Tummy Time for Baby
Tummy Time
When my youngest son was about 2 months old, many people kept asking me if I always left him in a swing and bouncer. It was pretty insulting to me. The reason they kept asking was because the back of his head was very flat. It was like that until he was about four months old but I know he is not the only baby that ever had this.
One of the reasons a baby’s head is so flat is because most of us put our babies on their backs to sleep. This is to reduce the risk of SIDS. All this time spent like that can flatten your baby’s skull. I started to research this because I was really getting irritated with people. Several studies have shown that giving your newborn tummy time-putting your baby on his stomach several times a day- can prevent this from happening to your baby’s head. Tummy time can also help your baby strengthen his neck muscles and learn head rotation, and helps them establish the way they move when they are on their tummies.
“Most newborns will be able to tolerate very little tummy time, but as long as you help them support their head, they should be fine,” says Dr. Graham, of Cedar Medical Center in LA. He also suggests putting your infant on their tummy as early as possible four times a day, five minutes at a time. This should be a routine for the first months of your infant’s life until they learn to crawl on their own.
By: Natasha Browning
When my youngest son was about 2 months old, many people kept asking me if I always left him in a swing and bouncer. It was pretty insulting to me. The reason they kept asking was because the back of his head was very flat. It was like that until he was about four months old but I know he is not the only baby that ever had this.
One of the reasons a baby’s head is so flat is because most of us put our babies on their backs to sleep. This is to reduce the risk of SIDS. All this time spent like that can flatten your baby’s skull. I started to research this because I was really getting irritated with people. Several studies have shown that giving your newborn tummy time-putting your baby on his stomach several times a day- can prevent this from happening to your baby’s head. Tummy time can also help your baby strengthen his neck muscles and learn head rotation, and helps them establish the way they move when they are on their tummies.
“Most newborns will be able to tolerate very little tummy time, but as long as you help them support their head, they should be fine,” says Dr. Graham, of Cedar Medical Center in LA. He also suggests putting your infant on their tummy as early as possible four times a day, five minutes at a time. This should be a routine for the first months of your infant’s life until they learn to crawl on their own.
By: Natasha Browning
9/22/2005
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