Author Topic: Tummy Time  (Read 75392 times)

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Offline shanaz

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #30 on: April 30, 2006, 07:38:12 am »
Hi Deb

Thanks v much for your reply.  I wasn't sure of what the benefits of tummy time were, but I think I understand a bit more now - mainly to do with building strength in upper body as well as respiratory system?  I will try her having short bursts of tummy time in her activity time and see how she goes. 

Many thanks, ps, your two are little cutie pies too!

Shanaz
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Offline deb

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #31 on: April 30, 2006, 14:51:53 pm »
Even beyond the physical benefits of tummy time is the opportunity for brain organization and growth. The more they're on their tummies, the more opportunities to use their limbs, which are making those motions in preparation for crawling - they're not random movements. :) Babies are actually DESIGNED to be on their tummies!

Once they figure out that they can move themselves forward using their arms and legs, they not only have a purpose - transportation, getting things - but eventually they develop a cross-pattern, meaning that when the right arm is forward, the left leg is as well, and vice-versa. THIS in turn organizes the lower brain and sets the stage for growth in higher areas of the brain as the baby grows and matures.

Eventually, the baby develops the limb strength for hands-and-knees crawling, and the endurance to to lots of it! :) This in turn leads to visual convergence, since the floor is just the right distance from baby's face and the baby's eyes have lots of chances to practice focusing on things on the floor. THIS then leads to the organization of higher areas of the brain.

This isn't about raising a baby Einstein, it's just phases that all babies' brains go through, given the opportunity. On the other hand, lack of these opportunities can lead to shortcomings down the road. Case in point: Josie stood early and cruised early and once she was up she didn't want to go back to hands-and-knees crawling. We didn't know better at the time, so we let her push around a walker from about 8 months on, even though she wasn't walking independently AT ALL yet - didn't happen till she was nearly a year old. She was always a Touchy baby/child, but over time it got worse and worse, and finally we got her evaluated on our own dime - it was pretty comprehensive and our HMO wouldn't cover it. As part of her program, she has to do a lot of crawling - a LOT - but it is helping a LOT. She is less obviously Touchy, and it's impacting her behavior less. She is better-organized, her fine-motor control has made HUGE gains, and she's a lot happier.

With Natalie, we put her on her tummy a LOT, she slept on her tummy, and she's a lot less overwhelmed by things than Josie ever was. It's hard to know how much of that is just a difference in personality and how much is related to how differently we have handled her mobility, and she has her own brain issues - a big-time delay in feeling pain, for example, takes her about FOUR SECONDS to register pain - that we'll have to deal with, but then again, we all have our quirks. I know I have lots of them myself - if only they knew as much about baby brains when I was a baby as they do now! :)

Offline JanJ

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #32 on: May 06, 2006, 13:16:47 pm »
My baby boy got much better on his tummy when I started putting him on my exercise ball.  If you have one, give it a try.

Offline ¤ Efka ¤

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #33 on: May 08, 2006, 15:14:50 pm »
I never knew it is so important. :o My LO is 3 weeks and I almost never do TT.Have to try to figured it out , when to do it. Try to do it before eat because later he spits up very easily. But how long milk usually settles in their stomach?
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Offline Kyles_mommy

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #34 on: May 09, 2006, 22:43:26 pm »
my little guy is 6 weeks old and we have been doing tummy time since he was born, he only likes it for a max of 5 mins, but I find it helps when I put down a blanket on his floor nd I get down with him and face him at his level and he lifts his head to look at me, so he is not always on the side of his head....

Leigh & kyle
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Offline Renee'sMum

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #35 on: May 11, 2006, 12:22:57 pm »
I never knew it is so important. :o My LO is 3 weeks and I almost never do TT.Have to try to figured it out , when to do it. Try to do it before eat because later he spits up very easily. But how long milk usually settles in their stomach?

After feeding my LO I have her sit in my lap for about 5 minutes just to make sure it is settling in the stomach.  This has helped some...she still spits up, which I believe is normal for a few more months yet until the stomach has matured more.  But she's not spitting up as much.
Cheryl
London, ON


Offline Blaynesmom

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #36 on: May 24, 2006, 01:04:50 am »
I need your help. My son, Blayne is 3 months old and I am trying desperately to find a solution to my problem. I know he is suppose to have a certain amount of time set aside for tummy time and I try every day to get that time in. BUT... all he does during TT is sleep. I have tried to have him wide awake and laughing before I lay him down but as soon as he lays down he's out. He will cry a little bit, and I will think GOOD, he will fuss and move around but before I know it, he has found his thumb and is out.

PLEASE give me any suggestions that you may have for me

Sarah

Offline deb

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #37 on: May 24, 2006, 01:15:07 am »
Hm - maybe you want to just consider tummy sleeping. Seriously, if he's got the neck strength and you're comfortable with it - ask your Dr. first, I'm NOT a medical professional. Natalie slept on her tummy from Day One and was fine, and the advice used to be not to let babies sleep on their backs so they didn't choke on spitup.

Anyway, if he's sleeping on his tummy, then when he wakes he's already there, and can start lifting his head, looking around, and doing all the things tummy time is good for anyway. :)

Offline Bradys Mom

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #38 on: June 10, 2006, 01:40:40 am »
My son is now 6 months old and I have never been able to get him to do TT.  I have tried everything:  towel rolled up under a blanket to prop him up, lying him face down on my lap, lying in front of him, putting interesting toys & even the TV in front of him.  He used to scream, grunt & cry while burying his face in the blanket.  Now that he has learned to roll from his tummy to his back, he will do anything to roll over onto his back.  I even put him on his tummy between my legs, using my legs as a "wall".  He is strong enough that he will roll right over my legs.  I try several times a day.
He has a flat spot on the back right side of his head.  He has had this spot since he was around 12 weeks.  It hasn't gotten any worse and is in fact starting to get a bit better.  For this reason I try to encourage TT.  He sleeps 12 hours at night, but during the day he is rarely on his back.

What can I do to encourage TT?  At this age they should be able to do roll over both ways, and he only rolls from tummy to back.  I never crawled as a baby, so perhaps he never will either?!

Any suggestions?  ???

Offline maggieruth

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #39 on: June 10, 2006, 08:05:29 am »
he is getting a bit big now but will he lie on your tummy when you lie on your back?  or even when you are not flat on your back but propped up a bit?  then you could chat, pull faces etc....
oh, or what if you teamed up with someone else, had him lie on his tummy at the edge of the bed and lay beside the bed on the floor so that he could see you? (someone else would have to eatch him to ensure the doesn't roll off the bed!
or, mirror on the floor?  can't see that on your back!
HTH!

Offline MomToMatthew

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #40 on: June 25, 2006, 02:13:29 am »
I'm guessing it's pretty common for babies not to like tummy time! I think some of it is just a matter of them getting used to it. My ds is 3 months now and will tolerate tt for about 6-7 minutes. At the beginning he tolerated for only about 10 seconds, but I just kept doing it once a day at the start and then more and more and I think he just came to accept it. Something that I've done that I think is kind of fun is to lay on my back (I put a pillow behind my head), pull my knees up to my chin, and then put my cutie pie on my shins with his head by my knees and me hold him on. Then I do little leg lifts or pull my knees closer to my face and then away. I make silly sounds and he seems to like it. I hope that's a good enough explanation so you can picture what I'm saying.

Offline AJs Mom

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #41 on: June 25, 2006, 02:57:09 am »
Blaynesmom,
     My DS was hating TT or would just fall asleep.  I started trying TT with a rolled up towel under him because that's what people were suggesting, but he would just bury his face into the towel and cry.
     I then tried TT right after a feed when he was most happy and awake.  This improved it a bit, but he'd only stay happy for about 2 minutes.  Which is better than nothing!
    Then....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     I was looking at pics of one of the LOs from my March/April 2006 thread, and I saw that the baby was on his tummy and the parent had placed a fold out book in front of him.  His head was up and he was looking at the book.  I thought, "Of course!  I'll give him something to look at!"  So, the next day, I laid him on a blanket and put a few of his books out open and standing up in front of him in a semi-circle.  He looked right up at them.  Two days later, he rolled over for the first time just last week!  Stomach to back.  Yay!
     Try the books!
Sonja






Offline quesang

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #42 on: July 10, 2006, 01:41:18 am »
Another alternative to TT since my son hates also and which my Pediatrician recommended for my DS at 10 weeks is the Bumbo seat (http://www.bumbobabyseat.com). It can support babies 6 weeks to 14 months in a sitting position as long as they can hold their heads up.

I do realize the importance of TT though. Even though my son at 16 weeks can almost sit unsupported and has good head control he has absolutely no arm strength and during TT he just tries to lift his head with his back and looks like a walrus, not using his arms at all:o) I am going to try again using a mirror, or some of the other tricks mentioned here.


Offline Joshua's Mum

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #43 on: July 11, 2006, 09:22:31 am »

I have started TT with my DS when he was about 12weeks old. I am very disappointed that none of the health visitors who looked after me actually said anything about it before 12weeks and DS being my first baby how was I supposed to know about it. :-[

But by 12weeks he started developing flat head, and after numerous questions to Health visitiors and doctors, they finally suggested to take DS to cranial osteopath. And what a difference it made to him. The moment we came home, he was able to move his head freely, both sides, and he started loving TT.

So, it could be that some of the babies are in pain and that's the reason why they don't wan't to be on their tummies.

This is for Brody's mum;after seeing a cranial osteopath, she mentioned that eventhough baby's flat heads sort themselves out as head grows if it's just left to their own devices, sometimes when baby grow up they might have problems with dental features.Hence, we are still going to an osteopath.

It's just shame that we didn't go the osteopath the moment DS was born..



Offline newmommyl

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Re: Tummy Time
« Reply #44 on: July 21, 2006, 14:59:03 pm »
hi i've been reading thru about tummy time and the bumbo and so on...i had a few questions i was hoping someone could answer for me:  my dd is almost 5 mos and doesn't mind tummy time, she's pretty steady and strong for several minutes, but what i'm noticing is that she'll start sucking on her fingers and end up w/ her head down.  she's a huge finger sucker and i'm a little nervous that it may interfere w/ some of her physical development.  I know she's still young but i look ahead to crawling...and right now she's not rolling over at all.  I don't know if she really should be doing this on her own or not but she'll roll to her side but then put her fingers in her mouth thus not able to use her arms to get her the rest of the way over.  I also notice someone wrote about the bumbo.  I try to put her in it once or twice a day for a few minutes and sometimes she'll lean to one side, is this bad for her to do?  She looks kind of awkward sitting in it so i wonder if she's not ready for it yet.  Thanks for your help  :)