Tummy time is a slightly silly name for a very important way to help your baby develop. During tummy time, your baby will spend some time laying on your abdomen. As they get older, your infant may become a little more active during your daily tummy time session. But the idea remains the same: creating a space dedicated to the important bonding that occurs between parent and infant. The early development of these bonds can have benefits that last for years.

Many parents know that tummy time is important to facilitate early bonding. But they are often surprised that this bonding method may lead to other benefits as well. For example, tummy time may encourage early development of motor skill, strengthen important muscles and responses, and even improve your infant’s sense of balance.

For parents, this means that it’s important to ensure you’re making time and space for this daily bonding activity. It’s not always easy; sometimes your baby is a little fussy or you feel too busy to set aside the time. But there are ways to make tummy time an easier and more joyful part of your everyday parenting experience. With the right approach, tummy time can become the highlight of your day with your baby!

What Are the Physical Benefits of Tummy Time for Infants?

Physicians recommend consistent use of tummy time in large part because skin-on-skin contact is absolutely critical for the development of bonds between babies and their parents. Skin-on-skin contact can also help reduce stress, make breast feeding easier, and help regulate body functions in your baby.

But skin-on-skin contact isn’t the only reason that physicians recommend tummy time. Regular sessions can also help in terms of your baby’s physical development. That’s because, for your baby, laying on your tummy is a pretty good workout! There are all kinds of muscles and responses that your baby uses throughout the process.  

Some of the most noticeable benefits of tummy time for infants include the following:

• Strengthening of muscles: This especially includes strengthening the muscles of the arms, shoulders, and neck. The stronger these muscles are, the easier it will be for your baby to eventually begin to sit up, crawl, and move in other ways. 

• Reduces the risk of flat spots in the skull: Your infant’s skull is still quite soft and hasn’t quite fused into its final shape just yet. In some infants, flat spots can sometimes develop on the head. Daily tummy time can help reduce the risk of these flat spots occurring.

• Improvements in sense of balance: There’s a difference between your tummy and the floor or another artificial surface. For a baby, any tummy is going to be challenging terrain. As a result, your baby is going to have to practice balancing skills they wouldn’t otherwise use. This can help them develop their overall sense of balance a little faster.

Benefits for Motor Skill Development

One physical area that is also positively impacted by regular tummy time is motor skill development, and it’s one of the reasons why tummy time has become such an important tool for parents.

There are some significant motor skill benefits to performing tummy time with your infant. Some of those benefits include the following:

• Your baby learns how to use their muscles: Your baby gets some practice using their muscles as they develop. Something as simple as reaching for an object of desire (such as a toy) may not seem like much to an adult. But for an infant, it’s a skill that requires practice.

• Improvements in head control: Tummy time gives your baby practice when it comes to another skill: raising their head on their own. This requires using muscles in the shoulders and neck. Tummy time provides a space for practicing that movement.

• Improvements in essential movements: As your baby spends some time on your tummy every day, they’ll get practice using muscles essential for reaching common development benchmarks. This means your infant may be able to more easily reach benchmarks associated with pulling themselves to a seated position, rolling over, and pushing themselves up with their arms.

• Your baby may become better at holding objects: Regular tummy time can help your infant strengthen hand muscles and, as a result, hold objects a little bit earlier. Grasping and holding objects is a critical motor skill at this point in your infant’s life. Building this skill early can help your baby start practicing with more complex motor skills sooner.

While tummy time can help your baby reach some of these milestones more quickly, it’s important to point out that every person is different and will develop at their own pace. It may take your child longer to develop these skills (or it may happen more quickly). If you think that your baby is not developing in a healthy way or is missing important benchmarks, be sure to discuss that with their pediatrician during their regular wellness visit.

How Much Tummy Time Does Your Baby Need?

For your infant, tummy time is a lot like exercise. They are building muscle, motor skills, and more. Which means that it’s important not to overdo it. So how can parents know how much tummy time is too much? In general, physicians recommend the following schedules:

• Newborn babies: Try to aim for two or three 3-minute sessions per day.

• Babies age 1-2 months: You can try for two or three 3-5 minute sessions per day.

• Babies age 2-4 months: Aim for somewhere between 45 and 90 minutes per day.

• Babies age 4-6 months: You can aim for at least 1-2 hours per day.

Following these recommended timeframes can help ensure that your baby builds up the necessary stamina and skill to engage in further tummy time. As the time passes, you can increase the amount of tummy time you’re receiving with your baby.

You can generally start cutting back on tummy time once your baby is able to get into sitting positions on their own or they are able to roll from back to front and front to back. This usually occurs at the six month mark.

How to Make Tummy Time Fun

Any daily task may eventually start to feel like a chore. And no matter how much you enjoy time with your baby, this can certainly begin to occur with tummy time. When this occurs, you may have to work to inject a little more fun into your tummy time routine (for both you and your baby). There are a few ways you can make sure your next tummy time session stays enjoyable:

• Make sure you’re comfortable: If you and your baby aren’t comfortable, it will be hard to have an enjoyable session, no matter what else is happening. So make sure you’re laying or sitting (reclined) in a comfortable position. Make sure you keep your hands on your baby during the entirety of tummy time so they don’t accidentally fall! (An injury definitely makes tummy time less comfortable and less fun.)

• Gather your baby’s toys around you: You can place some of your baby’s favorite toys in a circle around you both. This will provide a fun bit of distraction for both you and your baby. Additionally, your baby may even start to reach for some of the toys, which would further help them with their motor skill development.

• Have a little mirror time: Use a little mirror to help entertain your baby. Your infant may not exactly understand what their reflection is, but they will often take joy in seeing another baby’s face. 

Make fun the goal: Your baby may not always want to engage in tummy time, especially as they get older. But try to stay engaged with them and make sure fun remains the goal. You can chat with your baby, sing to them, use funny voices, and so on.

Keeping an emphasis on the fun and the joy can prevent tummy time from becoming stale, boring, and dreaded. That said, not everyday is going to be your best day: you might have some times when you’re just in a bad mood. And that’s okay, too.

What to Do When Tummy Time Doesn’t Go Well

There are some common ways in which tummy time may not go as well as you expected. Many of these hiccups have some relatively easy solutions. For example, if your baby gets an upset tummy or spits up frequently during tummy time, you may be doing tummy time too close to feeding time. Make sure to wait at least 15-20 minutes after your baby has eaten to start tummy time. 

In other cases, your baby may seem uncomfortable or fussy. When this happens, it’s okay to try switching positions. There are safe ways, for example, that you can lay your baby on their side. If your baby starts crying or has a negative reaction, it’s okay to end tummy time early and try it again later. After all, you want tummy time to be a positive experience. You may want to wait until your infant is content to even start tummy time!

Tummy time is an important part of growing up for your infant. So, if you are having trouble with tummy time, make sure to talk to your baby’s pediatrician about tummy time tips and alternatives that you may want to use. 

To discuss your infant’s health, make an appointment at Children’s Healthcare Associates today. Appointments are available at our Chicago and Northbrook offices!