Flip that baby over! Tummy time is the time a baby spends on his or her belly, aka in prone position. This should be while the baby is awake and supervised. There are numerous benefits for placing your baby on his or her belly. It strengthens neck, shoulders, upper back, and core muscles because babies will want to pick their heads up to see what’s going on. Tummy time helps with the flat areas on the back of the babies’ head to develop more round and helps to build the muscles babies need to roll, sit, and crawl.
You can introduce tummy time to your baby as soon as you bring him or her home from the hospital, but definitely by the time he or she is a month old. Need some tummy time ideas? Here are some helpful tips to make the most of tummy time with your baby.
Here are some ways to incorporate tummy time into your every day life.
This one is my favorite! To make tummy time fun, arrange toys in a circular way in front of your child.
A lot of parents ask me when they should incorporate tummy time. To be honest, you can incorporate it any time and anywhere! It’s good to start to incorporate it into your daily routines — after a diaper change, after bath time, etc. You can even set up a mirror because babies love to look at themselves in the mirror. This is something easy – you don’t need anything, and you can do it anywhere.
Now, if your child has a tough time participating in tummy time, you can help support them by modifying it. Putting something like a bolster, or if you don’t have that, any sort of rolled up towel or blanket will do. Make sure it’s not too close to their neck so they can breathe and it might be a little easier for them to support their weight that way.
It’s important to remember that any type of tummy time you do will benefit your baby!
We did it!
