How to do Tummy Time Correctly

Tummy Time

How to do Tummy Time Correctly and Help with Baby Development

In between feeding, winding, changing and napping, it can be difficult to find time within the day to do tummy time with your baby. Then, if you do finally get around to doing it, they vomit or worse still, hate it and cry the house down. Does this sound familiar?

Tummy time seems to be the hot topic lately in discussions surrounding ‘how to help your baby reach their developmental milestones’. So, if you’re wondering what is it and why is it so important for baby development, I am here to help and hopefully offer some ways to help incorporate it into your daily routine.

Why Tummy Time is Important for Baby Development

Before I show you how to do tummy time with your baby, I want to first tell you why it is so important to try and do often I will also try and explain how not doing it may be linked to learning difficulties such as dyslexia and dyspraxia.

I am an 80s baby and when I was born, I was put to sleep on my tummy in my cot as were many millions of other children. Our average development ages were:

• for rolling was 4 months

• sitting - 6 months

• crawling - 8 months

• walking - 12 months

This has been put down to the fact that when a baby is lying face down, also known as ‘prone’, they need to use the muscles in their back, neck and tummy to try and lift their head and support themselves. By engaging these muscles regularly early in life they are better equipped to start pushing up onto their arms then hands and knees. This is the perfect position for crawling.

Since I was a baby the safety guidelines have changed and now the recommended guidelines in line with SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is for babies to sleep in their crib/Moses basket/cot on their backs with their feet at the foot of the bed. In comparison to my generation of babies, who spent around 14 hours a day on their tummies, babies today often do not spend any time at all on their tummy. In addition, the prolonged time on their backs is causing other problems such as hair loss and flat head syndrome. It also means they can develop a real dislike for tummy time in general.

Learning Difficulties Linked to Lack of Tummy Time

But how is this connected to babies developing learning difficulties? Many babies now are skipping a vital developmental stage - crawling - and either opting for bum shuffling or going straight on to walking. When babies crawl, they use both the left and right side of their brains and build important early pathway synapses. When crawling is skipped altogether, or switched for bum shuffling, the theory is that they miss those early brain connections which later in life can affect the way they learn and process information.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with a guilty sense that you’re not doing enough tummy time with baby, do not panic! I have some top tips to incorporate a prone (tummy time) position into your daily routine!

Benefits of Tummy Time

Here are some benefits of tummy time:

• Aids digestion

• Builds muscles

• Supports more complex actions like rolling, sitting, crawling

• Builds early connections within the brain

How to Add Prone Positions to your Daily Routine

If your baby does not enjoy tummy time, it may be best to start with little and often and build gradually. They do not need to be placed flat on a hard surface to receive all of the amazing benefits. Try laying your baby in some of these positions:

1. On your chest

On your chest whilst you are slightly reclined, each day you can gradually lean further back. Support your back by reclining against cushions in a chair or in bed.

2. Across your thighs:

Across your thighs demo 1 - lay baby face down (prone) across your outstretched legs. Help them by lifting their arms over your legs. You can raise one leg slightly higher to keep their head higher than their hips if they’re struggling.

3. On your lap:

Baby on lap demo - sit on the floor bending your knees up towards you, place baby on your lap face down (prone) against your thighs with their head highest close to your knees. Support your back against cushions on a chair or in bed - you may need to recline your body slightly. Each time you practise this make your legs straighter and straighter so baby’s head is lowered and they lay flat.

4. Tiger in the tree:

this can be done either standing or sitting and is with your baby placed face down along your forearm. Their head should be in the crook of your elbow and you can either hold your elbows or use your spare hand to stroke baby’s back.

5. Fireman’s hold:

this hold involves placing your baby up high on your chest with their arms up over their shoulder - as if you are a fire person carrying them. It is also a great position for winding. The pressure of your shoulder on their tummy gives the same effect as on the floor.

Fireman’s hold side angle:

Fireman’s hold side angle

6. Tummy time on the floor:

this way can be the most frustrating for baby and even if you know they really don’t enjoy it, don’t avoid it altogether, slowly build up to it. Perhaps try a few of the other techniques first and then progress to this, it might take you a few days or weeks.

When you are ready to try the on the floor position, put something comfortable down such as a play mat, place baby down on their tummy and help them with the position by gently encouraging their arms forward as if they are in a plank position. Top tip: you can place a rolled-up towel or blanket under baby’s chest to help lift them up.

Now for baby, if they haven’t done anything like this before, it is going to be really hard - like you have to do a 60-minute plank. So be their cheerleader, really encourage them and reward them for doing so well. My trick to build up the time they spend in this position is to do a VERY over-exaggerated count to 10 as soon as they being to voice or show their discomfort. In reality, it is likely more than 10 seconds and more than 20 seconds as I speak in between eg ‘1, oh wow, you’re doing so good, 2 that’s it, baby, keep it up, 3 so close that’s it, 4 so proud of you, 5 look how strong you are!’ - You get the idea.

Add a bright and upbeat voice with smiles and ALWAYS stick to your promise and pick them up/turn them around when you reach 10. This way you are building really good trust with your baby.

Never leave baby unattended during tummy time and only practise when your baby is awake. It is also best to wait until 30-40 minutes after a feed.

At first, your baby may be face down on the mat in this position. This is normal - if your baby is really struggling, you can encourage them to turn their head slightly to the side. As time goes on, they will begin to bob their head (that’s where having a comfy mat comes in handy so they don’t face plant) and then they’ll progress to both pushing their bottom-up and pushing into their arms.

How Long Should I do Tummy Time for?

There is no right or wrong for the length of time you should do it. Some babies are quite happy to lay there for ten minutes at a time, whereas other babies struggle to do ten seconds. Start small and work towards a minute. Each time you practise (especially using the over-exaggerated cheerleader technique) you’ll notice that baby can do longer and longer Start as young as possible and do it little and often if your baby is struggling.

TheBump.com suggests 20 to 30 minutes a day for babies aged three or four months old, with WhatToExpect.com advising three sessions of around five minutes each per day, increasing as the baby becomes more accustomed to tummy time.

Have you Tried Any of These Techniques? What’s Your Favourite?

I am not a GP and in no way suggest you lay your baby on their tummy to sleep. I think it is always best to follow the current guidelines and if you have any questions, I suggest you speak with your health advisor or GP. I do, however, suggest that for those babies that don’t currently spend much time in the prone position, do use some of the exercises stated above for both play and developmental support.

If you have enjoyed learning about how to support your baby’s development through tummy time and prone positions, you might also enjoy learning Baby Yoga with us where we will show you more fun ways to support your baby’s development.