Tummy time

How much tummy time do you give your babies?

DD2 is 4 weeks old now & HATES being on her tummy. She gets plenty of nappy free time & loves kicking around on her back but only lasts a few minutes on her tummy before she is grizzling. She will sometimes settle off to sleep lying on our chest on her tummy but I don't think this is quite the same.
Not sure how much tummy time to give her... I feel mean doing it to her when she obviously doesn't like it, but I know it's good for them. I never had this with any of the others, they all loved being on their tummy.
Any ideas?

I think you're doing the right thing. You just have to keep trying little by little, even if it is only 2 minutes at a time you're still getting something in. It's ok if she falls asleep like that too, just means she's tired and has had enough.

DS wasn't too keen to start with, but it grew on him until he got to the point where he refused to sleep on his back at all!

I think she is doing fine. Just a few minutes if that is all she can take would be ok. Just increase it slowly maybe.

Are you putting some toys or something down in front of her? My two used to hate tummy time too and didn't even like it with just something boring in front of them but if I put a toy that made a bit of a noise (some music or something) or something that moved or with lights on it they would stay there and watch for a little longer.

Hey there. DD wasn't really a fan of playing on her tummy either at first. Would either crack it or fall asleep. I've found a few things that she likes that have encouraged her to extend the time on her tummy and now she is strong enough that she loves it.
- lying her on my chest when I am lying on the floor / couch / bed so she can look up at my face
- lying her face down across my arm as I carry her (face next to my elbow, my arm under her body and through her legs ... sorry, hard to explain!). She loves this one and it will often soothe her if she's generally upset. Doesn't do the whole 'push up' but is good for neck strength and the back arch required for tummy time.
- propping a mirror in front of her so she can push up and see herself
- putting a rolled up towel under her chest which takes the pressure off her arms and lifts her up a bit
- current favourite... she's fascinated by the TV so I've made her a deal :D ... she can only watch TV on her belly. Prop her up on the ottoman so she's level with the TV. I sit behind her and hold on (WARNING.... they roll over FAST!!) and she's happy to push up to have a look at the telly for at least a few minutes, sometimes more.

It's still been a slow process. At the start, often she'd only last 30 secs, a few times a day but it has gradually built up 'till now she's happy on her tummy for about 20 mins (in total) per day. Our MCHN said that you should be trying for at least 40 mins per day by 3 months old, but we do what we can!! HTH

I didn't even worry about it, LOL. DD didn't like it when she was that little either so I didn't bother much with it. She probably got 30seconds tummy time twice a week! And she would lie on our chests sometimes. As she got bigger and could lift her head up more she liked it more and now that she can roll onto her tummy herself she loves it!

Yep, we were the same as Heaven, Jazz screamed her head off so we just left it, followed her lead, Once she could roll over at 5-6 months, she gave herself lots of tummy time, and its hasnt seemed to effect her as she rolled, crawled, sat up, and is walking now.

We DID have to make sure she had lots of time off the back of her head, as we had skull and neck issues, and we used a Bumbo from 3 months. Thats not really relevant though - no tummy time didnt cause her head issues (which arent issues anymore), it was a birth issue.

Yeah mine hates tummy time as well unless she's propped up on something. She can lift her head great and can push herself right up on her arms, but she prefers to 'take the weight off' a bit, so when we do tummy time she's propped up on either a pillow, my lap or across my chest while I'm lying down. Then she'll sit there looking around at things for aaaaages, I think it's just a bit less work she has to do to keep her head up, kwim?
HTH! :D

my DS HATED tummy time with a passion and I refused to sit there and listen to him grizzle through it coz the experts told me to! My DS was just a relaxy baby and he took ages to roll, ages to crawl and ages to walk....but he's doing it all now and nothing has affected him. He used to sleep on his tummy when he was little so I figured he got enough tummy time!

DS doesn't like it either. Takes about 2 minutes before he plants the head onto his mat, starts licking it for a while then gets cranky. DP persists with him, but I won't do it when he's really unhappy about it. I have tried propping him up a bit and he still doesn't dig it. I figure I'll wait til he grows a bit more and keep trying. He's really strong through the head and neck and trunk already so I'm not heaps concerned.

We're in much the same position. DS will only do two or three minutes of tummy time before he starts to get grumpy. I usually try and do it with him a couple of times a day after I change his nappy and DH does it with him after his bath, but by the end of the day he has very little tolerance for it! However he seems to be incredibly strong in his neck, so I'm not so sure that it matters too much... But after reading this thread I think I might try and get him to do a bit more...

Our MCHN told us that it's "little and often" for tummy time at first. She suggested to do it for 30 or 60 seconds at a time, ten times a day (apparently the physios would have us doing it 20 times a day, but the nurses know that's too hard to manage). We ended up giving DD a little tummy time after every nappy change. She gradually got better and better at lasting for longer and longer, and now, at 4 months, she can spend 5-10 minutes or so on her tummy before she gets grizzly about it.

She has been rolling from tummy to back since she was 3 months old, and has good head control, so it seems to have helped with all of that.

Thanks everyone for your replies.
I feel better now about what she is getting (or not). And I'm already seeing her last a bit longer on her tummy when she's in a good mood. :)