Tummy time: how much, and how to start

Tummy time can begin in the first days at home, in 2 to 3 short sessions a day of about 3 to 5 minutes each, while your baby is awake and someone is watching. By around 2 months, many babies build up to a total of 15 to 30 minutes a day, gathered from small stretches rather than one long one.

Tummy time is play, not sleep. Babies sleep on their backs, every sleep, and spend awake time on their fronts with an adult right there.

Around this age

The Safe to Sleep campaign at NICHD says babies can start tummy time a day or two after they are born. The AAP puts it the same way: the day your baby comes home, 2 to 3 times a day for 3 to 5 minutes, working toward 15 to 30 minutes a day by about 7 weeks.

What those minutes are doing is strengthening the neck, shoulder and arm muscles, and improving your baby’s ability to move and control those muscles. It is the groundwork for pushing up, rolling, sliding along on the belly and, later, crawling. It also gives the back of the head a break from the mattress, which is why it comes up in conversations about flat spots.

A newborn’s first go at it may last 40 seconds before the complaining starts. That is normal. Short and often beats long and miserable, and the total is what adds up, not any single session.

What to try

Spread a blanket in a clear area of floor and get down there too, at eye level, where your face is the thing worth lifting a head for.

A rolled towel or small blanket under the chest and armpits takes some of the weight off, which can make the first weeks easier.

Time it for after a diaper change or a nap, when your baby is awake and calm rather than hungry or already fed up.

Put a toy or a mirror within reach. Having someone else sit in front of your baby and talk to them works the same way.

Keep it awake and supervised, always. If your baby falls asleep on their front, move them onto their back in their own safe sleep space.

Vary the rest of the day too. The AAP suggests alternating which end of the crib you lay your baby down at, changing the position they lie in while awake, limiting time in swings and car seats when you are not traveling, and switching the arm you hold them in for bottle feeds.

If your baby hates it, spread the sessions thinner and more often through the day. Most babies mind it less as the neck gets stronger, which is the point of doing it.

When to call your pediatrician

Flat spots on the back of the head are common in babies who sleep on their backs, and the AAP notes they usually round out as a baby grows and starts sitting up. If a flat spot worries you, or your baby seems to turn their head to the same side most of the time, your pediatrician can look at it at the next visit or sooner.

Your pediatrician can also tell you how to adapt tummy time if your baby was born early, has reflux, or has any condition that changes how they move.

Sources

• Tummy Time for a Healthy Baby — Safe to Sleep, NICHD (NIH)
• Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play: Give Your Baby a Safe, Strong Start — HealthyChildren.org (American Academy of Pediatrics)

This is educational information from public sources, not a replacement for advice from your child’s healthcare professional.

In Withya, the day’s tummy time goes in the Journal, so whoever has the baby next can see what has already happened today.