Tummy time

[Jezzy]

Hi Ladies,

My boys absolutely hate being on their tummies they are coming up to 6 months old and cant hold themselves upon their arms, infact Tom just stays face down rooting around on the rug screaming.
I just wanted to ask, how often did you put your babes on their tummy each day and for how long, how did you try to keep them entertained for that time, did they like it?

I thought my boys would love being on their tummies as they spent such a long time nursed that way in the SCN, they used to have such strong head and neck muscles:hissy:

[Pregnor]

Have you tried giving them tummy time on top of you? Lie on the couch or bed... they might be more comfortable...

Connor hated it too... I just put him down just 30 secs at a time, even if he just screamed, cos he would try and lift his head up. Now he can easily lift his head he doesnt mind so much.

The CHN reckons you should sit and talk to them and wave toys to try and get them to kift their heads, but i dont like jiggling stuff in his face... id be pretty angry if someone did it to me. So sometimes i sit and talk to him. Sometimes ill tidy the room were in or watch telly and leave him to it.

[Nomsie]

Yeah, try lying down on your back and putting them on your tummy, so you are tummy to tummy. (Obviously one at a time lol)

You can also put their favourite toy on the floor infront on them, to encourage them to lift their heads whilst on their tummies.

Or, roll up a towel or get one of those round pillows and use it to prop them up- place towel/pillow under their chest, so their arms and head are going over the pillow- they may find it a lot easier.

In the end, don't stress about it though. Some kids will love tummy time, some will hate it- it might take your boys a little bit longer to get those strong neck muscles, but it will happen eventually :)

[Lillynix]

DS never had 'tummy time' because he hated it, he developed his head/neck/back strength from being carried/worn all the time.

Tummy time isn't as important as it is made out to be, try not to stress :)

[laylasmumma23]

You could maybe lay them in front of each other so they try to look at each other? (did that make sense lol)
or maybe try and seperate them a bit, as one baby cries the other one catches on it to it and decides he doesn't like it either?
(sorry not cued in on twins lol)

DD loved her tummy time but i never did it for very long when she was a newborn maybe a minute a day (just went by how she was re-acting)..I used to use stories to look at the pictures and crunchy noisy toys to make her lift her to see what it was.
Mirror was also a big hit..she loved looking at her reflection.
I got down to her level and talked to her...so she could see me, and saw me smiling at her.

She had one of those playmat-gym things that you lie bubs on so they can bat at the toys that are dangling...i used to roll her on her tummy and she would roll back to look at the toys, which might be another way you could try. Turn it into a peekaboo kind of game.

hth :thumbsup: good luck

[Amara]

We started tummy time nice and early because my son was developing a flat spot on the back of his head so we needed to keep him off it.

At first he didn't like it so much so it would be for maybe 30 secs to a minute every hour or so when awake. The time increased til he spent most of his time on his tum.

By 6 months he was crawling and I believe it was because he spent so much time on his tummy.

I didn't do anything special at all.

[missmilliesmum]

My DD HATED tummy time until I introduced a rolled up towel/pillow.

She was prem like your boys and small and didn't have great strength.

The towel/pillow helped her to be able to look around and she learnt to love tummy time! We only needed to use the pillow for a few weeks!

Try doing a search for Tummy Time pillows? They are like a baby sized U - Shaped pilllow. I bought one through my community nursing centre (A local lady made them).

They also come in handy when bubs is learning to sit up! I use mine now as a barrier around DD's bum as she is learning to sit on her own and this helps her keep her balance and not fall so hard when she topples!

I also found persistance was the key. I thought DD truly hated tummy time, but the truth was, I wasn't doing it often enough as I thought she hated it.

Try giving them tummy time for at least five minutes at each playtime between feeds and sleeps etc.

Goodluck! And remember all babies develop differently and at different rates - especially premmies!

[Nates_Mumma]

i didnt do tummy time much with my DS

we have had hells own troubles because of it.

he developed the muscles on his back and the front ones were severly behind.
pM me for more details

[Jezzy]

Thanks for all the input, I might try the face to face thing as they love looking at each other and 'talking'. They usually only last about 30 secs if lucky before the crying starts, i hate letting them go for much longer as they get too hysterical and it is too hard to get them back to calm.

Cheers Tina

[Bexta]

We had the same problem with DS1... he would just scream the house down. DH took him along to his Chiro appointment & whilst there DS1 had an adjustment. He was like a new baby the next day... much more settled & LOVED being on his tummy.

DS2 is going for the 1st time this week (another tummy time hater), we'll see if it does the same for him.

I know it sounds crazy & way out (I was sceptical), but it worked for us.