Making Tummy Time A Part of Baby Care

The older mothers and grandmothers you know may laugh at the idea of scheduling some tummy time as a part of your babies care, but doing so has proven quite beneficial when it comes to developing their motor muscles.

A New Concept

Since the discovery of the link between Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and babies sleeping on their stomachs, babies are spending more time than ever on their backs. While this has helped the rate of deaths from SIDS drop by close to forty percent, it has also caused a rise in cranial asymmetry—or in plain English—misshapen heads. Since baby’s skulls are soft, more time spent on their backs with their heads down against the mattress can cause the back of the head to flatten. Also, less time spent on their tummies has taken away from time where babies used to work to hold their heads up which helps in the next step which is crawling. These are all reasons why tummy time is now a recommendation in baby care.

How to Do It

There’s no specific science to tummy time really as long as you remember to turn your baby onto its back should he/she fall asleep during tummy time. As for the how’s and where’s of tummy time you can begin by lying flat and placing your baby on it’s tummy on top of you. Placing baby on a blanket on the floor or another firm surface is also fine, just be sure to prop pillows on the sides of them to keep them from rolling off a bed or under a piece of furniture! Safety first!

This is a great opportunity to play with your baby and really connect with them on a fun level. If you make this a fun and exciting time they will be even more active and get the most out of tummy time. The happier and more excited they are, the more they will reach and grab and kick—all things that help them use their motor skills. Tummy time will encourage your baby to move and hold it’s head up which strengthens the neck muscles. These may seem like insignificant little things but they’re actually big steps on the road to crawling, sitting, standing and walking. Besides, tummy time isn’t just an important part of baby care, but it’s also a fun time for mommies too!