Tummy Time Tantrums

Ok, so I basically want to know.

Is NO tummy time really that bad for baby?

DD is nearly 3 months and REFUSES to be on her tummy, fullstop, even for a second, EVER!

I feel like ive tried everything, doesnt matter when shes last eaten, where I try it, she goes from full on happy smiley chatty girl to a deafening scream as soon as shes on her tummy. Ive tried leaving it a whole week in between attempts to try get her to forget that she didnt like it last time lol. Even on DF or I if we recline in a lazy boy she loses the plot and has a total meltdown

Plunket keeps telling me to keep trying, well Im getting over making my happy baby scream the house down just to be on her tummy

Any hints? Super secret tips? A cure for her total stubborness?

Or can someone just reassure me that their baby never had tummy time and it didnt kill them

Thanks in advance

I was discussing this with my Plunket Nurse just the other week. In China the babies are held for the first 3 months, never put on the floor because babies are precious and floors are dirty! And obviously they all eventually learn to hold their heads up. One of my DD's puked every single time we lay her on her back OR her front so I gave up. Placed her in the bouncinette for the first 3ish months of her life. And then she was my earliest crawler at just 5mos!! So I say the whole thing is blown way out of proportion.

I do like to put my babies on their tummies to give them a break from the back of their heads. But I turn them back on their backs when they are getting tired of it and before they get upset. My Bethany is 4 months old and at 2mos she didn't like tummy time at all. But now, she likes to look around from that vantage point so long as she isn't too tired. I say just do it as your child is ready and don't stress if they don't do it right off.

My Plunket Nurse said that they are supposed to encourage tummy time as that is what Plunket recommends but that she says if your baby doesn't like it, don't force them to do something that upsets them. She had done some research about babies and how important it was that babies are put in positions that they can get into themselves. For example, placing baby on the floor, on their back...eventually they will move and roll and once they can get on their tummy they will want to be there. All babies will reach the developmental milestones in their own time and just lifting their head from your shoulder is enough to help to develop the neck muscles.
DS HATED tummy time with a passion so I didn't do it very much but his head and neck control is great. He also didn't really like falling asleep on me on his tummy unless I was sitting up.
I wouldn't worry too much! Nothing worse than an upset baby either, especially if they don't need to be!

Tummy time doesn't have to be on the floor. Even on your shoulder is ok.

Have you tried lying on your back and placing bubs on their tummy on your bent knees with their bum on your toes - super good for your abs if you then raise your legs carrying bubs as a passenger, and a lot of fun too.

I doubt that leaving it a few weeks is going to scar your baby for life!

Edited by maya22

I was naughty and didn't give Chloe much tummy time because she hated it, and she's always had good head and neck control. She did end up becoming more tolerant of it as she got older and could roll onto her back if she didn't like it. She turned out fine and is now trying to walk around the furniture. However, I did carry her a lot, and I've heard (info from this site )that if you spend a lot of time wearing baby or carrying her against your chest, this helps develop head and neck control.

I have heard of people rolling up a towel and placing it under the baby's chest so that they're not so flat on the floor and it's not as frustrating for them.

Lily hated being on her tummy, she still rolled at 3 months one way and 4 months the other way... I personally never pushed it as she was happy and had strong neck muscles/good head control very early on...

As the above posted mentioned, don't put babies into positions they naturally can't get into or out of themselves, this is what we did/have done/do. No problems, DD had met her milestones at the right time for her.

Under the Pikler/RIE philosophy they only get placed on their back.
They get tummy time....when they roll to their tummies themselves, if you've ever tried imitating your baby on its back, the moves theyre doing are hard work!! and obviously are developing their core muscles, doesnt pilates etc say that everything comes from the core?

My work uses this philosophy and every single baby will eventually roll and get tummy time when theyre ready, and they will enjoy it too because they will be able to control their head and they got there themselves

so in short, no its not importanat to put babies on their tummy

James was the same right thur till he was 8 months old and he still crawled at one year. It was so stressful listing to him scream, and in hind sight i wish i had just done shorter times. As he would scream the full min he was on his tummy, as that is the time pluket told me to do.

KatzWtgn wrote: DS never liked tummy time until he got much older (I think around 5 months and rolling himself) and I never pushed it. I took the view that tummy time was another way of saying don't leave your baby on their back for 24 hours, and I carried DS a lot (so he was more upright) which I figured gave him the chance to develop his upper body / neck muscles.

i think this is exactly right! and to eleviate flat spots caused by plunket guidelines to sleep baby on their back (not saying this is a silly recommendation) but considering babies sleep on their back for 18 hrs a day, i dont think 5min of tummy time is going to take away the flat spot, to me it would seem more logical to change sleeping positions if a flat spot started occuring, not have more dreaded tummy time

Mine hated tummy time too so I didn't force it. He's now 2.5 and perfectly co-ordinated, no developmental problems. He started tolerating it about 6 months when he wanted to start to learn how to crawl, which he did right on 8 months. You don't have to obey plunket - mums know their babies best, I say!