skip to Main Content

3 Tummy Time Tips for Your Baby

From the minute your child is born “BACK IS BEST” is tattooed onto your brain. We are so fearful to reposition our baby on their belly that we forget how important supervised tummy time is to their motor development.

Positioning your child on their belly has many benefits such as: decreasing risk of flat spots on the skull, working on upper extremity and trunk strength, increasing coordination, and improving head control. In addition, the benefits of tummy time help prepare your child for gross motor milestones including rolling, crawling and sitting.
Tummy time can be intimidating, especially when your child begins to cry once placed on their belly. As with any skill, it takes time to become comfortable and build up tolerance to laying on your belly. Although there are no set guidelines, it is important to start tummy time as soon as your child is born. Start small with 3-5 minute bouts, multiple times throughout the day and work your baby’s tolerance to longer duration.

Make sure not to overtire your baby and look for signs of fatigue including crying, not holding their head up and attempting to roll onto their back. Also, always perform tummy time in a supervised environment and do not leave your baby unattended. Lastly, never place your baby onto their belly when sleeping. Here are three tips to promote tummy time into your baby’s schedule.

1. Assisted Tummy Time

When introducing tummy time for the first time, you may notice your baby having trouble holding their body up. To help your child hold their body up, place a Boppy Pillow or a hand towel rolled up underneath their chest area to give them more support. With the added support, your child does not have to work as hard pushing through their arms while holding their head up. As they get more comfortable with tummy time, take away the support. Place toys in front on your child to work on reaching and turning their head from side to side for some added skills.

2. Holding Positions

As with lying in the crib, we tend to carry our children on their backs with their heads facing up toward us. Try to incorporate other positioning holds into your daily routine including side-lying and prone. Side-lying carries are important to help build up trunk and lateral head musculature that are often used during tummy time activities. Be sure when working on side-lying to have your child positioned a couple minutes on both his left and right sides to ensure equal muscle development. Another holding position is on their belly. Great options to incorporate belly holds are burping your child while on their belly and lying chest to chest with your child. Be sure to give your child adequate support along their head and trunk by laying their belly along your hand and forearm and decrease the support as they get stronger.

3. Incorporate into Daily Routine

There are many opportunities to incorporate tummy time into your baby’s daily routine. As stated previously, turn your child over on their back to burp them. Another great opportunity to get them on their belly is after a diaper change- roll them over onto their back before picking them up. Lastly, after bathing your child, roll them from side to side and onto their back when drying them.

Back To Top

Patient Reviews

LLA Therapy

Patient Reviews

Crystal Scheibe

Facebook
Great place, glad we found them. Been going to Medina over 2 months now and he loves Lauryn and Kyler. Wish they had more ABA therapy places available... live in Wooster and long drive everyday.

Karrie Swan LaRock

Facebook
My 11 year old son has dyslexia and has made noticeable gains in working At LLA THERAPY. Katie is strong in her approach toward him and also keeps him comfortable enough to perform well. We will continue visiting both the Fairlawn and Hudson offices and recommend them highly.

Ron Monroe

Facebook
My 9 year old just completed about 9 months of weekly speech sessions (due to his stuttering) with Matt Hagge at LLA and we are thrilled with the experience and results. What I thought might be a negative (what kid really wants to go to speech class?) was made very positive by Matt, and my son never hesitated or complained when we talked about class. He really enjoyed it and really took what Matt taught him to heart. His speech has been greatly improved and we definitely recommend LLA. Thank you so much!

Heather Dougherty-Pantoja

Facebook
My son’s Occupational Therapist, Jess, is an amazing OT! She gives practical tips on working with my son at home and school!

Terri Apgar

Facebook
I cannot say enough good things about LLA Therapy. My daughter was a client of Teal Simmons’ for approximately 2 years and was just released from speech therapy! She was diagnosed with Apraxia in 2015 and worked with Teal twice a week. Through Teal’s application of PROMPT therapy, my daughter had age-appropriate speech after one year. All of the staff we interacted with at LLA were absolutely wonderful. They really care about what they do and making sure your child achieves their goals.

Kelli Geisler Davisson

Facebook
LLA Therapy has been an excellent experience for my son as well as my family! My son always asks, "When can I go see Ms. Jeannine again, is it Monday??" He has also made huge gains in only 5 months! I would highly recommend LLA and have already shared my experience with friends looking for services!

Victoria Hansford-Price

Facebook
We are so grateful for our Speech Therapist Ms.Teal. We have seen a great improvement with our sons confidence and communication abilities since we have started "Prompt" therapy. What we love the most about LLA and Ms. Teal is that Kohl feels comfortable and relaxed which has played a critical role in his progress. Thank you Ms. Teal for all you have done.

Laura Lee Hogsett

Facebook
They have helped in numerous ways. Speech, OT and behavioral. I've had numerous compliments on my son's progress thanks in very large part to LLA. I would recommend LLA before I recommend our local children's hospitals, though they are good, they don't have the staff that LLA does.

Amy Furukawa

Facebook
We had a great experience with Matt Hagge at LLA! Our Middle School age son was becoming very conscious of his voice, which is nasal due to a cleft palate. Matt helped him to better form his sounds and project his voice in a way that makes the unavoidable nasality less noticeable.Our son is more confident and outgoing & even took on a speaking role in the church play. Matt has the perfect personality to relate with our son, and we would recommend him to anyone needing speech therapy services!

Jessica Havalotti

Facebook
LLA Therapy has been an excellent experience for our daughter. I would highly recommend LLA. Miss Grace was so amazing and I can't believe how quickly our daughter showed improvement. Thank you!
Read More