Babywearing and physical development

[sneakydee]

My 14 week old daughter and I are learning about babywearing together. I'd like to wear her more but we're still getting the hang of the different slings we have.

I'm wondering how often you all wear your babies vs giving them time on the floor to play?

I know many people talk about wearing their babies as much as possible, but I'm wondering about what happens if they're not getting time on the ground to strengthen their necks and arms, and learn to roll, etc. I'd love to wear her more but don't want to interfere with her physical development!

Sorry if this is a dumb question!

[InMediasRes]

When your baby is in a wrap, she IS strengthening their neck and torso muscles, just by holding herself close to you, or balancing her head to look around.

I think the idea is more about having baby close to you and interacting with you, instead of alone somewhere while you do whatever in your house, but if you are playing with her on the floor, I see no reason to limit floor time if your baby likes it.

[brennan]

From my understanding, "tummy time" is response to babies being on their backs so much. I mean if you think about it, some people put their babies in bouncers, car seats, in beds etc all day long (we had car seats and beds and bouncers, I'm talking about that's the ONLY places the kid goes, not in someone's arms). Because of SIDS and "back to sleep", babies are then always on their backs and being always on their backs (rather than sleeping on the tummy) was showing developmental delays, so tummy time was created. When your dd is being carried she's strengthening a ton of muscles! Dd hated tummy time, she hated being put down at all, so we didn't that often.

Good luck!

[claddaghmom]

I would gather that mamas who wear their babies a lot also ensure plenty of independent play. Babywearing is also a different developmental experience as compared to lying in a swing/chair/carseat.

[Sk8ermaiden]

Exactly what the others said.

A baby being worn uses their core muscles and neck muscles a lot. Also, tummy time was instituted because leaving babies laying down all the time oon their backs leaves them with weak muscles and flat heads.

[sneakydee]

Thanks guys! Now, we just have to get her to like being worn.

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

what everyone has said, also none of my lo's liked tummy time (with the exception of caitlin sometimes liking lying on her tummy propped on a nursing cushion at group) until they were mobile.

[Right of Passage]

Awesome question OP thank you! Don't mean to hijak but does anyone have studies on this? I'd love to have something to link someone to

[sneakydee]

Some of your replies make me feel better about not giving her a lot of tummy time - she hates it, and I've read in a couple of places that she should be having 45 min per day at this stage...she gets more like 5 min!

It's hard to escape mother's guilt about everything people say you "should" be doing, even when all of that information conflicts. Today I had one woman say I was holding my baby wrong (I had her sitting upright in my lap as that's how she's most comfortable. She has a lot of spit-up issues and hates being cradled)!?!

I had no idea I'd worry this much about "doing the right thing." I guess I'm in for a lifetime of worry now!

[Babina's Mommy]

I've been given the comments about never putting my children down, by some relatives and everything. I just ignore it. And just as an aside, my daughter was worn by me a lot of the time, did all the milestones on time, walked at 13 months. Like full fledge walking. My son was worn even more...all. the. time. Walked before 10 months. Is now 10 months and running around. To be honest, I didn't even want him doing those things this early. Where's my baby? I think tummy time was also for babies who were developing the flat head syndrome, whereas most times babywearing will not cause any flat head syndrome. My kids never had tummy time really and never had flat head.

[lalemma]

I dunno about the "tummy time is meant to counteract flat head syndrome" thing I've seen here on MDC before. I mean, how would that even work? Your baby spends 5 hours a day in the baby bucket, but 30 minutes a day on her tummy, and that magically counteracts the bald spot?

Our baby is now 5 months, and only recently has he had any interest in playing on the floor. Before that he was in arms/sling/family bed 100% of every day. I am prepared to believe that being in a wrap a lot of your time helps you develop head and trunk control, but I'm kind of skeptical that it entirely replaces the benefits of tummy time. Being on your stomach really produces a different kind of motion: more forward and up, as opposed to the holding yourself vertically steady thing you get in a sling.

So I do see a benefit to spending some time on your stomach. Our baby was originally not a fan (I think it's too boring) so we'd put him kind of propped up on the Boppy.

That said, I'm sure every baby can sit up at some point, so it's not a huge thing...

[Sk8ermaiden]

What I have seen cited was a quote by a doctor that our babies had completely inadequate arm, shoulder and neck muscles as a result of the back to sleep program.

[blessedwithboys]

tummy time is a big fat load of hooey, imo. it is a response to the back to sleep campaign, which caused mamas to fear ever putting their db on their stomachs, even while awake. common sense much? LOL

as for getting db to like being worn, just go for it. my ds1 cried and fought it the first time or two, but i just got him safely tucked in and went out the door for a walk. he was asleep in minutes and when he woke up, the boob was right there. he was hooked.

i wore ds1 almost constantly from 2 or 3 mos when i discovered the sling in the back of the motherwear catalog, til 9 mos, and then as needed til about age 3. ds2 was in the sling from his first hours, with the same pattern as ds1.

both of my boys baked a bit longer than most, 42 wks and 42 plus 3. they came out able to hold their heads up and even though they were almost constantly worn, both rolled tummy to back around 3 mos, ds1 sat up at 5 mos/ds2 at 4mos, they could hold on the edge of the couch and stand alone at 5 mos, both cruised at 6 mos and walked confidently at 9 mos. all that when they never were consciously offered tummy time. sure, they were laid down here and there, but both hated being flat, they wanted to be upright. by six mos, though they could cruise, they were asking to be put down very rarely, maybe just an hour a day. it wasnt until they walked at 9 mos that the sling actually went unused for hours at a time.

i'd say to just listen to your instinct and listen to your baby. the baby will let you know when its ready to reduce the time spent in the sling each day, and in general, groos motor skills develop normally.

[crunchy_mommy]

I don't know, my DS was always either being worn or carried and got maybe 3 minutes of floor time a day. He rolled, sat up, pulled to stand wayyyy ahead of schedule and was taking independent steps at 7 mos. old. His cousin gets lots and lots of floor/tummy time and at 8 mos old is still barely able to sit up and is still not very strong/controlled.

My only regret is that I spent those 3 minutes a day trying to get him to be happy on his tummy when he clearly hated it.

Oh and to get him happy being worn, I tried a couple different carriers, he likes my homemade moby the best & so do I... As soon as you put her in it, start walking around & talk/sing to her -- hopefully she'll calm right down with the motion!!

[MiaMama]

I could have sworn I read somewhere that being worn, especially upright (think mei tai) officially counts as tummy time. If so, we give our babies wayyyyy more tummy time than the average kiddo.

Off to search for links to back this up...

[MiaMama]

http://www.pollywogbaby.com/tummy-time.html

What is tummy time?
Tummy time can mean any combination of positions for your baby - not necessarily just on his tummy. Any position that is NOT on his back and encourages your baby to utilize his neck and shoulder muscles is considered tummy time. This includes time spent in your arms, on your lap, and in baby carriers that encourage him to turn his head freely to both sides and reach arms forward across the body.

[sneakydee]

^^that's great, thanks!