likes it!)

I think the reason tummy time became a thing was because babies stopped being put to sleep on their front, but as others say I really wouldn’t be worried at this stage and remember her lying face down on you counts