Tummy time

Chasity - posted on 01/15/2010

Abby rolls from her back to her belly all the time, but after 5 or so mins she gets mad. So i also have to keep flipping her back over. She has also started rolling over to her belly at night to sleep. Go figure :-)



Since they started the babies to sleep on their back, the crawling times seemed to have slowed or delayed, they dont spend much time on their bellies as babies use to. It is perfectly normal for babies to skip crawling and go straight into standing and walking (This coming from the Dr and not my own advice). So im not worring about her not spending alot of tummy time, she holds her head and body up just fine. Every baby is different though.. good luck

Collette - posted on 01/15/2010

All children are different, my son will be 5months tomorrow and he has only just started to like being on his back. Dont force your bub to have tummy time just encourage. place him on his tummy but if he rolls over thats fine. when he is ready he will have tummy time.

Joy - posted on 01/14/2010

my son who will be 5 months in a few days loves tummy time. he doesnt mind laying on his back but he laughs more on his tummy lol. no rolling over yet though

Ashlynn - posted on 01/13/2010

my baby loves tummy time but my aunt has had 5 kids and 3 of them hated thier tummy two didn't crawl until they started walking one didn't start crwling till she was 8 months if they don't like thier tummy you just have to let them get mad when they can't reach a toy when they want it and they will figure it out if they really want that toy

Angie - posted on 01/12/2010

My little guy is the same way. He either rolls over right away or puts his face in the carpet which really makes him mad. I want tummy time because he has a flat spot on the back of his head and the doc says that is from sleeping on his back and more tummy time in the day would help this. I have tried toys and mirrors for him but no luck with those either.

Mary - posted on 01/12/2010

Absolutely. They are like being on their tummy much more when thay can put themselves there.

Shannon - posted on 01/12/2010

Thanks for the responses. It's so funny because the day I posted this, he rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time, and now this week he seems to be liking his tummy more!

Tiffany - posted on 01/11/2010

I think they work everything out in their own time. My 5 month old used to hate being on his stomach. I have the opposite problem to you. I put him down on his back and almost immediately he rolls over onto his stomach. He is fine for about 5 mins but then starts to get annoyed and I have to roll him over again. It's an ongoing process lol. Although he tends to sleep on his stomach a lot which doesn't bother him.

Amy - posted on 01/11/2010

My son is now 20 weeks and absolutly HATES tummy time....however he is now sleeping on his tummy sometimes at night.....but just to play there he is not liking it at all.....he is trying to roll over but has not yet....he is the fourth child of mine and all children are different my others liked being on their tummy.....so i would not worry too much about it and how it will affect his crawling.....he will be fine.....

Mary - posted on 01/10/2010

As long as you don't prop him into a sitting position it will not affect his crawling. When he has the neck and arm support to lift his torso from the ground he will probably be more comfortable on his tummy. Also if you don't stand or sit him up before he can do it on his own then when he want's to move he will need to roll over because that will be his only option. All babies if left to develope at their own pace and move in their own way will crawl it's that most of us prop them into positions or stand them up. For instance when a baby is propped into a sitting position they are trapped they often can't get down because they didn't get up by themselves. The end result is they scoot on their bottoms to move and pull up on things to stand and can end up skipping crawling. If your worried that your child will not develop appropriately I want to assure you that studies have shown that by 18 months most babies are all doing the same thing regardless of if they did tummy time, were sat up, or walked around by their hands. What was different was the quality of movement. Those who had discovered their own ways to move at their own time were much more fluid and secure in their movements. They had amazing spatial awareness and body alignment. I have never done tummy time with my daughter. She has a wonderfully round head ( she is never in a swing or bouncer so she can look from side to side while playing on the floor), and just rolled over from back to tummy on Friday and she was so pleased to be there. My beliefs are based on the work of Dr. Emmi Pikler who spent decades doing naturalistic observations of children's physical development. Trust that your baby knows what is best for his body and he will get there. There may be some muscles that he still needs to strengthen by moving on his back. The small movements in between are just as important if not more than the milestone. Hope this helped.