No tummy time - worried

[cracklybooks]

I’m a first time mum to a 16 week old DD. I’ve hardly done any tummy time with her and am a bit concerned that it may have affected her development.

I read that by 16 weeks, babies should be able to prop themselves up on their arms whilst on their tummy and have a look around.

I’ve been doing some tummy time with DD over the past few days and she is nowhere near that - her arm muscles seem very weak and she’s not pushing herself up off the floor at all. She just lies there, moving her legs and getting more and more distressed.

Have I affected her development by not starting tummy time sooner and is there anything I can do to help her progress?

Never heard of tummy time. When did that start? DC ages 25 - 13.
They're all fine BTW.

@cracklybooks

I’m not concerned that there’s anything wrong with her - she can’t hold her head up whilst on her tummy, but the reason for that is purely down to lack of tummy time I think.

I don’t know if she’s got good neck strength really - how can you tell? She’s not floppy like she was as a newborn, but beyond that I’m not sure.

Can she move her head when she's doing tummy time?

@Mandalalorianna

Never heard of tummy time. When did that start? DC ages 25 - 13. They're all fine BTW.

Soon after the advice became to put babies on their backs to sleep, parents also started being advised to put babies on their fronts during awake/play time - some babies were spending no time on their fronts and paediatric physios were starting to see issues emerging such as flat head syndrome and torticollis, delayed gross motor skills.

You can hold her to do tummy time OP - it doesn't have to be flat on the floor to start with. Once she's stronger and can push herself up and lift her head she'll be happier to lie on the floor.
apcp.csp.org.uk/system/files/tummy_time_2016_0.pdf

My wee boy is just the same, down to the rolling from back to tummy first, though not quite got it yet, and has just recently also started trying front to back.

We did tt but he would just cry and thrash and would last 30 secs at a time. We tried everything... R
rolled up blankets, breastfeeding pillow, water mat, a roller thing for under tummy, spread over gym ball... honestly, I was freaking out. I then bought a boppy pillow and literally within a week he was raising head much more, even when off the pillow. It just gave him the boost to figure out what muscles to engage I think. 4 weeks later he is on his foreams and holding head up for much longer. He no longer cries so early into tt, and when he needs a rest puts his head down, but is happy to go again after a rest. He is now really good at sitting up supported by a corner and we are working on the unaided part. Remember this has happened during lockdown so things like babygroups aren't on. I am sure that getting out and about and meeting other babies and other people sooner would have also made things happen more quickly.
But long story short, buy a boppy pillow if you haven't already. The branded boppy, for us was the right height, whereas some other pillows were too thick.
Good luck, as others have said, have you ever met an adult that can't hold their head up?!

@cracklybooks tummy is a new invention dating mid 1990s and millions off humans developed perfectly normally before that,

DS2 would become desperate on tummy time. No attempt to lift his head, he would just desperately cry, his face in the rug.
Now at age 14 he competes at state level in NSW Australia in athletics and swimming and even qualified once for Nationals for Javelin. His brother and sister did plenty of tummy time and are couch potatoes.

So don't worry too much about this if she doesn't like it. There will be practice to lift head duding normal and natural activities.

@LeGrandBleu Pre-1990s most babies spent vastly more than 30 minutes a day on their fronts though.