Tummy Time Blog Hop and Baby's First Year

Welcome to the Therapy Bloggers blog Hop !!!!

We are all writing about the importance of tummy time:

Below you will Find all the posts in the Tummy Time therapy blogger blog hop. So many great ideas and thoughts on tummy time from Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapists.

The Importance of Tummy Time for Babies - Golden Reflections Blog

Tummy Time & Baby's First Year - The Recycling OT

How to Use a Therapy Ball to Make Tummy Time Easier and More Fun for Baby - Mama OT

5 Awesome Toys for Tummy Time! - The Inspired Treehouse

Terrific Tummy Time Positions - Your Kids OT

Tips For Tummy Time From A Physical Therapist - Pink Oatmeal

Tummy Time : The Basics - Therapy Fun Zone

Tummy Time: Developmental Consequences & Future Implications - Tools to Grow, Inc.

Tummy Time Tips - Pedatric OT Tips

Tummy Time Just Isn't For Babies - Your Therapy Source

Tummy Time - More Than Just A Buzz Word - Starfish Therapies

Tummy Time Never Gets Old - Playapy Platform

 

 
My baby 26 years ago.... before I heard about "Tummy time" !!!


I also recommend that you also check out the tummy time tips in my book:  From Rattles to Writing: A Parent's Guide to Hand Skills





Occupational therapist Masume Marjani from Iran has shared these photographs of her beautiful baby Mitra. Let's take a look at how tummy time has helped Mitra to develop her gross and fine motor skills during her first year of life.


Parents may introduce tummy time for just a couple of minutes soon after  birth.  Its important to keep the "tummy times" brief, fun and frequent so that baby becomes used to this position at an early age.

Try placing a small rolled up towel under baby's chest to make this easier and more comfortable.

Then as your baby gets older try using a small bolster or Boppy pillow. The goal is to make baby comfortable while playing on her tummy so that she focuses on having fun rather than whether or not she likes position. After a while she won't need to use a towel, cushion or any other positioning assistance because she will be strong enough to hold herself up all by herself.....

Prone (on tummy) position helps baby to gradually develop head control and experience the pull of gravity as she begins to move and lift her head to look at loved ones and objects.


These days babies spend a lot of time on their backs because pediatricians recommend supine sleeping to hopefully prevent SIDs (sudden infant death syndrome). Babies these days also spend a lot of time in carriers, car seats and other positioning devices that interfere with developing important gross motor skills such as rolling over.

Encourage your baby to roll from back to tummy by placing some exciting toys to her right and left sides. Also position your own smiling, laughing face to motivate turning. You can assist by flexing baby's higher leg at the knee and giving a little push at the hips and shoulders .

Rolling over back to front and then front to belly teaches Mitra how to control her own body. It develops body awareness- as she learns that she can roll either to the left or right. Rolling develops coordination between the right and left sides of the body.

Shoulder and hip rotation experienced during rolling develops the flexibility babies needs to crawl, stand and transition back and forth between standing and sitting. 



Make the "tummy time" moments special with toys and even books. Its never to early to show babies how we adults love BOOKS!!  


  

 
As baby Mitra brings her hands together over her face she is experiencing wonderful tactile stimulation to her skin and proprioceptive stimulation to her muscles and joints.  Babies explore their fingers, toes and toys by putting them in their mouths. So encourage your baby to do this while on her belly.

Arms out like an airplane !!! Mitra demonstrates good muscle tone, head control and coordination between right and left sides of her body.....





Occupational therapists love to see babies fly either on the floor or in the air with arms and legs out like an airplane.




I love how Mitra attends to the musical toy in the video, she is enjoying her Tummy time !!!

Toys can be positioned flat on the floor or a bit higher such as this toy piano that Mitra is playing. She props herself up on her elbows to help control her hands reaching to activate the music. this position makes it easy for her to look directly at what her hands are doing and at the same time she is strengthening her shoulders and ocular (eye) muscles.





Reaching upward to touch the water toy is fun so it motivates Mitra to explore. She is feeling the new sensation of water moving under her arms.

Mitra can visually track the toys inside the water bag. She is shifting her body weight between left and right sides of her body as she explores reaching with one side and then the other. Mitra is developing many skills.....



Spending time on the belly prepares Mitra to coordinate rocking forward and backward on her hands and knees. This rocking provides vestibular stimulation as the liquid in the inner ears moves.

Early tactile touch), vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive (stimulation to muscles and joints that tell Mitra where her body parts are and how they are moving)  sensory stimulation helps baby to  develop body awareness and abilities to process sensory information such as how things feel, fit together and how to suck on one's toes. 


Mitra is learning about her body as her bum goes up and down, her arms and legs shift weight from left and right sides as her body moves forward to crawl. At the same time, the weight of her body strengthens her shoulders, arms and hands in preparation for complex manipulations such as scribbling. 



Beautiful reach and eye-hand coordination, Mitra!

This will help her develop the coordination to shift her balance reaching toward her right and left sides so that she can throw and catch a balls and bean bags.












Crawling under, over and around obstacles teaches Mitra about the spatial relationships between her body and large objects. This knowledge will help develop an understanding of how small objects fit together- objects like ring stacks and nesting cups. 















Crawling downward from pool to floor helps Mitra put even more weight onto her palms.




























As Mitra develops the coordination and strength to stand she continues to reach for toys on the floor and toys located at different heights.


Transitioning between standing and sitting and climbing onto the toy car helps Mitra to develop the balance and coordination she will need in order to walk. 







I love how Mitra is weight bearing with her hands on the steering wheel. All that "Tummy Time" is paying off as she uses her strong body.

















Now Mitra can continue to bear weight on the same piano she used during "Tummy Time" as she practices standing and squatting up
and down..... while making music!!














  










 Of course, Mitra is thrilled to walk!! However, she continues to  develop motor skills while crawling, squatting and sitting.....














Develop grasping skills with objects that  feel great and fit comfortably inside the hands..... encouraging transferring the toys between hands and grasping 2 toys at the same time....




















Mitra explores the holes in a strainer while squatting.....








Mitra can play piano now with her sticks!












Toys such as nesting cups teach Mitra how smaller objects fit inside larger ones and that she needs to use her 2 hands together to manipulate them. 



Play dough not only teaches Mitra about different textures and shapes,but is helping her develop finger isolation. I love her little pointer finger going into that dough!

 

A ball can also be grasped with 2 hands or poked with an isolated index finger.


Index finger isolation, poking, pointing and pushing will help Mitra to develop the motor control she will need to scribble and eventually write.

Child development is truly all about the transitions between  big body movements - prone (tummy time) to standing and fine-motor development From Rattles to Writing......