The Dreaded Tummy Time

Charlotte is such a good baby, and I rarely worry about her growth and development. She's a great eater, she sleeps well (at night), and she's very active and alert for her age.

The one thing I worry about is her developing a flat spot on the back of her head. She loves to play on her activity mat, in her crib, on the floor, and in her pack-n-play, but the girl absolutely hates tummy time! 

So I dedicate this post to all the other mama's whose babies hate spending time on their bellies, in the hopes that this helps them!

Sometimes, she just lays her head down and refuses to do anything at all.

At her one week appointment with the pediatrician, the doctor told us to start tummy time right away as most newborns don' t mind spending time on their tummies at first, but once they have time away from it, they start to hate it.  I think it's safe to say we missed the boat on her loving tummy time, but I've found some ways to improve her hate for it over the last 7 weeks. 

When we first started tummy time, Charlotte would flail her arms and kick her legs straight up in the air, like she was practicing yoga or acrobatics. Less than a minute after the start time, she would cry. Here is the evidence:

Next, I thought I'd try using her Boppy pillow to help her, but this hysterical attempt was also a failure because girlfriend would slide off within seconds. Unfortunately, I have no photo evidence of this, and I feel as if I tried to reenact it, I'd be a terrible mom! 

At her one month visit, I was mentioning how much she hates tummy time, and her pediatrician told us to try lying on the floor and putting her on our chest. This works with some babies because they can focus on mom or dad's face or voice instead of the fact that they're on their tummies. 

Charlotte doesn't mind this version of tummy time, but because of my chest (thanks, breastfeeding), I wonder if she's getting some assistance with pulling her head up. Here is a picture of Charlotte in motion:

So this little tummy time journey brings me to yesterday, when I put this adorable, yet annoying to button up dress on our peanut, and needed to button it. I placed Charlotte on her tummy on her changing table, and placed my phone at the end of the pad with a picture of JWoww's dog from Instagram on it. Charlotte held her head high and focused on that glowing still shot for minutes! She didn't even notice she was on the tummy, let along that I was standing right there. How cute is she?

And no, I didn't have her strapped in because like I said, this was a fluke. 

In my opinion, giving babies something to look at, whether it be a book, picture, toy, or blanket, can help them enjoy tummy time a little bit more. 

As a side note, Charlotte also enjoys being placed chest to chest and she tries to pull her head up while being held that way. I think that also helps prevent a flat spot, but I don't count that as part of her daily tummy time routine. 

I'm happy to say that although she hasn't loved tummy time, she hasn't showed any signs of a flat spot on her head, just a little hair loss but she LOVES to be held and swaddled, so I guess that's okay with me :)