How important is tummy time

[CrystalSundance637]

My 6 month old still hates tummy time... She is such a happy baby until I put her on her tummy, then she's unsettled for ages. I have to admit that because of this, I don't do it every day. Perhaps once every other day. I know, terrible
Health visitor believes that she hates it so much because she is refluxy.
She does love sitting up however, and I try to have her sitting on my knee a lot. Her head and torso control seem to be on track. Am I a terrible mum?? And what can I do to help her with tummy time?

You aren't a terrible mum. Tummy time will help with crawling and rolling. It doesn't have to just be baby plonked on the floor. Do you wear baby in a sling? Does baby ever nap with their tummy on your chest/torso?

When you put baby down for tummy time do you get down on the floor too with toys? Things like little mirrors and space blankets are good to encourage tummy time.

Thanks @Pinkflipflop85. Yes we do slings and chest naps, and I do get down on the floor for encouragement. I ordered a space blanket last night actually so that's something else to try

We never really got the hang of tummy time with either of mine . All they did was face plant in the carpet and cry. I used to do it when I could, but I must admit it wasn't great and certainly not a regular thing.

Mine are 6 and 4 now and very active, flexible children.

Two very healthy, quite happy fully mobile kids in this house.. with no tummy time that I can recall on a daily or even every other day.

Is it important you ask, I would say in the long run.. probably not. Certainly nothing to feel a bad parent for.

Worked with babies for 16 years. Until the last 2/3 that I worked tummy time wasn't even a thing and if it was it wasn't mentioned like it is now. The babies that I did do this with hated it. The parents were not happy with it. All the little ones that I looked after (eldest now 19 youngest 3) managed perfectly well without it and were all climbing, rolling around quite happily some didn't crawl but walked instead.

Thank you all so much for making me feel better. I will try not to get so hung up on it!

Don't worry about it at all, both of mine regularly cried every time I tried tummy time! My (2nd) baby is currently 6 months and has reflux. I lay her on my chest and chat to her and she enjoys that, she's definitely not a fan of the floor! Also other ideas which aren't floor related - chest naps too, and get a little mirror or a book with a mirror in and put her on her tummy on the changing mat with that for a few mins (found the changing mat was softer for her and she cried less). Babies love looking at mirrors.

Mine didn't seem to like tummy time at first! And honestly if I'd continued the way I had started I don't think they ever would have liked it. It was always confusing because they seemed to want it, until they had it, then they were annoyed! I figured out, by putting my hands against their feet and putting a tiny bit of pressure, they could move themselves forwards. That's what was wrong! They were annoyed that they were on their tummies and couldn't move. That was a real game changer for mine, so perhaps that's something else to try for your little one

My DD hated tummy time too. The only way it worked for us was to put her on the couch and sit on the floor sort of under her and keep her occupied. Some kids just hate it. It's not a reflection on your parenting at all!

@notthemum

Worked with babies for 16 years. Until the last 2/3 that I worked tummy time wasn't even a thing and if it was it wasn't mentioned like it is now. The babies that I did do this with hated it. The parents were not happy with it. All the little ones that I looked after (eldest now 19 youngest 3) managed perfectly well without it and were all climbing, rolling around quite happily some didn't crawl but walked instead.

Thanks for that, notthemum. It seems odd to me to give a name to something that many do quite naturally and always have, some babies like and others don't. There should be no hard and fast rules about it.

DD1 hated tummy time! She kind of started walking before crawling.

She's perfectly well developed and healthy. Don't worry too much ;)

I do it because my baby likes it, I also find it good for getting out niggly bits of wind that, despite a load of time winding, hasnt come up.

Im not sure id press on with it if he hated it though.

Don’t worry OP.

I read an article once that said tummy time may actually be good for the resistant baby as it is forcing them to use muscles/skills that developmentally they aren’t ready for.

If a baby loves it, then great, but if a baby hates it there is no benefit in forcing it because it is obviously something that is unpleasant for them or hurts them.

Is there anything else that we would persistently force upon our baby knowing they are in pain or distressed by it?

Hopefully not - and so tummy time is no different.

Both my children hated it so I never pushed it and they still established crawling absolutely fine.

That TT may not be good for resistant babies. God I wish there was the ability to edit on MN!!

My DS would not tolerate tummy time at all. He hated it. He was crawling at 6.5 months and walking at 10 months so it's not held his development back.

I wouldn’t stress about it. Time in the sling, lying on you count as tummy time as well. My little one hated it and it wasn’t until about 5 months that he took to it. I used a little rolled up blanket for him in front of a mirror. I’m sure people will say I’m a bad parent for doing it but he also loved hey bear sensory on YouTube so we used to do a bit with that on on my laptop in front of him.

How many times have you met an adult adult who can't lift their neck because they didn't spend enough time on their tummy time roller? Never. Relax, it's fine.

Mine hated it until they could roll over on their own. Once they could roll they were never off their front. Beforehand it was screaming matches every time I tried.

My baby is 6 months he hated tummy time so we never specifically did it, he's now rolling over on his own and is happy to be on his tummy if he's rolled that way himself.

I remember panicking about this - I eventually got a tummy time pillow which helped a lot. Before that though we hardly ever did it. My daughter is 16 months and perfectly fine!!

Tummy time is about more than neck strength & walking. It also helps to develop inner organs & a bunch of stuff I've long since forgotten. I did a lot of reading about it at the time & decided it was worth persisting despite them not enjoying it terribly much!

Roll a SMALL towel up and place them on it so their arms are over the top of it and their chest is resting on it (just to raise them a bit, not a large towel) put them on the bed/sofa & you sit in front (But obviously don't leave them and try to wean them off this so they're in the floor -better for development)

Save some fun toys only for tummy time

Try different times of the day - not straight after a feed

It really is worth persisting, it's been proven to help with a lot of internal development.

Mine was refluxy and projectile puked when placed on her tummy until she was well over 12 months. As a result, tummy time was not practical!

She didn’t crawl but did everything else on time, and was confidently walking at 12 months. At about 15 months the reflux abated and she promptly learnt to crawl and roll once she realised that she wouldn’t puke.

Now at 20 months she’s a running, jumping, climbing machine who often sleeps sprawled half on her tummy!

The babies I know who liked tummy time did all crawl earlier than the ones who didn’t, but tbh, who really cares. My son hated it. He crawled at 8 months which is I think pretty average, walked at 12 months and is happy and healthy now at 2. I did try to give him some tummy time every day but he would mostly cry in seconds, whereas my friend’s baby would happily spend hours on her tummy looking at toys. They’re all different and they all get there in the end.

Tummy time is useful for babies that have certain physical problems. My oldest son had torticollis from birth (neck injury) and the main thing that helped his recovery was tummy time. He is also hypermobile and we were warned he would probably not crawl (like his dad and grandmother- hypermobility is genetic and tends to lead to bum shuffling and delayed walking) but he did crawl, and the physio thinks it's because we did so much tummy time with him.

But for a normal, healthy babt with no physical conditions? I don't know how essential it really it. We are doing it with my newborn baby every day as we saw the benefits of it with my firstborn, and there's every chance this baby might be hypermobile too. But half my NCT group apparently didn't so tummy time and they're all walking well, even though not all of them ever crawled.

My baby only tolerated tummy time around 6 mo when he started shuffling. He will probably be an early walker (crusing and using a push-walker by 7 mo) so I don’t think it did any harm.