I've overheard mumbles on the playground. I vaguely remember a handout about it with all the pounds of paperwork they wrap your baby in at the hospital as they push you out the door. Your pediatrician will ask at the 2 month visit "Are you doing your tummy time?" In your sleepless haze, you nod without blinking thinking if you don't break eye contact, he will believe you. And then you scroll through mom blogs at 3am with this strange new human feeding in your arms, looking for answers as to what is tummy time and why I should be doing it in my 2.5 minutes of "free time " a day.
Let's break it down. Tummy time is officially putting a baby on their tummy while they are awake. But why? Ever since the Back to Sleep campaign took off in 1994, babies went from getting 20+ hours on their tummy, to 20 minutes a day, at the most. While Back to Sleep has drastically reduced the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Sydrome (yay!), the tummy time position is essential for infant development and babies naturally want to be on their belly after birth. It helps with digestion and gas. It develops the muscles of the jaw to help with feeding (breastfeeding too!). It develops social, intellectual, language and problem-solving skills. Promotes visual development and depth perception. It stretches the muscles of the chest, strengthens the muscles of the neck and back that leads to head control and gross motor skills like rolling and sitting. It develops the vestibular system and body awareness. Tummy time exposes baby to a different environment and prevents flat spots on the head (plagiocephaly). According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, aside from potentially preventing positional skull deformity, routine awake tummy time has been shown to enhance infant motor developmental scores during the first 15 months of life.
We only get one chance at baby's first year so with all these benefits, why not tummy time?! Oh right- because it's hard for them! Tummy time is not just putting your baby down flat on the ground... it's so much more than that. Stay tuned for more blog posts or join a class with me to find the fun in tummy time (and it's always more fun with friends!).
