Tummy time is a really important way for babies to develop upper body strength and neck muscles. It’s normal for babies to cry whilst they do it, at the beginning it is not comfortable for them as they are gradually gaining strength in there back, arms, tummy and neck.
Tummy time is an activity you can start straight away, you don’t need to place your baby on the floor to do this. For the first few weeks I had my son with his tummy on mine and he would start to use his neck to look around the room and try to push his upper body up with his arms.
When he was placed directly onto his tummy he would scream and as a reflux baby he would be sick everywhere. I tried out different positions until we found one that would work, I found that he would cry but eventually settle if I placed him face down over my knees or if I laid down and we did tummy to tummy. This is also a really good time to have skin to skin, you can use it as a way to calm down the baby once they have done tummy time or find a position that works for during.
Persistence is key, It will get easier and eventually they’ll start to enjoy it. Start of by doing 2 minutes and gradually increasing. I found it useful to not keep the environment the same, one of the items I use is a tummy time inflatable mat which he loves as he gets to move the water and sea creatures around. I also recommend using a play mat and now he can see colours we use foam tiles.
Your baby will start reaching for toys eventually and this is really important as it sets the foundation for them learning how to roll over. I started off using a rattle, a light up carousel and a few soft toys for him to reach for. We now use the crawling crab to encourage him to crawl and chase after it.
Tummy time helps with many development milestones and can be started straight away, it’s important to build up to an hour of tummy time by 3 months. The baby must be awake during tummy time and you must be close by and watching them.
Please share any tips you may have and let me know what products have helped you.