Tummy Time, Your Baby’s First Workout
It will be the longest 3 minutes of your life. 
If you follow Pediatricians’ recommendations, Tummy time (lying down in the prone position) will be the longest 3 minutes of your new baby’s life, too.
At about day three (postpartum for a baby carried to term), it’s time to give your infant the opportunity to develop even musculature in the neck, arms, and upper body.
If you’re like most new parents, you don’t even try to fight the urge to make it all better at the sound of the slightest whimper. Well, tummy time will be one of your first tests of parenting resolve. Babies don’t seem to like it much. At first. Expect mild protest. That’s normal.
In my years of consulting experience (hundreds and hundreds of hours, sitting on living room floors, playing) the only babies who don’t mind tummy time are the ones who have mastered it. There are ways of making the minutes move along. Here’s a list.
What To Do During Tummy Time
- Tummy time is only for a few minutes. A maximum of 3-5 minutes, a couple of times per day until your baby masters and enjoys this exercise; then you can increase.
- Tummy time is for parents, too. Your baby must be wide awake and you must supervise for the duration.
- Don’t practice tummy time in the crib — that’s where the research-endorsed position of back sleeping takes place. Comfy blanket atop clean floor is perfect. Pets behind closed doors — even better.
- Offer a toy. It will distract your baby from the initial discomfort of this new activity.
- Offer a book. A tiny, cardboard book with one well-defined image per page will help pass the tummy time. Place book 8 inches from baby’s face, then tap a page and say the name of the item in the book to help baby learn to focus attention.
- Offer a sibling. This new workout starts three days postpartum, remember? All the way down to the floor and back up again? You might need someone to spot you, Momma. While parents supervise, older siblings can get acquainted with baby, and learn appropriate limits on play, personal space, and exuberance levels with your newborn.
- Use your judgment. Your baby might complain bitterly about tummy time — and who knows the reason? Just observe your baby, and respect those limits. Try again tomorrow.
Really. Try again. Tomorrow would be a good time. Due to important research leading to “Back to Sleep” recommendations for infants, parents will need to set aside time to create the tummy-only opportunities to build strength, sharpen depth perception, coordinate movements, and appreciate body awareness. All of those abilities lead to the later milestones of crawling, cruising, walking, running, and playing sports.
Given the increasing rates of worrisome childhood obesity, it seems the responsible thing to do is to give a newborn bodies and brains the message that there is work to do in this life. And that they can do it.
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Carly Jennings | Motor Development | 
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