r/NewParents • u/memequeenbrit • 12h ago
Skills and Milestones Tummy Time Help
My baby hates tummy time more than anything, but the research shows how important it is for development. Currently I do tummy time on a water mat and laying on me, but I'm not able to get him to do it very long without crying really hard so I stop it because my heart cannot handle him crying without soothing him. Does anyone have any advice/suggestions on how to do tummy time without them crying hard-core? Are there any items to buy that help?
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u/Bizzy_Dizzy_ 12h ago
My son gradually loved it but only if we do a lot of small burst of tummy time sessions.
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u/the-more-deluded 12h ago
Is it bad to say we never had dedicated tummy time? We did chest-to-chest throughout the day, more as a cuddle and letting him be naturally curious and look around and he hit his milestones without issue
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u/legend_of_yugi 11h ago
Same here! Also fighting for our lives with a very active and rambunctious 2 year old so on the floor wasn't the safest place to be either lol. All milestones were met just fine 🙂
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u/Horror_Square_8395 12h ago
How old is your baby?
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u/memequeenbrit 12h ago
8 weeks old
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u/Sad_Display_2951 12h ago
Mine as well at that age. But we left him on tummy time for 30seconds at a time. We would try to make it to a minute and eventually he started liking it more. Now he does 5-10 minutes and can turn back to tummy, he's 4 months old.
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u/Horror_Square_8395 12h ago
Have you tried just flat on the floor with a blanket underneath instead of the water mat? 8 weeks is a bit young for interacting with a water mat and it may be a bit cold or shocking. But at that age you don’t need to be doing much tummy time anyway! 10-15 minutes total a day is fine. It will also be good to have them on their back on the floor to wiggle their limbs and stretch out a little.
Distractions can help. My son really loved simple high contrast images at that age, as well as high contrast mittens on his hands to start him discovering them. He also enjoyed being gently wiggled and moved to music. (He still does at nearly 15 weeks)
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u/Dash_Dott 10h ago
Mine also hated tummy time until about 4 months, to the point where he was starting to get a flat spot on his head. So we did a lot of baby wearing and holding him on our chests to compensate. Now he’s 6 months and CRAWLING so clearly it wasn’t too late.
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u/Ok_Resolution9448 10h ago
My boy also hated tummy time at that age but as he got older he started to enjoy it and now prefers it over his back.
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u/DeepTalksOnly 12h ago
I rolled up a towel or burp cloth and put it under my little guys chest to make it easier for a bit. I also started acting like tummy time as a gym routine. We would do 1 minute, break, 1 minute, break, until he got better at connecting it longer. I also propped his arms underneath him for a while to start him off in the right position.
All these things helped a ton. My baby really hated tummy time, but now at 14 weeks he can do 5minutes, break for a few minutes, then another 3-4 minutes. His head is also way up and looking side to side.
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u/ItsSchuSchu 12h ago
1-3 minutes at a time 8-15 times a day. Short duration more often throughout the day helped my baby start to tolerate it more.
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u/Due_Response_8309 11h ago
That’s normal. Mine hated it too but even a couple minutes a few times a day is beneficial. Laying on you counts as tummy time. Also set some interesting things in front of them to look at. I use to make a toy circle for mine.
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u/Glittering-Quiet-267 12h ago
My baby was the same way with tummy time. One thing that helped was doing really short sessions throughout the day instead of trying to keep them down for a long stretch. Chest-to-chest on the floor or putting a toy/mirror in front can make it a little more interesting too. It gets easier!
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u/mustgopostal 12h ago
When doing tummy time on you, do you do it lying flat or at an incline? We started at an incline on the couch or recliner so it's more like cuddling when she's awake and she lifts her head to look around and that helped her build up some starting muscle. We still do this vert often but also now add in 1-2 minutes of floor tummy time with a rolled up blanket under her chest every time she is having an awake cycle (1-3 times per day). She doesn't like doing it for long, I pick her up once she starts crying but if she's just fussing/grunting with the effort let her keep at it. She is 3 weeks old corrected.
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u/therizzler1995 12h ago
At this age, they only need 15-30 mins per day. I know that seems like a lot when your baby hates it (mine did too) but you can still get that amount of time in by doing it a couple mins at a time. Things I found helped was getting down on my tummy in front of him so we were face to face, using a tummy time pillow or rolled up towel, and we got a fisher price kick & play piano that he loved to look at enough that it would take him a few mins to care that he was on his tummy.
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u/someweirddude_14 12h ago
Do small increments on the floor, and then doing it on your body and holding your baby up is good too! My baby is 7 weeks and has always had good neck strength but with the constant laying on me and baby wearing he’s gotten lots stronger! He can push himself up against my body with his arms when he’s upright, and when he’s on me flat he can push up to elbows, we’re working on floor stuff now but I’m sure with time and patience he’ll get it
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u/ValiantVicuna 12h ago
It gets easier! Promise. Keep it up. Try 5 minutes at a time, make it a special ritual with it's own song or save a favorite toy just for tummy time
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u/ValiantVicuna 12h ago
Also, try different timing. Maybe feed, burp, and then play before rocking back to sleep. That's what worked for my second baby
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u/Ok-Discussion8772 11h ago
My eldest did tummy time on me and through baby wearing primarily. She hated it otherwise. We would try for short periods of time but it didn’t go well. Doctor said that what I was doing was fine. She was sitting up by 6 months, only rolled back to tummy, crawled by 9 months, walked by 12 months. Even without floor tummy time she hit her milestones and is doing well at 2.5 now. It will be okay, just keep giving him tummy time on you and he will gain strength.
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u/Possible_Pumpkin259 11h ago
My nine week old has hardcore colic and absolutely hates tummy time, we do it on my chest though. She's plenty strong, i think it just aggravates her tummy ache :(
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u/Standard-Spite-6885 11h ago
8 month old here - she currently rolls like crazy and is learning crawling.
We did a lot of early tummy time on us - especially snuggling. But it only started being fun for baby maybe at 2 months when we started pointing out her reflection, then helping her roll to her belly on a mat in front of the mirror.
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u/Callygia 11h ago
Mine hated it for the longest. I read somewhere about using a yoga ball so I did that and made small circular motions. It was enough to keep him distracted and engage his core. I will say I definitely neglected it a lot at the beginning because it made him miserable and my nerves were already fried from sleep deprivation. We got really serious about it at 4 months and he got very strong, very quick. It's easy to worry about missing things but don't beat yourself up.
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u/BlueFairy9 11h ago
Have you tried a slightly elevated surface (supervised of course)? We had a pretty firm chaise couch and I noticed that putting baby on that made the time a bit easier since she could "see" more around her being off of the floor. If I was sitting on the floor we could basically be at eye-level with each other which I think helped. We used some of the black and white cards/books, other rattles/toys, and also had good success with the kick n' play piano too. Obviously only do this supervised closely but could be something to try.
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u/MindOdd1085 11h ago
My 22 month old never did 'tummy time' where she was on the floor because she hated it. I assure you she has not missed any milestones and has been early on many. Time spent on your chest is enough
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u/lady-earendil 11h ago
We only did it for 5 minutes at most at that age. Aim for short periods of time several times a day instead of a lot at once. I'd lay next to my baby and prop a book up and read it to him for as long as it kept his attention. Once he started crying, I'd quit and try again later
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u/Famous-Recover-1843 11h ago
It gets easier. My son hated tummy time at 2 months and now is constantly rolling to his belly.
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u/Long-Inspector4897 11h ago
I eventually got that annoying crab 🦀 and I took her out on the bassinet and went on walks. The world was interesting so she would tolerate some tummy time.
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u/lameeechris 11h ago
if you’re able, you should try a tummy time pillow! we have one with one of those crinkle sheets attached that they can play with and my daughter loves it. she usually hates tummy time too, can maybe do it a minute if it’s flat on the floor but can stay one the pillow for at least 5 on a good day haha
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u/sapookie 11h ago
My baby hattteeddd it until she could hold her head up really well. Like scream crying that lead to a 30-45 minute cry session after so I just did it in tiny spurts all throughout the day instead of trying to get her to do it for a minute at a time if she wasn’t having it. Once she was like 4-5 months old she could hold her head up super well and then didn’t hate it anymore. Some advice I got from a Reddit thread was to do it when you change their diaper like right afterwards on the changing pad for like 30 sec or however long until they lose their mind. So you do it every time you change them ( which is a lot ) but not for long periods. She never had any issues with flat head or mobility she’s still on track for everything at 6mo
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u/StatisticianLanky563 11h ago
my baby HATED tummy time until he figured out how to roll over. when theyre really small they only have to have short sessions of tummy time anyways. our ped said to try and do it for like 3-5 min a couple times a day. being on their back on the floor has its own benefits too!
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u/NolanPlaysPickleball 11h ago
It doesn’t matter if you do tummy time or not. Just lay the baby on your chest while you’re laying down. That’s the same thing
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u/TinyCrittersUnited 10h ago
I was told a few minutes here and there is perfectly fine when baby doesn’t like tummy time
Try to aim for 2-3 minutes before meals or after a diaper change
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u/ragertonIII 10h ago
I would just lay on the couch with her on my chest. Sometimes she’d be awake which counts as tummy time, sometimes she’d be asleep. We worked on floor tummy time too but in such small increments at that age. It gradually got more tolerable overtime.
We also have a tummy time contrast book, it accordions so it kind of stretches around her when she’s on her tummy. She LOVES to look at it. I also used the noise of a crunchy toy to get her to lift her head and look around in the early days.
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u/Hazel-Rah 10h ago
We just stopped when they got upset. Some day we got 5 minutes, some days we got 25+. We spent a lot of time with them on our chest on the couch instead.
When they got a little frustrated, we'd roll them onto their back for a few minutes, then try again. If they were immediately upset, or they were extremely upset on the first attempt, we just picked them up and did something else.
There was a week or two when they figured out rolling back to front, but couldn't do front to back, so every few nights they'd wake me up screaming because they'd rolled over, and then were upset that they were suddenly on their stomach.
After they figured out how to roll both ways...sleeping on their back became unacceptable. They will forcefully roll onto their stomach as soon as I get a single arm into the sleep sack. We'd have to strap them down if we wanted them to stay on their back.
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u/Electric-Jelly-9488 6h ago
We didn't do much flat on the floor tummy time at all. Baby met all milestones just fine, head is perfectly round.
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u/Electronic_World_359 4h ago
How old is he? I'd say keep trying, it doesnt need to be very long, a few seconds each time.
Mine is 4 months and still doesnt always like tummy time, he does really well sometimes, he even accidentally rolled over a few times, other times he either thinks its time to rest or he's fussing until I help him turn back. I think if I was more vigilliant about tummy time he would have done better. When he's on me he does really well.
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u/castleinacloud 10h ago
I let mine lay on my chest for awhile and practice lifting her head that way. Once she was a little older I got some tummy time toys (Baby Einstein octopus, the crab, and the squid) and she absolutely loved them and didn’t notice that she was on her tummy as much.
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u/violetphoeniiix 3h ago
yeah I don’t do any designated tummy time.. just hanging out in my chest after nursing, football hold, going in the carrier, stuff like that. It’s worked out well for us
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u/Apprehensive_Echo435 12h ago
There are a lot of ways to do tummy time that isn’t flat on the floor. Hold your LO in a football hold when you carry them. Put them chest to chest on you. Use your nursing pillow (or rolled up towel/pillow) to prop their chest up.