How to Do Tummy Time with Your Newborn Baby
Tummy time! Sounds fun, right? It actually refers to babies laying on their stomachs for brief periods of time while awake.
It’s crucial to their regular growth and development but also helps prevent flat spots on their head. Not only that, it can help reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), strengthening their back and neck muscles.
Needless to say, it’s a very important skill to learn, and we’re here to help with the process!
What Can Tummy Time Help With?
We just described a few very important benefits, but let’s look into some more:
Neck Control - Newborns up to 3-month-old babies are still developing their neck control. Tummy time is a major factor in strengthening the muscles required for them to roll over, sit up, crawl, and eventually, walk.
Helps with Torticollis - Torticollis is a condition where a baby has tight neck muscles, preventing them from turning their head. Tummy time can help prevent and treat it, encouraging them to look around.
Prevent Flat Head Syndrome - When babies spend too much time laying on their backs during their first few months, it can create a flat spot on either the back or side of their head! Tummy time prevents this from happening.
Improves Motor Skills - Tummy time helps your baby learn how to use their muscles to move and complete an action.
When Should I Start Tummy Time with My Newborn?
It may seem early, but the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends tummy time for full-term babies in their first week of life, starting as soon as their umbilical cord falls off! Make sure you are always supervising tummy time.
Creating expectations is important. For newborns, up to a minute is a big step! Try doing 2 to 3 sessions of 1 minute of tummy time per day. However, if they start crying or getting fussy, stop and wait until the next day to start up again. Build up to 10 to 15 minutes, several times per day.
How Do I Do Tummy Time with Newborns?
Start your newborn off by putting them belly-down on your chest or across your lap. Make sure their head is supported throughout every movement and that you have them secure. As we just mentioned, you can do this for up to a minute or two at a time, a few times throughout the day.
As they are laying on their tummy, they can start lifting their head up, which builds up the strength of the neck and shoulders.
Tummy Time for Older Babies
How do you do tummy time with a 2-week-old or older? Once your baby is already used to keeping their head up and practicing for up to 10 to 15 minutes per day (in total), you can make it a little more challenging.
Place a blanket down on an area of the floor completely free of any toys or anything else they can gain access to. Place them on their stomach on the blanket, starting out for 3 to 5 minutes, throughout the day. It may very well happen that they become fussy. If they do, you can keep the sessions shorter and gradually build up to longer ones.
Once they’re used to those, work up to around an hour of tummy time daily, by the time they hit that 3-month-old mark.
Tummy Time Tips
Here are some tips to make tummy time fun for everyone:
Get On The Floor - When your baby is hanging out on their tummy, you can also get down on the floor next to or in front of them. You can interact with them, turn pages in colorful books, or move toys from side to side in front of their face.
This can help strengthen their eyes, hold their interest, and encourages them to move, lift, and turn their head. It also lets them know that you’re there, in case they start getting anxious.Use a Mirror - A fantastic way to keep your baby interested is by using a non-breakable mirror so they can see their reflection. This way, they aren’t focusing on not liking tummy time and you can get them to hold their head up. Alternatively, you can use noises like the shaking of a rattle to get them to look up.
Try a Towel - Many babies out there aren’t fans of tummy time on the floor. If that is the case for your little one, try using a rolled-up towel, your lap, or your chest again.
Periodically Move Them - Some babies enjoy laying on their stomachs with their heads to one side when they’re taking a rest. This is totally fine, but make sure that you move them around every now and then to avoid flat spots and tight neck muscles.
Timing is Everything - When it comes to babies, timing really is everything - including tummy time. Should you do tummy time before or after feeding? You can do whatever you like, so long as you wait a minimum of 30 minutes after feeding to reduce vomiting and potential discomfort.
Track Everything
To make this process as seamless as possible, we highly recommend using a tracker app like BabyConnect. Baby Connect allows you to track just about every single activity and behavior your child exhibits. You can track when they’re fussy, how long they’ve napped for, when they’ve been fed.
In the case of tummy time, you can note down the way they like doing it most, how long they did each session and how often, and so on. That way, you can progress in a way that is safe and makes sense for their comfort and development.
