“My baby cries every time I put him on his belly. He can’t stand it! He’s just so much happier on his back or sitting in his infant seat. Is tummy time really that important?”
Yes, tummy time is as important as you’ve heard! To understand why, let’s look at the role gravity plays in early development. Begin by trying something: Lie down on the floor on your back and notice how easy it is to pay attention to the world around you without having to exert any effort at all. Now, roll over onto your belly and see if you feel a change. In order to interact, you have to lift your head up and use your neck and back muscles just to see what’s going on around you. Similarly, in the first few months of life, babies are working hard to deal with the force of gravity. It can be overwhelming at times and lying on their bellies can be a pretty big chore.
So, why is tummy time so important?
Usually we don’t pay much attention to gravity, but in your infant’s development, it’s a big player! All of your baby’s movement develops in response to its force, beginning with reflexes that are triggered by gravity. These reflexes activate her muscles, getting them ready to move her body away from its downward pull. This readiness is called “muscle tone” and your baby’s strength and coordination slowly develop from this base of background muscle activity.
Introduce Your Infant to the Pull of Gravity Gradually
It’s common for infants to spend more time feeling the pull of gravity when they are on their backs than on their tummies. As a result many babies resist being placed on their tummies. If you are like many parents, you might be wondering how to help your little one be more comfortable and at ease in this unfamiliar position. Here are some ideas for you:
To transition her to spending time on her belly, start by lying on the floor and placing her on your belly so that she feels the safety and comfort of contact (your warmth, smell, reassuring voice, etc.) while she becomes more familiar with the sensations associated with being on her belly. Offer this in doses that she can tolerate. If she expresses discomfort, don’t force it, but don’t hesitate to try it again. You can also lie on your side and cuddle or spoon her in front of you so that she is on her side as well. Helping her to experience gravity acting on her body in different positions, you’ll find that she will gradually become more and more comfortable and ready for “solo time” on the floor.
Three things to take into consideration at this point:
1. It’s important to create a space on the floor that is comfortable for you – use padding and big pillows - anything to entice you to spend time down there with her. The idea is to get down low with her, face-to-face, making it interesting and cozy for her to be on her belly.
2. You want to avoid startling her by moving too fast. The startle reflex (Moro Reflex) is triggered when her head tips back quickly and unexpectedly or when there is a loud noise: her arms shoot out and her back arches. This response is followed by the second phase of the reflex in which her arms, head and body fold back into a more curled position. Learning to read this reflex can help you to move and support your infant so as to avoid triggering it as much as possible. Younger babies tend to startle more often, especially with loud sounds or when picked up or lowered down. Try changing your baby’s position slowly and supporting her head to keep it from dropping back. When you notice a startle, help her to recover by curling her up next to your body and encouraging her muscles to release and relax. One of the reasons to avoid startling is that it activates the extensor muscles on the back of the body; if this happens frequently, it can lead to an imbalance in muscle tone where the back muscles become more active than those on the front.
3. Think about what a big difference she must experience when you shift her from orienting to the world from an upright, contained position in your arms to one that is facedown and alone on the floor! Try to make this transition gradual: move her slowly from upright in your arms to lying on her side still in your arms, to lying on her side on the floor with your face close for reassurance, to finally releasing her onto her belly - staying close to soothe her with your voice, smell and presence.
Offer Flexion as a Support for Tummy Time
Tummy time in the first few months of life gives your infant the foundation for developing “balanced muscle tone” – underlying muscle action that leads to comfortable and balanced posture and movement. When you curl your infant into a more flexed position, it counter-balances the strong preference that babies often have for extending and lengthening their bodies, sometimes to the point of arching their backs and thrusting out their legs.
This preference stems in part from the natural process of uncurling (having been tightly flexed in the womb), partly from early reflexive startling responses, and partly from the need to extend in order to move up and away from the downward pull of gravity. As a result, babies often become more familiar with the sensations associated with lengthening out the body and not as naturally comfortable with the sensations related to movements that pull in and flex the body. When you curl your infant up into a cozy ball, you help her to become more familiar with the accompanying “flexing” sensations. This sensory familiarity opens the door to coordinated activation of the muscles on the front and back of the body. This balanced muscle action – the integration of flexor and extensor tone – allows for more ease and comfort in movement.
With each new phase of motor development, your baby might need to re-visit finding flexion support as she learns new movements. (This is because so much of early motor learning entails working against the force of gravity by extending and lengthening out into space.) You might need to remind her that her flexor muscle tone is a deep support for this moving up and out into the world. Periodically curling her up (in your arms, while nursing or bottle feeding, on the changing table, etc.) as she goes through all of the wonderful, highly active stages that happen in the first year will provide this reminder, and it will also help her learn to rest by yielding into your soft support.