How to Start Tummy Time with your Newborn Baby

Babies can (and should!) start tummy time from the day they are born.

In fact, tummy time is often one of the very first experiences that babies have when they are placed tummy down on their mother's chest immediately following delivery. Newborn babies love to be snuggled chest to chest with their parents. After being tucked up tight in utero, the chest to chest contact is comforting in a world where they now have to work against gravity and deal with the uncontrolled movement of their arms causing them to startle. There is added benefit of doing this tummy time on you with skin to skin contact, including improved breastfeeding, soothing, and bonding. Parents can continue to do this tummy time on their chest, with or without skin to skin contact, well after leaving the hospital. What could be more motivating for your baby to pick up his head on his tummy than the reward of seeing your face?

Back to sleep, tummy to play can be difficult in the early weeks of your baby's life when she is sleeping all the time!

It's hard to find a window of time when baby is awake to do tummy time in that first month. Your baby may fall asleep when doing tummy time on you or on the floor. Be sure to supervise your baby if she falls asleep while doing tummy time to make sure that she keeps her face clear and is able to breathe easily. If you are drowsy while holding your baby chest to chest, put her down on her back in a safe place to sleep such as a pack and play, crib, or bassinet.   

After living inside of you for nine months, your newborn baby likes to be close to you.

There are many alternative ways to do tummy time so your baby can remain in contact with you, other than chest to chest tummy time. You can hold and carry your baby in a tummy down position up over your shoulder or across your arms in front of your body. Baby can be burped in a tummy down position over your shoulder or across you lap, and the pressure on his tummy will help get those burps out. You can hold baby tummy down across your lap while eating or sitting and chatting with visitors. Remember that the tummy down position with full contact on their chest and tummy can be very comforting for your baby. Use this position to help soothe and comfort your baby. Try patting or rubbing his bottom while he is tummy down on you or on the floor. Gently rock or bounce your legs when he is tummy down across your lap. For more ideas and guidance on introducing tummy time to your baby, join Babies On The MOVE for one of our classes. 

Feature Baby: Charlie

This month, we are featuring our adorable friend Charlie! We first met Charlie and his parents, Ray and Ashley, in December 2016 when Charlie had just turned three months old. Charlie was a show off from the start, enjoying being on his tummy from that first Mini Movers class. They signed up for a Mini Movers series, and over the next three months, we watched Charlie progress in his rolling and sitting. Charlie was also a big 'talker' and always made sure that he was heard in class! :) 

Charlie moved up to the Master Movers class in May, and came with a whole new set of tricks!  He was crawling on his belly, pulling up to stand, and playing in standing. Over the new few Master Movers classes, Charlie perfected his squatting, standing with his feet flat, cruising between surfaces, and standing without support. He came to class in August ready to show off his newest feat - walking independently!  Charlie was so proud of himself and we were all so proud of him too!! He was also happy to show off his amazing throwing skills, which will hopefully serve him well in his future baseball career ;) It was such a pleasure having Charlie and his parents in our classes and having the opportunity to help them ensure that he had a strong foundation of motor development in the first year!

“We’ve had so much fun at Babies on the MOVE (Charlie’s “Workout Class” as we call it)! Through both Mini Movers and Master Movers, it’s been great getting tips on helping Charlie learn his next new skill. As he’s gone from rolling over to sitting to crawling to almost-walking, we’ve loved learning about all of the little steps between the major milestones that babies learn and practice in order to move on to the next big one (e.g. standing on his tip-toes means strengthening those calf muscles for walking!). Being able to recognize those little things that he was working on made playtime that much more fun at home. As first-time parents, we had no idea about all of the little progressions that would eventually build up to him taking his first steps. Having Becca and Rachel point out what Charlie was trying to do, and give us tips on how we could help him, has allowed us to contribute to his development in ways we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Thank you!”

— Ray and Ashley Sweeney

Feature Baby: Asher

Time to feature another one of the adorable babies we have met in classes, and this time it is Asher!  We first met Asher and his awesome mom, Ali, at the Baby + Co new mom's group.  They started attending Babies On The MOVE classes when Asher was 4.5 months old, with the Mini Movers series.  Unlike some babies, Asher has been a fan of tummy time from early on.  He progressed quickly to crawling, and switched over to the Master Movers class when he was 6.5 months old.  All that tummy time he did early on, in combination with his strong curiosity and desire to explore, built the foundation to be an early crawler!  In classes, Asher was never one to sit on the sidelines.  He loved to check everything out and get into the mix with all the other babies!  After a few more Master Movers classes, Asher was pulling up, cruising, and starting to stand without holding on!  We were excited to hear, but not a bit surprised, that this little adventurer was walking well before his first birthday!  This month we wish a Happy Birthday to Asher and good luck to Ali in keeping up with this adorable & active baby on the move!!!

“I love Babies on the Move! I have been going since my son was 4.5 months old and have learned a bunch about how to help my son progress in a healthy way, felt well supported in challenges and enjoyed meeting other moms, dads and babies :) It’s definitely worth attending at least once!”

— Ali, mom of Asher

Feature Baby: Dottie

We are very excited to announce the next feature baby, Dottie!  

Dottie and her mom Sarah started coming to Babies On The MOVE Mini Movers classes in July 2016, when she was three months old.  Sarah works really close to Open Arts Studio in Morrisville where our monthly classes are held and is able to bring Dottie to work with her, so our classes were super-convenient for them to come almost every month!  Here are some early tummy time pics that show how determined this little one was to move from early on!

They switched over to Master Movers classes in November when Dottie was turning 7 months old, could sit well by herself, and was ready for a new challenge!  While attending Master Movers classes, Dottie learned how to move out of sitting by going over each side, get on to hands and knees, creep, pull up to stand, squat to pick up toys, and walk holding on to furniture!  In March 2017, at 11 months old, she came to class and showed off her cool new trick --- Taking steps all by herself!!!  We are excited for their family on this next chapter in their lives and thank them for sharing the first year with us!  We look forward to having them stop by the studio every so often to see what she's up to along the way!

“As first time parents, we wanted to start our child off on the right foot (GROAN). We weren’t quite sure how to encourage Dottie to move correctly. We questioned if we were picking her up, positioning her, and playing with her in ways that ensured that we were helping, not harming. Becca and Rachel were really great at identifying milestones and suggesting methods to help Dottie flourish.”

— Sarah, Dottie's mother

What to Do When Your Baby Hates Tummy Time

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you put your baby on their tummy to play during supervised awake time to strengthen their muscles. Tummy time helps your baby strengthen the muscles in their neck, shoulders, back, and hips that they use to achieve developmental milestones on time including rolling, crawling, sitting, standing, and walking. It can also help in the prevention of flat head syndrome. Back to sleep, tummy to play: sounds easy enough, but not all babies love doing tummy time. What can you do if your baby is not a fan?

1. Start Tummy Time early

If you are coming to this post for advice, we may already be a bit late, but it is important to know. Babies can, and should, do tummy time from day one. In fact, most babies do get tummy time on day one, by laying skin to skin on mom's chest right after birth. That's a great position for tummy time in the early days when your baby wants to be close. The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents to do tummy time with their baby from the first day home from the hospital. Babies who start tummy time from the first days of life are more likely to tolerate and enjoy being in the position. That being said, it's never too late to start!

2. Provide Many opportunities for tummy time throughout the day

In the beginning, it's not important to give your baby one long tummy time session every day. Tummy time should be done many times throughout the day, even if it's only for a minute at a time. All those minutes add up. Take advantage of using the things you are already doing to incorporate tummy time throughout the day: Time to burp? lay your baby on their tummy over your lap to pat out that burp. Need to carry baby to the next room with you? Carry baby in a tummy down carrying position. Changing baby's diaper or getting her dressed? Roll her over afterwards to get some tummy time in.  

3. Make Tummy Time interesting

Get down on your baby's level to see what he can see from that perspective. Put an interesting book or toy at his eye level so he has something fun to look at. If you are down on your baby's level, your face will be motivation for him to pick up his head. Sing songs and talk to your baby to make it fun. Use a baby mirror so baby can lift his head to see the most fun person of all - himself!

4. Make Tummy Time Easier

If your baby is having a hard time picking her head up when she is on her tummy, you can help make it easier by putting a small rolled up towel or blanket under her chest. You can also use tummy down carrying positions to help her practice lifting her head up and strengthen her muscles to make it easier when she is down on the floor on her tummy.

Tummy time should be a fun way to play with your baby and help them strengthen their muscles for the next milestones to come. With a little practice, babies learn to love being on their tummy to play!  

When will my baby crawl?

We frequently get this question from parents.  Often young babies of 2-3 months may be seen bringing their legs up under their body and kicking them out behind when on their tummy, and their parents wonder if they will be crawling forward soon.  In order to crawl on their hands and knees, babies need to master certain skills on their tummy first.  

A baby will be able to bear weight on her hands with her elbows straight on her tummy and shift her weight to one side to reach with the opposite arm.  She will also be able to shift her weight at her pelvis and lower body, bringing one of her hips up off the floor with the leg on that side bending up by her body.  Once she masters that, she will be able to pivot in a circle on her tummy to get to toys.  It is also the position that she will use to get on to her hands and knees from her tummy.    You may see your baby pushing herself backwards on her tummy in an attempt to crawl forward toward a toy or pushing up into a plank position from her tummy.  These are both signs that your baby is preparing herself for crawling.  Many babies will start crawling forward with their tummy down before they crawl up on their hands and knees.  Once she is up on her hands and knees, your baby will play with rocking in this position.  At first, the rocking may not be very controlled, and she may may fall.  With practice, she will be able to control these weight shifts better, and they will progress from simple back and forth rocking to more advanced side to side and diagonal rocking.  She will be able to reach for toys from the hands and knees position.  She will be able to get into the hands and knees position from her tummy and from sitting.  Once she has mastered all of these things, she will be ready to take off crawling on her hands and knees!  

August Babies On The MOVE Baby Classes

We have had a busy month at Babies On The MOVE!  The studio that we have been hosting classes at - Open Arts - underwent major renovation and now has two wonderful large studios that we can use to host classes.  In MINI MOVERS class, we learned a trick to enjoying tummy time from one of our little friends - just sleep through it!  Disclaimer: tummy time is not a recommended sleeping position, but his awesome mom doesn't mind if he takes a little nap on his tummy as long as she is there to keep an eye on him.  MINI MOVERS also learned ideas to try if your baby doesn't want to put weight on their arms when they are on their tummy or if they don't want to put weight on their legs in standing.  MASTER MOVERS was a big party with lots of fun babies and parents.  The babies were all working on something different developmentally, but still had fun playing together!  We can't wait to see what everyone is up to next month!