Tummy Time - Jamestown,NY

My daughter (who is now 11 months) had hip dysplasia and was in a plavlik harness so she could not do tummy time or roll over with that on. Once out of the harness she was sitting up at 6 months, crawling shortly after that and now she is walking. He will develop at his own pace and before you know it you will be thinking "Why was I even worrying about that." Best of luck!

Like the other posters, my daughter always hated tummy time. We basically gave up on it. She sat up fine by 6 or 7 months and was much much happier. She never crawled (she scooted on her butt) and she almost never rolled (not until she was older than 8 months, anyway) and she walked late. But she was happy and healthy and now, at 5, you could never tell the difference between here and one of her early-mobile peers. Don't worry.

My daughters didn't like tummy time either, so I decided to incorporate it into diaper changes. For each baby, every time after I changed her diaper I would put her on her tummy on the changing table for a couple minutes. Then I would get my face down by her face and talk and laugh with her. Since we did it for a couple minutes with every change, it added up to a lot of time throughout the day. I think the contours of the changing pad made it more comfortable for them, and having my face right next to theirs -- instead of them being on the floor or bed with me sitting next to, but above, them -- seemed to help a lot.

Good luck!

K., do not worry about it at all. Totally normal.

my little brother (now 5) was extremely premature so the hospital assigned a physical therapist to work with him for his first year... she taught us a trick to help him learn to roll...but im not sure how to explain it...

when he is laying on his back, hold the ankle area on the foot opposite the side he is going to roll on, then you kind of push it up and over (gently, it should feel natural, don't force anything, and stop if he fights it...) his hind end should start rolling and when his torso starts going with it you pull his foot back toward you (again, VERY GENTLE and don't force it!) and he will complete the roll... but im with everyone else as well, he will learn in his own time...we only had to help my brother because of how preemie he was...

Our son HATED tummy time, our daughter loved it (probably because she was SO gassy as a baby, and it relieved some of the pressure).

All you can do is try to put them on their tummies to help develop those different muscles than they use while on their backs. But, there's really no way to teach them to roll over - you can work with them on it, but they need to have the muscle control to do it totally on their own.

Our son rolled-over for the first time at his 4 month well-baby visit. Our daughter was a little later, but she was much earlier on all the other developmental milestones.

Be patient - they like to do things in their own time. I'm sure you're doing everything to encourage your child's development and loving more than life itself.

Most babies don't like tummy time , all of mine never liked it (until they could roll over by themselves). 4 months is quite young to be rolling over so don't worry that he/she is not rolling , this usually happens around 5 months , some a little older.

Don't worry about it. I don't know any healthy babies who haven't learned to roll over onto their tummy and lift their heads.

My now 5 month old hated tummy time too! He has a slight case of Torticollis so right around 14 weeks old we were in Physical therapy. The number one thing she instructed me to do was tummy time, tummy time. Now mind you I have a screamer and it was really hard to do with a 2yr old brother trying to tackle him all day. But I just made him fuss through it a little bit longer each day. We started with 5 minutes and now we are up to 45 minutes. As a mommy you can tell when it's just I'm not liking this fussiness to, okay I'm done Mommy get me up. I would pick him up comfort him, sometimes he needed to just be nursed, other times he was frustrated he couldn't get a toy, and sometimes he was just plain TIRED. I was so amazed how just simply working with him each day he progressed.

However, he is still having difficulties rolling over as well. And like the previous poster mentioned we've been using the same maneuver with starting the motion for him, and he still hasn't rolled from back to tummy. And just yesterday he rolled tummy to back. Granted my boy is HUGE, and the PT did tell me the larger babies, especially if they're top heavy seem to progress a little bit slower. I mentioned it to my Ped too and he said not to worry yet either, most will progress on their own timing....

Good luck and just work with the tummy time, honestly it's hard and if its your first definitely not fun too watch. My first never did any tummy time he'd roll out of it and/or scream hysterically I couldn't stand the screaming. With the second it's a little easier to handle and push him......good luck in the end as long as your little one gets some tummy to tummy time with you or even just airplane time its better than nothing...BTW when I got one of those play mats for my little guy, it made all the difference for him. Also a little extra padding at first may too the trick too!!

I know, all three of my boys hated it, but please do not make the same mistake of not letting him do tummy time. I didn't with my first, but did with my second and third they have strong necks and my oldest he went from back to walking at 10 1/2 months and he's very athletic. Tummy time helps build strength in the neck and back areas. So, have him do it for couple of minutes or more if he hasn't start crying at 2 minutes and then next time, do it adding a minute and keep doing it each time adding a minute to each time and eventually he'll get the hand of it and rolling and so forth. I know how you feel and I felt bad but it's okay and its not hurting him. They hate it that's all.

My five month old daughter was the same. I told her pediatrician and he told me to make it playful for her. When she's on her back and begins twisting to the side gently push her so she ends up on her belly. Do this a few times. Also, lay in front of your baby and wiggle a toy or stuff animal to get his/her attention. Hopefully, this will work....:)

Don't make yourself crazy with these things. All these "rules" make us new moms stress out so much. You and your doctor will know if there's a problem. Just let your baby be.

My daughter hated it too at that age, she'd cry and I'd just pick her up. She's 8mo now and is crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything, she loves being down on the floor. Just keep trying it for a few minutes at a time. Once he starts moving around a little and realizes how much she can get into on the floor, she'll grow to love it.

Mine hated it too. He would cry almost immediately. I just kept putting him down for the couple minutes he would stay there until he cried, and then I would give it like another minute before I picked him up. If you do it several times a day it will work out to the amount they need. If you only do it for a minute, but do that 15 times, they have had 15 minutes. It was hard but I just made myself do it. By being on his tummy while crying, it was strengthening muscles that way too. And tummytime is just the first thing in a long line of things that it hurts you to do as a mommy, but you have to. Cleaning scrapes is no fun either, but you have to do it. I tried to make myself think of tummytime as practice for myself too. :)

Your babe is not alone! It's work for them to make their neck hold up that big ole noggin! The best way to get around the pain is to change the way you do tummy time. 1. Put the baby on YOUR tummy, tummy/chest to tummy, and then DO things - crunches, yoga poses, read together, etc. You don't have to give them hours per day, just a bit each day would be enough. HTH!

Be sure to tell your doctor but it's probably normal. Just be sure to stay and supervise because you don't want the face to bang. My kids hated it too. Even if they scream and cry on their bellies that is exercise for the core muscles, it's hard to watch but try a short stretch 3 times a day and see if you both can bear it.

That's pretty much the way it goes...they just don't seem to like it much!
Always make sure you give him cool toys to look at and move towards...I sometimes used my Boppy and propped my kids up on it so they were still on their stomachs and using their neck and trunk muscles and gave them stuff to look at....usually your face is what works the best. Short intervals, just a few times a day....no biggie! Sooner or later he might come to enjoy it and will want to stay and play longer...ahh, the good times:)

The other answers are great, but also remember: babies develop at different rates! Its OK if your baby doesn't like tummy time and you lay off it for awhile. Trust me, your baby will still end up sitting up, crawling and walking.
Four months is still so young, so just relax and enjoy your little one. :)