Tummy Time Questions

My daughter was the same way she did not like being on her tummy. But one day she rolled over on her tummy and took off crawling at about 7 1/2 months and took off walking at 10 months. She is now a very active 18 month old.

So don't worry she will pick it up when she is ready.

I wouldn't worry about her making her stay on her tummy. Let her roll around - that is building muscles and development. She may not crawl until 9 mos (that is how old old my twins are and they just started) and possibly even later since she was a preemie. You can put her down on her tummy a couple of times and let her roll to her back. I think it is fine.

Hi jennifer, my daughter is 10 months and when she was learning to roll over and crawl etc... She would not stay on her tummy as well. She always rolled over. She would get really mad when i would try to put her back on her tummy. I was very worried about her learning to crawl too. But she took it right up and now she is all over the place. So i would not worry too much. She'll get it.

Congrats!! And good luck
-B.

My daughter was a premmie, and did the same thing. During that time I was very frustrated, because I was unnessisarily focused on catching her up, because the premmie stage can be a long one! Anyway, in the end I did nothing. She walks fine, dances beautiflly, and ice skates with great determination! She is now six, and the class baby! Yes, there are still many areas we are catching up with, and there are other areas we move too fast! Premmies are very competitive! Beleve me, when I say she will keep you on toes!

My daughter was the same way. She hated being on her stomach. I would not worry about it. My daughter finally learned to crawl. It just gave me a little longer to get the house baby proof. Once she gets there you will look back and wonder why was I in a hurry.

Don't worry she will crawl when she is ready.

Jennifer,
Do you have a Boppy? My daughter was 8weeks preemie too. We had to do alot of physical therapy and one of the things that we did to enforce tummy time was to lay her with her chest on the curve of the Boppy. We would put her favorite toys below her and let her go until she had enough. Her neck muscles would get tired after a while. She also learned how to push up on her hands in this position and then we faded out the Boppy. Hope this helped.

A.

Hi Jennifer S.

I have two sons - now 4 and 7 but from what I remember, they never did like tummy time very much. I think the best way to encourage crawling is to put toys just out of her reach so that she will want to reach for them. Even if you put her on her tummy to play with the toys, it might help. I think the main thing is don't let her lay on her back for long periods, if she doesn't like tummy time, you could try rotating her from a swing or stationary toy that helps her stand up(these are great for helping them strengthen their legs). One thing I know for sure is that every child is different but as long as they are progressing normally, they will figure it out in their own time, so don't despair. Girls are usually faster than boys, my boys didn't crawl until 9 months and they didn't walk until 13 months but believe me there is no stopping them now :)

Right now your daughter is relishing this newfound "trick" of rolling over. Babies will continue to roll back over from their tummy just because they can....it is an exciting new discovery and one they will repeat over and over again until they tackle the next step. Believe me, once they start crawling, you'll be chasing her all around the house. As the mother of both a 5 year old and a 9 year old, I remember all too well running after my boys once they began crawling. You might try placing a favorite toy just out of reach so that she will need to crawl in order to touch it. This worked with my boys. Sometimes it brewed a little frustration on their part but, eventually, they began to uncover their strength and skill. Babie move through the various stages at different times and your little one will soon be mastering the art of crawling. Continue the tummy time and simply roll her back on her stomach if she rolls to her back....and think about placing that favored object just out of reach. Just remember once she starts learning to crawl, you will not be sitting for very long. Trust me! Good luck!

I have twins that were preemies too. (30 weeks) They are now healthy 3 year olds.

Our physical therapist taught us that "tummy time" can consist of different things.

Try reclining on the couch and put the baby on her tummy, on your tummy. Encourage her to lift her head to look at you. Tuck her hands under her chest to give her that extra lift.

Tummy time should not last more than a few minutes each session. Your baby will get tired.

Oh...bumbo seats, on the floor work well too.

In regards to crawling...trust me, when she is ready, she will crawl. You won't be able to stop it! :)

She needs to learn to sit up first, then she will move to her knees, then rock on her knees, then crawl.

Also get on the floor with her, facing her, on your tummy. Again, fold her arms, elbows down, under her chest/neck. She will use them to lift up.

Good luck...you are doing a great job!

My 5 month old was the same way at first. He started rolling over front to back first to get off his tummy. He would cry if we turned him back over. A couple weeks ago, he all the sudden started rolling over on his tummy on his own. Now he does it ever time we lay him down on the floor, bed or in his crib. I think he's figuring out that laying on his back isn't going to get him anywhere :)

Don't stress about it. Your daughter will learn to get around when she's ready. My girls didn't crawl much. They could when they wanted, but didn't want to really. They went from laying on their backs to trying to stand up to walking using the back of a chair and pushing it to walking by themselves. Just make sure she's safe and happy and enjoy this wonderful time together.

Like everyone said, don't worry about her rolling off her tummy all the time. Maybe, if you want to encourage her to start rolling over to her tummy more, then put a toy a little out of reach and within her eyesight, so she has something to reach for and she'll start learning to roll back to front. I noticed someone said her child skipped crawling. That is the ONE thing I know it's not very good to skip. There is something mentally that crawling helps develop (crawling before walking...). And my brother, who's a physical therapist has told us that when babies don't learn to crawl before walking, their spine doesn't form properly. So, when she gets to that point, I'd advise to make sure she doesn't skip the crawling stage!

Use one of her favorite toys, put it in front of her and play with her, that should make her go towards it while on her tummy. Good luck.

What about maybe putting a pillow or blanket roll on either side of her? And then if you lie down in front of her (facing her) with some interesting toys so the two of you are doing tummy time together ... maybe that would hold her interest?

We had a preemie, too, and someone once told me that babies are just like the rest of us ... they'd rather do something that's easy than something that takes work. Makes sense, right? So our job as parents is to make the work worth their trouble. Maybe save a really cool toy for tummy time only.

Hope these ideas help!
Geri

Dear J.:

Does your daughter have a pat-mat? That would give her something to do and look at while she plays on her tummy. My son's daycare had a plexiglass crawling surface so that they could change the pictures underneath it on a weekly basis to keep babies interested in playing on their stomaches and crawling.

Hope this helps!

J. N.

I had a preemie as well. She did not like tummy time at all. We tried to place toys just out of her reach so she would stay on her tummy, but she would scream like we were hurting her. I gave up. She didn't crawl, but she scooted around on her bottom. I think your daughter will learn to crawl in her way. Try the toy thing and see if that works. She may just not like to be on her tummy or you may find once she can roll back to her tummy she'll like it more.

Both of my sons didn't like tummy time over and could roll over (ironically, the opposite happened at bed time when you're supposed to put them on their backs...he would end up on his tummy, go figure) anyway, if I layed on my tummy too and faced him (sort of head to head), he was much happier. I also had a toy with lights on it that was as sort of scrolling picture that would last for about 10 minutes. Those helped some, but neither of them ever spent the necessarry amount of time on their tummies and they were fine. Don't stress too much.

Hi Jennifer. Most all babies that are developing will roll over before crawling. This is a milestone in her life--not a negative thing. Just let her develop and be grateful that due to the fact she was a preemie, she is still doing exactly what full term babies do. :)

If she is starting to roll over during tummy time, its ok to not stress 'tummy' time so much, but you still want to put her on her tummy to strengthen those muscles and practice rolling over.

All kids go from tummy time, to rolling, to crawling at their own pace. I have triplets and when they were at that stage they were all doing things at different times(while one would roll, one was just on the tummy, one was starting to scoot) So, just go with the flow and watch the magic as she learns and grows! ;)

Jennifer,

Once they begin to roll, there is no stopping them. She will begin to crawl when she is ready, and every child is different in the time that they begin this. Just because she is a preemie doesn't mean that she is on a different time frame than all other children her age. My son rolled at 6 months however my daughter didn't roll until she was 8 months. He walked at 14 months and she walked at 12 months, so I wouldn't worry. One thing that you can do is get on the floor with her and have a favorite toy and have her to work towards reaching it she will probably begin worming towards it and that will encourage her to crawl as well.

Hope this helps.
V. C

My daughter was the same way. I couldn't get her to stay on her belly, and she never did crawl. A lot of people gave me a hard time about it, but I then found out that a lot of babies don't crawl. She found her own way to get around sitting up, king of scooting along. She didn't walk till she was about 15 months (also found out that alot of kids walk at that time). Now that she's older she crawls around just for fun when she's playing. To make a long story short, don't stress about it. Tummy time is over-rated. :)

My son is 9 months old and he use to hate being on his tummy. He finally got use to it and he would do the same thing just roll over. He started about 7- 8 months rolling from tummy to back. He just started this week getting on his knees but he hasnt mastered the crawling technique. He rolls around to get to things. She will get use to it. Once she masters back to tummy I believe she will do fine.

I had a preemie, too, and you do worry about these things! Sounds like you're feeling better now, but if you want to try something different, put your baby in front of a floor-length mirror for tummy time. She can't see herself if she rolls on her back, and maybe the thrill of seeing the "other baby" in the mirror will keep her on her tummy more than a few seconds.

My son just turned 7 months yesterday.It is easy to get worried that they are behind and it can be stressful.My son still doesnt sit up by his self and sometimes I stress about that.Any way about tummy time.My son isnt crawling yet but we think he is close.He likes to flip over also but there are two things that helped us.The first is a boppy pillow if you have one of these try putting her on her tummy on that our son likes that.Also they have tummy time mat they have toys on them so they tend to stay on there tummies longer.Oh one more thing i sit on the floor in front of him with a toy or his paci and say come on come get it and set it just out if his reach he really tries to go for it.Good luck i hope some of this helps just try not to stress about it.i have a friend who has a 9 month old who isnt crawling yet so i guess every baby has there own pace but I know how you feel i always want my son to meet every goal too.

You stated "she can almost roll back to tummy" This too, is a natural growing process. She will start to roll back on her tummy and then get on her hands and knees and do the "rocking" motion for a while before she actually crawls. Give her time! She will do this naturally and on her own. Sometimes they just like it on their backs cause they can see all that is going on so much better, and it is a game for them to roll from tummy to back. It strengthens their muscles when they attempt to roll back to their tummy's, which, in turn, will help them when they start to crawl. Don't push her and don't stress over it! Sounds like she is doing well!

She has to learn to sit up and get the back strength to stay before she should be encouraged to crawl. She will keep rolling over until she's ready to sit, then she'll sit up. AFTER she masters rolling and sitting, she'll start to crawl. But she's close now because the muscles needed for sitting and crawling are building with the rolling.
My twins were born a little early. They went from rolling over (5 mo) to sitting (5 1/2 mo) to walking (7 mo) and skipped crawling. They decided to crawl for about 1 wk and hated it. They were RUNNING before 8 mo and both are now dancers with beautiful coordination.

Hi Jennifer,

My 7 month old daughter did the exact same thing. She hated being on her tummy and before she could roll over you would have thought someone had physically hurt her the way she would scream when you would try and do tummy time with her. Once she learned how to roll over (she learned back to tummy first) that was the end of tummy time. Now she rolls all over the place and being on her tummy doesn't bother her at all. This is just part of development and before you know it she'll be rolling all over the place.

L.

Jennifer,

Tummy time doesn't matter once they can roll over. She should have no problem learning to crawl she's going to do it later than other babies because of her adjusted age. My dd was born 4 weeks early and did everything about 4 weeks behind every body else. She's a normal little 8 1/2 year now. Tummy time is intended to help newborns strengthen their necks so that the next step IS rolling over. You've doing a great job with her.

God Bless,

K.

Jennifer,
Not all kids like being on their tummy. My youngest hated it. She eventually got around by scooting on her bottom-- she never did crawl! It may just be uncomfortable for her. Just make sure that you do the pull up exercises with her (hold her fingers and see if she can put some weight on her legs) and in a few months, buy her a push toy to encourage walking. I don't know any parent who wasn't concerned about their child developing properly! Enjoy this time-- they grow up so fast.

Tummy time is just to give a baby that cannot manuever well by himself a variety of positions and change in environment. It gives the little one a new experiennce in being on their tummy. Your baby is progressing like normal babies will do by rolling over. Let her do it and don't discourage her. This helps her master her motor skills and increases her strentgh in her mobility. Don't sweat it and just enjoy your babies new strides and adventures. She will discover she can roll back to her stomach and eventually start to rock in an effort to try to travel to get something she wants. The beginning stages of crawling. You may want to place a toy a little out of reach in front of her to see if she tries to inch her way to get it.
L. R