TUMMY TIME FOR CHILDREN:
Tummy time is putting babies on the tummy for play when they are awake. Tummy time is a very essential position for young babies from birth till the first year of life as it promotes the sensory-motor development of the child.
Babies should not be placed on the tummy during sleep as they may feel suffocated and may have difficulty in breathing.
Practice tummy time only when the child is awake. Turn babies on their back during sleep time and use tummy time for play.
WHEN TO START TUMMY TIME AND HOW TO PROGRESS:
You must start tummy time with your newborns and can continue till one year. Tummy time needs to be supervised. Don’t practice tummy time just after the baby is fed. Do it when the child is awake and alert. You can practice it every time after a nappy change.
Initially, babies may not be comfortable in the tummy time position but that does not mean that you don’t practice tummy time for your baby. Start tummy time with a short duration of just 1 to 2 minutes and slowly and gradually you can increase the duration of it as the child becomes comfortable.
By 3 months of age, the child should be able to spend 45 minutes to 1 hour on tummy in a day. You can break this into small duration, 15 minutes at a time, 4 times in a day or so tummy time for children
To make tummy time easy for the child, play with your child in a tummy time position. You can also lie down on your tummy facing the child, sing and play with the child.
Show light and sound toys to the child at eye level, helps the child to engage in the tummy position.
BENEFITS OF TUMMY TIME
VISUAL MOTOR DEVELOPMENT:
Place the child on the tummy and show sound and light toys at eye level. Try to get the child’s attention on the toy and once the child looks at the toy, move the toy slowly sideways, up and down. It improves visual fixation on the object and visual tracking in vertical and horizontal directions. This way it helps in visual-motor development.
PROMOTES MOTOR SKILLS:
Tummy time helps children to develop strength in the muscles of the head, neck, shoulders, and upper body.
When children are placed on tummy, they try to lift their head up against gravity and move their neck side to side to look at toys or stuff around them, this helps them to develop good antigravity head and neck control and develops strength in the upper body.
A child tries to take weight on the forearm helps to build up strength in the shoulder girdle and upper body
FACILITATE ROLLING AND CREEPING:
Place the toys close to the child. When a child tries o reach out for toys with one hand while taking weight on the other forearm, it facilities weight shifts and promotes rolling from tummy to back. Weight shift also helps in achieving further milestones like child creeping and crawling.
ORAL SENSORY AND ORAL MOTOR MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Tummy time position gives a very good pressure on the whole body and gives deep pressure on cheeks and around the lips which helps in oral sensory and oral motor development of the child and delays a very important role in feeding and eating skills.
PREVENTS PLAGIOCEPHALY
Newborns spend a lot of time on their back during sleep which creates a constant pressure on the soft skull and can cause flattening of the head, which is also called plagiocephaly. Placing the child on the tummy relieves the pressure on the back of the head and prevents the flattening of the head.
TUMMY TIME FOR CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENT DELAY:
Tummy time helps in sensory-motor development in children with development delay
Tummy time is equally important for children with developmental delay as children already have a delay in achieving milestones.
In typical development, children should be able to lift their head up 45 degrees by 3 months of age and pushes their chest up by pushing on forearms. Children develop good head control with chin tuck at 5 months of age and start sitting by propping on their hands.
Due to abnormal tone and weak muscles, the child may not develop good head and neck control and may not achieve sitting.
Tummy time is used as a therapeutic position and plays a very important role in intervention for children with developmental delay due to abnormal muscle tone and due to lack of muscle strength e.g.: Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, or any other diagnosis causing a motor delay in children.
THERAPEUTIC TUMMY TIME POSITION FOR CHILDREN WITH
DEVELOPMENT DELAY:
- You can place a rolled-up towel or bed-sheet and place it under the chest so that chest is lifted up.
- You can make the child lie down on your lap.
- Facilitate tummy time position on a wedge with weight-bearing on the forearm.
- VESTIBULAR INPUTS ON BIG BALL: You can also use a big swiss ball to place the child on the tummy and move the ball slowly forward, backward, and sideways for additional sensory inputs.
It’s safe to take advice and suggestions from your therapist if your child has signs of developmental delay or has a diagnosis of neurodevelopment disorders.
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