Big babies and tummy time
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Topic: Big babies and tummy time
Posted By: Two Blondinis
Subject: Big babies and tummy time
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 9:22am
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This is mostly for the ladies with the bigger babies (born 8lb+) I guess.
Caitlin was born 9lb 7.5oz and has always hated being on her tummy but has had good head control from birth (held head up when carried etc). I persevered and she started to hold her head and shoulders up when she was about 10 weeks old. She started to sit unaided about a month ago and prefers to be sitting when playing. I’ll be honest I’ve been a bit slack with the tummy time. Anyways, we put her on her tummy yesterday to play and she just lay there, face to the floor with her arms behind her (she actually looked like she was flying). Anyone who didn’t know her would think she had no control over her upper body at all. I guess what I’m asking is, does it matter that she doesn’t get tummy time and doesn’t learn how to crawl? She gets really upset when she’s on her tummy no matter what surface she is on (wooden floor, carpet, tri pillow, support under her arms etc) and I don’t like forcing her to do something that she is obviously not happy about. My Mum said that both my sis and I were born over 8lb and mostly bum shuffled but occassionally crawled and that Caitlin makes all the right moves to start bum shuffling once she is more confident about sitting up. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
 
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Replies:
Posted By: jax
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 9:29am
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Just my personal opinion hun (even though Erin wasn't a born big at all), so I know you'll take it with a grain of salt... but I wouldn't force her to either, and would say she'll be just fine without much (or any) tummy time. Caitlin is a strong, gorgeous and clever girl, so she'll work out the crawling thing soon enough I imagine ! ------------- Jacquie - Mama to Erin, 13.07.06 - Chief Cat Chaser & Marmite Sammie Eater 
Love many, trust few, harm none. ~Anon~ |
Posted By: luna
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 9:46am
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I wouldn't bother too much either Toni.
Amelia was 8lb 4oz at birth, and like Caitlin had good head control from the start. She also hated tummy time and like you, I didn't bother to enforce it. One of my friends in my coffee group, her son was 9lb born and has also not liked tummy time. He is holding himself up really well now. As we both said the other day, they get to liking (or not) tummy time in their own time. Amelia can now sit by herself unsupported too, and gets really frustrated if I lie her on her back for too long. She did have a good go on her tummy yesterday and even managed to shuffle herself around easily 180 degs. However, I don't necessarily put her on her tummy every day, and when I do she is only down there for a short time as she tends to get upset quickly. Sorry for the ramble ... short end of the stick .. don't worry about it - all babies are different (contrary to Plunket's 'one for all' system/theory).  ------------- Selina http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 10:36am
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Briona was 8lb 4oz but Hannah was 7lb 3oz and I didn't find they differed much with tummy time. Both of them disliked it so I didn't push it, just waited until they were ready. Hannah didn't crawl until 10mos but she rolled a lot of that time when she wanted to get someplace. Briona on the other hand almost lived in a bouncinette for the first 3mos (silent reflux baby) - I couldn't give her tummy time, it just made her puke - and yet was crawling at 5mos and pulling to standing at 6mos!
I think most babies just "get it" in their own time. The only concern to watch for is that the back/neck muscles and eating muscles are closely linked. The other thing I have done with my fussy tummy babies is put them across my legs with one elevated (e.g. legs crossed) as this gives them a little bit of tummy/head-holding practice but on an angle. -------------  |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 10:37am
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Has she rolled over from her back to her tummy or the other way? If she hasn't I would put her down for 2 minutes of tummy time an hour or so just so she can get used to it. Andrew was born 8' 4" and had a bit of tummy time every hour or so and was rolling from his tummy to his back to get off his tummy as he didn't like it sometimes. Being on their tummy can strengthen their arms which is good for them as well. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: ellabellame
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 11:03am
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mikey was 8lb 6oz at birth and he always hated tummy time so i just didn't do it (naughty me), i don't think it did him any harm at all, he started crawling at 8 months and walking at 11 months. the one thing was though, he didn't roll, he seemed to just skip that bit out and it's just recently that he's started rolling, strange boy. ------------- |
Posted By: Two Blondinis
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 11:07am
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wow - how about that for some different view points! Thanks heaps ladies (this place is the best!). I agree with the Plunket "one rule for all" being cr@p (is on most things I've found).
She has only ever rolled the one time from back to tummy and from tummy to back (on different occassions). She's very active with her legs/feet and when on her back she slides around on the wooden floor like that (digs her heels in and moves across the floor on her back). Just a question though - If she's able to sit up, has really good motor skills and can pull toys off her mobile (if we let her, they are meant to be removed for play), should I be worried about lack of neck and arm strength? ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: AnnC
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 11:19am
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my eldest Josh was 9lb 5oz born hated tummy time so i didn't do it much and he rolled early - got very fustrated when he rolled onto tummy and so learnt to roll back onto back quite quickly. He sat up at 4 months and crawled at 6 month, walked at 10 months so nope no tummy time didn't effect him at all. ------------- Ann 
Also Mum to Josh (15) and Brooke (10) |
Posted By: MyMinis
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 11:36am
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Haleigh was 9lb 13oz and loved tummy time from day one. She was crawling at 4 months sitting at 5 months and walking unassisted at 9 1/2 months. my friends girl hated tummy time and started crawling at 13months and walking at 15months. But I knwo of babies who loved tummy time and didnt move till later, so it jsut depends on baby. All babies move at different ages whether they ahve tummy time or not.
There are games you can play with ehr that help strengthen those parts of the body your karitane nurse should be able to help you or try SPARC I have a load of booklets from SPARC from my pepe group. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
http://tweetytweety85.bebo.com - bebo |
Posted By: Peace
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 11:53am
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Olivia was born 8lb 10oz and for the first few months couldn't stand tunmmy time for more than a couple of minutes before bursting out into tears.
I had a girlfriend come over and she just chucked her baby on the floor, her little girl was 4 months so Olivia would have been 2 months. Anyways, her girl was rolling and having lots of tummy time so I asked the secret. How do you get your baby to do that?! Answer? Everytime you put baby on the floor put them down for tummy time first! By 4 months old Olivia was just fine with tummy time, as a matter of fact she enjoyed it better than being on her back! I just kept putting her down tummy first and it became better and better! There are babies that don't like being on their tummy at all and it has nothing to do with birth weight, it's just them! ------------- DD1 May 2006 DD2 March 2011 DD3 August 2012 |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 12:24pm
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Toni if she's sitting (yay for babies who just sit and play with toys! ) then there's nothing wrong with her neck/head muscles so basically no concern at all. How do you feel about her arm muscles because that's probably the difference between her liking and not liking tummy time then. If you don't think she's underdeveloped, no worries. ------------- |
Posted By: my2angels
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 2:24pm
| Addison hates it too, she is bigger (8lb 7oz when born) and has always had excellent head control. she has never like tummy time and always just wants to sit or be held standing. Kobe was exactly the same, hated tummy time and I never bothered with it because he had good head control too and he crawled at 10 months anyway and was walking at 13mnths. |
Posted By: aimeejoy
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 3:04pm
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Havent read all the other replies, so hopefully dont repeat...
Han was 8lb 5 born and she hated tummy time too, so never really pushed it much. She sat at 4 months, rolled (but not a lot at about 7 months), then crawled and walked in the same week at 11 months! She rolls around a lot night (esp at nappy change time!) and although she only crawled for a few days she now does a bit when she is playing. My opinion, doesnt stress both of you out over it - she will do it sometime anyway.  ------------- Aimee Hannah 22/10/05 Greer 11/02/08 |
Posted By: nikkitheknitter
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 3:15pm
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Hannah was 9lbs 6oz and also hated tummy time for the first while.
I didn't really push it, and like Peace did, sometimes would just put her down on her tummy first and when she got grumpy just flipped her over. Eventually she was ok with it and now she's a tummy sleeper! The 10 minutes tummy time per day doesn't have to be all at once (or so I understand)... but in saying that, if it is really pissing Caitlyn off, then don't worry about it! Crawling is developmentally important for co-ordination and getting the left and right sides of the brain going (or so I'm told) but that doesn't matter whether it happens at 6 months, 10 months, or two years. So I'd not worry even if she is a bum shuffler. Babies never do things according to plan! 
So yeah - do what ever makes you feel comfortable. And keep in mind that Caitlyn will probably start rolling an awful lot more in the coming months and will give herself tummy time!
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Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 4:56pm
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I recently did the active movement class at Plunket and even if you don't give Caitlin Tummy Time I personally think it well worth doing the class and learning some exercises to do with her.
We watched a video with a boy who had always sat as infant, didn't have much tummy time and never learned to crawl. At 5 years old he was not a good learner, restless, could not crawl and had pretty bad co-ordination when it came to cross movement exercises. For example the kids were asked to to touch left hand to right foot...all those who had not learned to crawl could not do it. As I say, just my personal opinion but I think it is worthwhile doing some exercises to develop the cross movement skills and even just a few minutes of tummy time...I noticed the world of difference with Maddie when we started them. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 5:08pm
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Sorry I should have mentioned...the exercises are important for building pathways in the brain (which also means daddy's are allowed to play "airplanes" and dangle baby upside down as it also does the same thing with building up those pathways.) ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Carmel
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 5:40pm
Piper was just under 5lb born and hated her tummy time and did not get it daily as recommended and she had her first crawl on xmas day she still hates tummytime now not sure why she never took to it but at least now she can roll herself over and doesnt just lie there and scream like she used to
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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 6:54pm
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Paws that surprised me as Hannah only crawled for 3 weeks before she learned to walk with holding hands. She has no prob with co-ordination, I think she was just too placid staying still to bother learning to move lol.
Anyway, not meaning to bring about any controversy, but I was curious if anyone knows what sort of percentage of kids are like what you mentioned? ------------- |
Posted By: MyMinis
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 7:59pm
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Paws - thats what the SPARC books covered. I was told to do things like airoplanes to help with balance, and rocking Haleigh back and forth helped ehr learn to balance herself while sitting.
I was always on the floor doing some type of exercise with her. My KAritane nurse in Motueka gave me the books and they had exercises for 0 - 5yrs I still ahve them somewhere in a cupboard should probably get them out lol. But In saying that too, my cousin (now 16) neevr crawled she bum shuffled then walked (she had 4 older sibling carting her round) and she developed mentally fine, my sister walked before she crawled and she's brighter than me and I crawled at 4months and walked at 10 months. So the professionals can only really guess. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
http://tweetytweety85.bebo.com - bebo |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 8:40pm
| I have heard what paws was saying about crawling teaches them co-ordination and i believe it aswell i give ella tummy time a few times a day maybe i should increase it? my worries at the moment are ella would prefer to try and stand than anything else but when on tummy time she pushes her arms out and pushes herself up but nothing much is happening with the leggies hehe |
Posted By: james
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 9:02pm
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james hated tummy time and i mean full on scream from day dot he was 7 pound 2 oz and even though i tried to give him tt every day it got to be to much to hear my baby screaming so i let it go for awhile james crawled 2 weeks before his frist b/day and walking about 3 months after but in saying that all kids are diff and if your bubs is fine then maybe a hoilday from tt for a short while wont hurt her ------------- <a href="http://lilypie.com"><img src="http://b4.lilypie.com/nLJ5p13.png" alt="Lilypie 4th Birthday Ticker" border="0" /></a> |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 08 January 2007 at 9:34pm
Hehe sounds like a lot of us don't follow "Plunket Rules"  ------------- |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 09 January 2007 at 7:01am
| Taine and Jake both liked tummy time and were both smaller babies (7pound and just under) but I did find that I could lie down and put them on me - tummy to tummy - and they adored that. perhaps you could do that as Caitlin's tummy time. |
Posted By: CuriousG
Date Posted: 09 January 2007 at 9:01pm
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That is exactly what I did lizzle - Charlotte was 8lb9 and cried from day dot at tummy time. She still cries today so I dont bother.
I used to put her on my tummy and lift her arms up and make it into a game, she loved it and so did I. She isn't crawling at the moment, more shuffling, but I am not personally worried if she doesn't crawl. She is very strong in her legs and will actually walk if you hold her hands. So I guess I would also say not to worry. Crawling comes from sitting up anyways rather than tummy time. They have to master the sitting thing first. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Two Blondinis
Date Posted: 10 January 2007 at 8:29am
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Thanks ladies
Miss "I'll do what I wanna do and when I wanna do it" has now decided that sitting is just as much fun as tummy time and would rather stand  ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: MyMinis
Date Posted: 10 January 2007 at 10:25am
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Have you guys been watching the repeats of nought to 5?
THey suggested tummy time on a beachball/ swiss ball and gently rolling them, that could be a more enjoyable way to have tummy time. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
http://tweetytweety85.bebo.com - bebo |
Posted By: Two Blondinis
Date Posted: 10 January 2007 at 1:38pm
yup - tried the swiss ball thing too. Just ended up with a swiss ball covered in baby puke 
Doesn't matter what time I try (between feeds), she always pukes when I put her on her tummy The ball was actually worse for this as it pushed on her tummy even more!
What time are the repeats on? I saw a couple when I was still on leave and they were really good! I'll have to try to record them ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: meow
Date Posted: 10 January 2007 at 2:38pm
OMG!!! I am soo glad Ella didn't crawl until 7.5 months lol ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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haleighsmum wrote:Posted By: MyMinis
Date Posted: 11 January 2007 at 5:17pm
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yeah HAleigh crawled at 4 months to and it was scary. Most of my friends got babies that jsut did hardly anything till they were over 6 months, and heres me with this full on baby. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
http://tweetytweety85.bebo.com - bebo |
Posted By: Myamy
Date Posted: 13 January 2007 at 9:53pm
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completly understand what you mean about having a full on baby so young!Mya is 5motnhs and already crawling everywhere! It is scary! lol
Mya wasnt a big baby (born 7.14pds) but hated tummy time until around 3-4months because she couldnt lift her head properly and just wanted to be looking up and around constantly. Luckily we had one of those play mats from farmers that has the blow up ring (2semi circles that velcro together) we used one half to prop her up on her tummy.It was a win win situation because she was on her tummy and she was able to look all around, rather then at the floor! So if any of you are finding yourselves in a similar situation this trick is well worth trying! She has always been one to love her feet (has been demanding to stand since she found her feet!) and this was a great way for her to kick and learn to push herself with her feet and she now has great leg muscles.As i said before she is already crawling (skills i really believe she learned while spending so much time on the ring!) but is only just getting the hang of sitting up. |
Posted By: Rachael21
Date Posted: 14 January 2007 at 10:48pm
| I heard that babies need 300 hours of crawling to get their brain connections going but it doesn't matter when they crawl as long as they do. I bet all the kids who didn't crawl as babies can crawl now if they wanted to so their brain connections were made because they know how to crawl if that makes sense. |
Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 15 January 2007 at 8:45pm
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My sister never crawled, she bumshuffled, and she learnt somewhere during her Early Childhood Ed degree that crawling is crucial to spatial awareness development and co-ordination, so that has become her excuse for being clumsy
Maya was 9lb1oz, born with great head control and absolutely hated tummy time with a vengeance. She refused to roll or crawl, and at 7mths I was desperately trying to encourage her to commando creep. She finally rolled at 7 1/2 mths, and crawled just after 8, but by 10 mths she was walking unassisted and she's been on the go ever since. The gremlins on the other hand were smallish (but not for 37 weekers!) but have always loved tummy time, and are already (at just on 3 mths) commando creeping. They both hold their heads up brilliantly, Mercedes can get up onto her knees (can't get onto her hands yet tho)and I would say it won't be long before they are away crawling. I started them on tummy time after every feed at a week old and now they have 10 minutes or so during each play period, or longer if they don't crack it. And they always spill a bit, so I try to leave it as long as possible after their feed (they have time on their backs first). ------------- Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 16 January 2007 at 11:06am
Unfortunately not all can, I think I mentioned in a previous post about the video I saw and the kids they studied could no crawl. And I really mean that at 5 years old they could not do it. They also could not touch thier left hand to right leg or right hand to left leg. I'm not saying that it happens to all kids who don't learn to crawl or do the exercises to help thier cross movement or spatial awareness but I do think it is something to be aware of. Even if your baby doesn't crawl I've really come to believe that at least doing the exercises is really important. As I say, I've noticed the world of difference in Maddie since I started them. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 16 January 2007 at 11:18am
| What exercises Paws? Im interested to try them on Ella G. |
Posted By: Paws
Date Posted: 16 January 2007 at 11:37am
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You can get them off the SPARC website or I think they will send you the books.
The ones I've been doing with Maddie are: Touch feet together - repeat 6 times Touch hands together - repeat 6 times Touch opposite hand to foot - repeat 6 times Same on other side - (you get the idea by now! )
take foot across body and touch floor (6 times - this also teaches them rolling) Repeat other side. To teach them to roll you raise one arm and pull the opposite leg across the body and over they go (Maddie loves this one!!). Repeat opposite side. All the ones that involve crossing the body are the cross movement ones. They help connect all those important pathways in the brain. During tummy time you can also press your hands against thier feet and they will learn to push off. There are tons of others but these are just the ones we're doing at the moment. We're also using the swiss ball and rolling her around on that to help her spatial awareness. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 16 January 2007 at 12:36pm
| Oh cool thanks i have been doing those to Ella all the time without even knowing hehehe |