is tummy time THAT important?

[enigma]

Aneta HATES it big time !!
I keep seeing pics of babies that are her age who are on their tummies lifting their heads really high , we try and put Aneta on her tummy as much as possible but she puts her head up for awhile... but then gets angry. We only started putting her on her tummy when she was about 3 weeks old, this might be the reason
Other than that she holds her head really well... but never as high as the other babies grrr
is that ok /?

[Lea13]

I don't think I started putting Em down on his stomach till later then 3 weeks. I found he HATED it as well. So I didn't do much of it. I think it is important so what I tried doing is that after each nappy change I would put him on his belly while I cleaned up after the change and did a few things in his nursery. Because I was doing something I wasn't picking him up straight away when he started crying. Just those few minutes at different intervals in the day really helped and it was a lot easier to manage then trying to get him down there for a block of time IYKWIM. I also put him in front of a mirror and he loved looking at himself which helped heaps as well. I also put him on his belly then put my face right down to his and started to talking to him and he calmed down with that as well. Other people may have better suggestions though! Em is now great on the floor. Oh and don't compare to other babies LOL - it will always do your head in. I'm sure its no problem at all - I've just made suggestions that may help you improve her tummy time.

[Rouge]

I think it is. I persisted more with Seth than I did with Paris. Paris hated it, as did Seth but I tried more distraction techniques with Seth (with Paris I just believed because she hated it I shouldn't persist) and tried to give him at least 5 mins per day, perhaps even twice a day. And then tried to stretch it out or have more intervals. I can see the difference it made. The mirror is a great idea I did that with seth, definitely something I didn't do with Paris. However having said that I still think babies progress at different rates. As lea said try not to compare or you will be forever comparing

*hugs*
Cailin

[Cricket]

I hope it's not too important, as I didn't really push it with either of my girls. Elyse REALLY hated it, and so I didn't bother. She's three now, and seems to be fine. Marieke rolled on to her tummy on her own earlier than Elyse, and didn't seem to mind it as much. She was about 6 months old by then, though. She's crawling all over now, and has no troubles that I can see. Neither of them have flat heads. I'd say don't get too stressed about it. Try it for a little while - your baby might learn to like the new perspective, but I don't really think it's worth getting stressed about. You can always ask your MD at your next appointment.
Have a great day!

[AJ]

Tummy time is very important for development - other ways to get tummy time is to place bubs across your knee, have bubs on your chest lying down or even just leaning back, carry bubs around in the aeroplane hold or even lay bubs tummy down on a swiss or beach ball and roll back and forth side to side - they say that even two seconds at a time is worth it for developing babies, then slowly you can stretch it out. Try every tme that you change bubs flip them over to their tummies for as long as they will stand it - then flip back over - at least that way you'll remember to do it and they get valuable tummy time...HTH...

[Phteven]

If your bubba hates tummy time you don't have to persist with it. Like the other girls have mentioned you can try getting down on the floor with her or lying her on your tummy so you're face to face (watch for drool and vommy lol) or putting a mirror down.
I was born in the 70's and no-one had tummy time back then but most of us can all hold our heads up ok. In a few months she'll be rolling and she'll be able to make her own choices about whether to be on her tummy or not.

[{sarah}]

One trick that we found kept Zander happy was to put a rooled up towel (not too high though) under their chest at about nipple height. We found that the pressure on his reflucy tummy wasn't so bad & he was happier to stay there a while longer.

[christy]

Another trick is using a fit ball & putting a toy on the ground & rolling them towards the toy. HTH!

[EllyBoo72]

We hardly ever did tummy time with DS, He Hated it too. The only tummy time he had as a newborn, was laying on my chest....Then he got a bit when he was 3 months old....But not much, because he still hated it then...And he has developed anyway with no probs! He was holding his own head up extremely early tho. I remember having him lay on my chest in hospital, and he lifted his head up quite a few times...
If you are concerned...Maybe you could just have him lay on your chest/belly, whilst you are laying down, for a few minutes at a time.

[Pandora]

yep, chest/belly is good, at least I found it was with Milo, who also hated tummy time for a long time.
He had such a heavy head, he really used to struggle to lift it, and when he did he couldn't hold it up for long so would end up bumping it on the floor

So I persisted with him on my tummy and chest, and he found this a lot more agreeable. After a week or so we tried on the floor again, at increasing intervals until his strength increased..

[NewmumLou]

Oh my god enigma, i have had exactly the same issues with Joshua> I actually asked my doctor yesterday when Josh had his immunisation about tummy time. He said to me that it is not that important as he tested Joshuas neck muscles (he did this by holding his hand under his belly in the air and Josh supported himself) and said they are very strong and that he is just lazy and in time he will roll. (by this age some children do roll) but he said each child is unique so not to panic.

[nikbrad]

Mackenzie hated it big time so in the end we didn't do it. I figured she would do it when she started to roll. Even then she rollded back quick smart. I was told constantly by the MCHN that is was SOOOOO important but i thought if she hated it as much as she did I wouldn't make her do it. She never crawled and walked at 13 months. Her neck strength was never an issue and we just did/do lots of crawling now to help with her co-ordination as they say this may not develop aswell as she didn't crawl but in saying that I can't see any issues with her co-ordination!

[enigma]

thanks all for the advice
she actually likes lying on my tummy... just not on the floor.. and the CHCN told me that for tummy time to be effective it needs to be on a hard surface.. ie not on my bed ( like we do ) or on my tummy ( like we do) I think i'll just continue these methods.. I dont blame Aneta, I wouldnt want to be on a hard surface trying to lift my head up either it hurts your ribs! ... silly nurse

[RacOOooOOoon]

One trick that we found kept Zander happy was to put a rooled up towel (not too high though) under their chest at about nipple height. We found that the pressure on his reflucy tummy wasn't so bad & he was happier to stay there a while longer.

This is exactly what we do with Ronan and since we have been using the towel he can now stand tummy time for 5mins as apposed to 30 seconds but it must be on the floor (in the beginning we used to use the lounge) but he now does it on the carpet on a nice soft blanket..

[Fee]

Cooper doesn't hate tummy time (ie he doesn't cry). But he also doesn't lift his head much. He is lazy and just lies his head on the side! Or he puts his face into the mat and licks it!

Mirrors and toys don't help Cooper because he has his head on the side. He doesn't even see them out in front! I also try the rolled up towel but it still doesn't do much.

But I still do a bit of tummy time every play time – even if he does just lie there most of the time.

I asked the MW at his 12 week check up on Tuesday about how he doesn't lift his head much and she said it's fine… just to keep persisting. But she did some other checks on him – had me sit Cooper on my lap just holding him under the arms and she looked at how he held his head. The other check was to lie him on his back, grab just his hands and lift him up this way to a sitting position.

She said he had a slight head lag which is normal at this age. And obviously if they are tired their head will roll around a bit more! But she said his control was good.

But like you, I have seen pics of other bubs lifting their heads high while on their tummies and I got a bit worried too!