Terrible Tummy Time
What is it that babies hate about tummy time? That it’s hard? Does it feel anything like when I try to do a situp or pull-ups because if that’s the case then I get it! I’m going to be honest, my husband and I have not been diligent on tummy time in recent weeks as he’s been seeding and I have been spending all my extra time working on schoolwork. My mom and dad have been watching our son 2-3 days a week since school started and both my mom and I have been sharing resources for how to help Kolter physically develop toward crawling. I mean, do I want him to be mobile so that I have more to worry about and watch for throughout the day? I have mixed feelings about it but I know it’s necessary.
Over the last few months we have spent some time placing Kolt on his tummy and would wait to see how he reponded. We immediately knew we were screwed and that our kid was way too smart for us. He’d attempt to lift his head, realize it was hard, and just lay down, close his eyes and sleep. Well played buddy, well played. As time progressed he became obsessed with seeing EVERYTHING and couldn’t tolerate it when he couldn’t. When we placed him on his tummy he would try to lift his head until he would yell at us out of frustration.
Again, if it feels anything like doing 10 burpees in a row WITH a full push-up at the bottom… I feel ya, bro. As time went on he became stronger and hated it a BIT less but I wouldn’t say he’s grown an admiration for it. He eventually learned to occasionally roll over onto his back again to avoid the tummy time. He still cannot do this consistently but if he’s cranky enough he figures it out. After this development, we decided to try to strengthen his abdominals and back to give him more support but that quickly advanced him to standing so now we’re searching for other ideas!
When Katia first mentioned this project I immediately thought of learning how to introduce solid foods to Kolter and how to teach him to crawl. Will he do it by the time I’m finished this course, unlikely, but it’s the journey that matters, here. This week, finding a bit more time now that I’ve gotten a few assignments out of the way, I started following new Instagram accounts and looking up new videos and blogs for tummy time advice and recommendations.
According to this site, Kolt needs some more tummy practice as he cannot yet push himself up onto his own elbow (probably due to my lack of tummy time scheduling). On the other hand, he has been pushing himself up to stand for an entire month (he’s 4 months plus 5 days). So I dug further to find specific milestones and found this page which has a plethora of milestones, how to train for them, and what to do next. I selected the How to Teach Your Baby to Crawl (obviously) aaannndd realized crawling doesn’t usually happen until 6-7 months but why not work our way there. Soooo, I retracted back to the original post I discovered and went from there.
In addition to a few points I’ve noted below from the original post I also started following Laney Soodsma on Instagram (website link here) and love her reels that demonstrate tips for both physical and feeding development. Talk about a win-win.
I noted a few important points from this article:
— start at 3 minutes a day and work up to 20 minutes.
— use sound and sight tools and techniques for sensory stimulation to get the baby’s attention.
— use tummy time toys for practicing reaching and head-turning.
Some things I’ve learned this week:
— babies do not crawl at 4-5 months, normally.
— my son is stronger than he should be in many ways.
— I’m afraid of how intelligent my child is and how he already gets out of what he doesn’t want to do.
— Small bits of practicing go a long way.
Happy Crawling!