Tummy time question?

[deborah_r]

DS is almost 5 months. As soon as I place him on his tummy for tummy time, he rolls over onto his back. Am I supposed to keep flipping him over? (poor child, I've resorted to talking about him as though he is a pancake) Does he still need tummy time?

Also he always seems to roll in the same direction. Is that an indication of anything wrong, or is it normal? (I'm leaning towards normal, but if anything I tend to not question stuff enough, so thought I'd ask.)

On a totally unrelated note, he is as I type making the funniest little grunting poo noises - I've never seen a baby enjoy pooing so much!

[Jen841]

We have the opposite problem. Jude rolls himself to his stomach and does not want to be on his back. He can't get himself to his back when he is ready, so he'll fuss then. I have seen him flip to his back, but he has not learned to do it regularly.

[khakismom]

Whoo-hoo--that is awesome! Ellen does this too! If you really want him to have "tummy" time, then you probably need to flip him over. We prop Ellen up on her belly on the Boppy. That way, she can't roll over. :)

[justlearning]

My son's your age and I stopped worrying about having a set "tummy time" period a long time ago because he started always rolling from his back to his tummy and would spend most of his time on his tummy anyways (on the Gymini, in his crib, etc.) I always put him in his crib with toys to play with (that I remove once he's asleep), and he enjoys lying on his tummy playing with toys before going to sleep (this also leads him to fall asleep without crying).

If your son's not spending much time on his tummy, though, I probably would still try to encourage "tummy time" as it helps them strengthen their upper body muscles, etc., and prevent a flat head (although this issue may not be as important if he's spending more time in an upright position now and/or perhaps starting to flip onto his tummy to sleep).

Is your son able to roll from his back to his tummy? If so, one thing you might want to try is putting him down on his back when you actually want him to be on his tummy because your son may just want to roll over (this is the age when they do really like to roll over!). That way, once he rolls, he's on his tummy. If he's not currently rolling over to his tummy, maybe more time on his back will actually lead him to start rolling over that way. And once he is rolling over onto his tummy by himself, my guess is that he will enjoy his tummy time more than if he was placed on his tummy by you. (That's what happened with my son, at least.) This idea might not work at all, but just trying to brainstorm with you...

Oh, regarding your direction-of-rolling question, I don't know the medical answer but, FWIW, I will say that my son also always rolled in one direction as well for a long time but recently has started rolling in both directions so maybe it's normal.

[daisymommy]

One of the main reasons to do tummy time is help them strengthen their upper body muscles so they can do things like...Roll over!!! Wooo-hoo! Looks like you've done a good job Mama! You may want to try laying down face to face in front of your DS so he wants to stay on hi stummy to see you. Also, toys in front of him that he couldn't have if he flipped over may work as well. Keep up the good work!

[vikivoly]

He sounds just like DD. She hated her belly! I tried to encourage tummy time before she could roll and all she did was scream and cry. As soon as she learned to roll over from belly to back, forget it. I barely got my hands off of her and she was on her back. However, I still tried to encourage it. She loves her mommy so the best thing was if I got down with her and was face to face. This encouraged her to use her arms to prop herself up to see me.

She also rolled to the right. As a matter of fact, one time I had her outside on a hill sloping to her left and she struggled until she rolled uphill to her right! I was a little concerned also, but my Ped said it wasn't a problem. She has positional plagiocephaly. (Mostly because she hates her belly and always preferred sleeping with her head to the right as a newborn.) I took her to a neurologist and mentioned her preference for rolling to the right and he also said it was normal. I used to put a pillow on her right side to prevent her from rolling over and encourage tummy time.