Tummy Time

• By mickeymom
• Posted November 30, 2008 at 2:09 am
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I had the same problem with my son. He would refuse tummy time and even learned to roll from his tummy to his back at 2.5 months because he hated tummy time so much. Apparently kids who have reflux are sensitive to tummy time.

They say that even a couple of minutes of tummy time is helpful and kids don't have to spend large amounts of time on it. Hence timing it with your son's diaper change might be a good way to do it several times a day. Also, we found that our son loved being massaged and that was the only time he was happy to be on his tummy. That might be another way to get him on his tummy 1-2 times a day. Apart from that putting toys around him so he is distracted is a good thing to try.

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• By katek
• Posted November 30, 2008 at 2:43 am
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Are you saying that if your child is held to you (tummy to chest) he gets upset, even when you are leaning back just a couple inches? What if you just stay upright? Will he tolerate that? If so, then I would start with that, holding him tummy to chest, and then only lean back on inch per day. Leaning back so slowly that he doesn't notice. It will be a while before you are at 45 degrees, but slow and steady wins the race.

My son never liked tummy time. He crawled around eight months adjusted. Purposefully laying on tummy was probably a month after that.

Like mickeymom's son, Henry became good at rolling from tummy to back when we placed him on his tummy b/c he didn't want to be told to be on his tummy. Interestingly, he eventually started sleeping on his tummy. We didn't put him to bed on his stomach (always back until 7 months adjusted or so), but around 5 months (approximately), he would roll onto his stomach in his crib. At about 7 months adjusted, I stopped trying to fix that.

Prior to crawling, we did lots of modified tummy time on our chests, but never at a fully reclined position. Most of the time, it was us holding him and us reclining just a couple inches. Eventually, we made it to about a 45 degree angle (halfway between upright and laying down). Even this was better than nothing. He would push up with his arms even at a slight incline. This was important for arm strength need for crawling.

My impression is that a lot of kids don't want to be forced to work at tummy time. It is hard work afterall. But sometimes, you can distract them so that they don't realize that they are doing it. Dangling toys can be distracting. Getting on the floor so that they can see your face sometimes works. Using a mirror can also work.

Prior to crawling, our son would rarely stay on tummy for more than a couple seconds. We'd try to dissuade rolling over, but we wouldn't force him to stay on tummy for more than 15 seconds if he really was upset about it. He was on oxygen until 4 months adjusted, so we didn't want to upset him and have his oxygen saturation levels drop.

We ended up doing a couple seconds of tummy time here and there throughout the day.

Are you doing infant massage? Is that some thing his doctors will allow? If so, I think that mickeymom's idea about massage is a good one. We met with an infant massage therapist when our son was 5 months adjusted. She met with us twice and trained us. I really, really wish that we had been doing it since our son came home from the hospital. The benefits of massage are numerous. Empirical studies show that babies who are massaged sleep better and have better digestive motility than non-massaged babies. We spent a lot of time concentrating on our son's feet b/c we wanted to replace the negative associations with feet and touch (from needles) to be replaced with positive ones. I actually had been doing foot work with my son since he came home. When we met with the massage therapist, she showed us some stomach massages that help with digestion (which was good b/c our son had reflux and constipation issues).

Good Luck!

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• By VickieDakinPT
• Posted November 30, 2008 at 8:44 am
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The 2 replies above are great. Have you tried using a ball? If you make the ball a little softer by not filling it as full of air, he will sink slightly into it for more comfort. If there is a video he likes play that while he is on the ball. Try gently bouncing the ball or moving it forward and backward slowly.

Another thing to try is to put him on his tummy and count to 10 out loud. Then move him off his tummy. He may tolerate it more if he things it will end more quickly. It may be that once he breaks his pattern he will actually try tummy time.

I hope this helps.

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• By angvbc
• Posted November 30, 2008 at 9:54 am
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my son just turned a year old (10 months adjusted) and he has never liked it...still doesn't. his ped and pulm both said that some babies, especially ones with medical issues sometimes have a much harder time with belly time and they both told me not to worry about it. they said that with time he'll grow and eventually gain that upper body strength when he's trying to do other things (like pulling up to stand which he is starting to do now). i didn't like that advise at first, but now that i see a lot of improvement since he started trying to stand it's much better and i know now that they were right and he'll do it in his own time.

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• By bekamom
• Posted December 1, 2008 at 6:06 pm
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my son hated tummy time and nothing we or infant developement did helped. He was about 10 months actual when he finally rolled over and stayed on his tummy and 2 days later rolled all over the house. he did it completly on his own. with out any prompting he just decided one day it wasn't that bad. he has had issues with constipation since solids and is being evaluated for hirschsprungs disease so maybe his uncomfortable tummy issues had something to do with him not liking it. he also had reflux and had to spend 90% of his time elevated when he was smaller.

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• By kimmym91
• Posted December 2, 2008 at 1:58 am
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It is so good to know we are not alone! Thank you so much for all of your input. These are all GREAt ideas! I am continuing to try with him, even if it is only a few seconds here and there...better than nothing, right? I have been using infant massage with him for some time, esp when he was flat on his back, sedated from being sick and/or post op. I also just found my ball to work with him. I had forgotten than my daughter used to love that when she was a baby! I figure, if tummy time is a big concern for me then life is pretty good! It wouldn't even have come on the radar even a few months ago!

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• By joyjoyjoy
• Posted December 10, 2008 at 7:32 am
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my son also had a few intestinal surgeries due to nec.
he currently has a g-button.
he also hates tummy time.
all you can do is try it a little bit everyday. your doing your part by trying a little everyday.
when my son starts crying i dont force him to stay on his tummy. i too fear this is interfering with his development but i dont know any 1 yr old's that dont get around one way or another, dont worry, nature will work itself out.

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