Tummy time

Tummy time is still important for your baby. Now that we sleep babies on their back and they are playing lying on their back more, we sometimes see babies with a part of their head that is flattened.

It is usually behind one of their ears or it is the back of their head. This is the reason we encourage you to give your baby tummy time from an early age.

Part of the reason is that it encourages good neck strength.  Babies will be happy to stay on their tummy longer if they are strong enough to hold and move their head.  Short frequent amounts of time are better than occasional long periods of time. Start with 5-10 seconds and lengthen it as they get stronger.

A good time is when you change their nappy, flip them over.  Don’t make them stay longer if they are not happy.   If they don’t like it and you force it, this will teach them that it is not a nice place to be and just keep fighting it. Tummy time helps prevent their heads flattening- called plagiocephaly.

You can start to give your baby tummy time as soon as they are born.  However, this is not something to concern yourself with initially.

When your baby is 6 weeks old you definitely need to start giving them tummy time if you haven’t started yet. Watch for head flattening by looking at their head from above.  You can see it is even and round on both sides.  If your baby’s head starts to flatten you can usually see this  either on left or right side of their head behind their ears.  Again look from above.  Sometimes the back of their head is flat which pushes the sides of their head forward.  Sometimes it can cause their forehead to be uneven.

Baby’s skull bones are still soft until about 6 months of age.  If you catch the flattening early, you can reverse it.  It will take effort and for you to be consistent in working on getting their position right to reverse it.

If it is left too long, some baby’s are given a helmet to help.  Sometimes the bones in their head are fused and it is too late to reverse it.  Generally it does not interfere with development.  It is a cosmetic thing.

Of course another way to avoid your baby developing a flattened head is to use a pouch or sling often in their early months with you.  It doesn’t have to be all the time, but if it works for you, it is a great tool to use have your baby with you but have your hands free to do other things as well and your baby will usually love just being with you.