Sunday the three of us jumped in the van, picked up a good friend of ours and went out to one of our favorite lunch spots.


This image is hidden for guests. Please login or register to see it.


This image is hidden for guests. Please login or register to see it.

We ate our lunches, enjoyed watching the hang gliders with the nice backd drop of the islands, took in the sunshine, played with Olivia, and chatted a bit.
The pics are fun so i thought I'd share them, but there is a point to this thread. Our friend is a physical therapist for our local school system. She had spent the previous weekend in Seattle for training updates.

She reiterated that kids these days are definitely not getting the upper body muscle development and it's traceable to lack of tummy time as a baby.

She said too many parents are putting the child in the excer saucer too early and too often. "Too early" meaning that the baby isn't meant to ne upright at this point anyway, and they aren't learning proper balance and control, and later in life are often more clumsy.

It makes sense to me, as I relate it to my kayak instruction. I can train a beginner to paddle a narrow tippy kayak in a short while and he will be soon be stable in a variety of conditions. But a verteran paddler that has only padd;les wide boats may never fell stable in a narrow tippy boat.

Since our discussion, I have been setting Livs down on her tummy almost every chance i get. (she is nearly 5months old). I do remmember the tummy time video, but our frined seemed to strees the importance a little more I guess.

She said the excer saucer is ok when kept to a minimum.

Any comments, observations, 2cents?

We set our son down for tummy time often - 30-60 minutes a day at this point. (He is five months old).

It's as much to give ourselves a break, as to get him exercise. Being a parent is a lot more work than I thought it would be. Our son is bright eyed, inquisitive, very vocal, loves to be held, and loves to be taken for walks (our Ergo baby carrier is probably the best dollar-per-value purchase I've made in the past ten years). When I just can't take it any more and need a break, I put him down and let him play on the floor for a while.

Our tummy time station is a clean blanket, upon which is one of those moisture repellent sheets from the baby store. He's got all his toys there. He doesn't do much with them other than bash them around and try to stick them in his mouth, but they keep him occupied. And they give Dad a chance to get the coffee pot going and maybe sit for a few minutes.

The professional input you got from your physical therapist friend is very interesting. I think here in America we've gone through some changes in the past 20 years and we're only now realizing the impact it's had on our public health.


Roger

PS - we do have a "johnny jump-up" that we were given as a hand-me-down, but we don't use it very often because it blocks the doorway and it's easier just to put the kid on the ground then to set that thing up.

(edit: no sooner did I post about what great tummy time parents we are, then my wife put him in the johnny-jump up... hehe)

Good input, Roger. It's nice to see how other families are doing it. Is the 30-60 minutes a day just the way it's been working out or is that a goal set by a professional or?

We have a padded little blanket with little stuffed animals sewn into it..

Is the 30-60 minutes a day just the way it's been working out or is that a goal set by a professional or?

It's the way that it has been working - we haven't had any professional input. And 30-60 minutes is an estimate... we haven't timed it. But I would say he's down there for about an hour a day. (Actually I *should* time it some time, just to see whether my estimate is accurate).

He doesn't cry during tummy time the way that he used to, and he can keep his head up more or less indefinitely. Usually what brings an end to tummy time is when he cries for some attention. I will admit that our kid has us on a hook - he wants to be held, he cries for it, we give in. I hope I do not have him strapped in the Ergo when he is 8 or I am gonna end up in a wheelchair.

(edit: I love holding my son, he is the best! But he is 16 lbs now, and getting heavier with every feeding...)

@T.Low Man, those are some pretty pics. Wow.

A lot of folks point to infant travel systems that let you transition from car to stroller without taking the baby out of the carrier as a culprit. We had an exersaucer and used it plenty. But not until the kid was able to sit upright. If parents are putting newborns and smaller infants in these, they are definitely making a mistake. And it should be obvious! The babies just mash their faces into the toys, or slump around if they aren't old enough.

Babysitter Balance a much better choice. (Shameless plug ---->)