feel weird about putting babe on the floor

[1blueheron]

So my little girl is about 3.5 months old. Doesn't crawl, barely realizes it's possible to roll over (both pretty normal as far as I know). My mom suggested maybe she needs more "floor time" to get exercise. We have crazy hard floors, few rugs, a friendly but stupid young dog...eh, I just feel weird about having her on the floor. We do tummy time with her hanging out on the sofa next to us, but during the day she's mostly in her carrier, wrap, sling or in arms if she's awake. She's got great head control and does a crazy strong baby pull-up to a seated position, but I see other people with carpeted homes and babies strewn about the floor and I wonder if I'm missing something? I feel like it won't be much fun for her until she starts crawling, but maybe she will never crawl because we never put her on the floor.

[Smithie]

Either way it will be fine, but in your shoes (first baby, no older kids stomping around) I might shut the dog in another room and put the baby on the floor. The floor is a good place for a baby to be. They can do all that large-muscle-group experimentation without any worries about falling off anything.

[Norasmomma]

Well we have wood floors, a hairball of a dog, and a couple cats. The floor isn't soft, but we have a rug in the living room and a beautiful thick blanket my grandma gave us that was out floor blanket. I think it's good for the baby, but can see how you can be concerned. Reality is once she is crawling, you really cannot do much, teach the dog to not jump on the baby and get used to a few head bonks.

For us both our kiddos have hated "tummy time", especially at 3.5 months, but as they got more mobile they liked it more and more. I think the whole tummy time thing is a bit overrated, IMO. Both of them were army crawling at 6 months and hands and knees crawling well at 7 months, the cruising a week later.

[MusicianDad]

My understanding is that time in arms has the same benefits of time on the floor if you regularly hold her in a more upright position. I don't think DS even touched the floor before he was 4 months old, except for diaper changes. He crawled and walked early.

[Otterella]

Don't let others push you into doing something you're not comfortable with. There are societies where babies aren't ever put down on the floor until six months or later, and they all learn to crawl and walk just fine. I held my son a lot, too, and put him down one day at 5 1/2 months, and he crawled just like that. Would he have crawled sooner if I had put him down more? Maybe, maybe not. Does it matter? Not. one. iota. Trust yourself and your baby. She'll figure it out.

[moxygirl]

My son never had floor time until just a week or so ago, at 6 months. We put him on the couch, on the (full size) bed, and in his pack n play. He started creeping at 5 months (on the bed) and is now bookin around the apartment. We have an area rug in our living room, otherwise it's wood floors. He doesn't seem to care except that sometimes on the bare floors he tries to bear crawl (on his hands and feet instead of hands and knees). Your baby will be fine either way.

[tankgirl73]

"tummy time" only because the 'right thing to do' after the 'back to sleep' campaign had everyone have babies sleeping (along, in cribs) on their backs instead of on their tummies, and they were getting flat heads and other issues.

If a baby is co-sleeping, that's less of an issue. If the baby is worn a lot in a sling or wrap, it's not an issue at all. The same muscles that "need" to be exercised with 'tummy time' are exercised when they move around in the sling. The main thing is that they're not just passively lying on their backs, but they're looking around, lifting their heads, etc, which babies WILL do when in slings.

There is a culture somewhere where babies don't even touch the ground until... uh, I think their 1st birthday? Something like that anyway, and there's a whole ceremony around it or something. And not that we should necessarily just copy every other culture just because it's "natural" (some cultures spank or practice female genital mutilation or whatever) -- but from this example you can observe that their babies turn out JUST FINE... no problems with motor skills or walking etc.

Tummy time is overrated. When your child gets older, they will start to DEMAND it, as they gradually start to naturally reach out for more independent exploration. But as long as they're being worn a lot, it's really not a concert when they're young.

[Asiago]

From what I've read, the carried babies often are mobile on the same general timeline,if not sooner, due to all of the vestibular apparatus stimulation and muscle use (to balance and cling).

[sapphire_chan]

We don't have any of the floor dangers you do and I was : when dh carefully put dd on the floor while he had to use the restroom while watching her.

What's wrong with laying her on the bed to play with her when the two of you are in that mood?

[karika]

your baby will let you know when they want to get down. you are doing great. In arms is what is 'expected' by a baby at birth. expected is in quotes because it is an innate sense, not really an expectation if that makes sense. Babies being put down before they are ready will lead to the same things CIO leads to emotionally IMO. I personally did not use a sling much, but my babies were in arms, on my body, or beside me with constant physical contact and I believe this is what is best. Here is a quote from the continuum concept site, http://www.continuum-concept.org/cc_defined.html I edited it to fit this post, more on the site. the main site is here http://www.continuum-concept.org/

"...the continuum concept is the idea that in order to achieve optimal physical, mental and emotional development, human beings — especially babies — require the kind of experience to which our species adapted during the long process of our evolution. For an infant, these include such experiences as...

* constant physical contact with his mother (or another familiar caregiver as needed) from birth;...

* being constantly carried in arms or otherwise in contact with someone, usually his mother, ...— until the infant begins creeping, then crawling on his own impulse, usually at six to eight months;"

When I read TCC, I was amazed at how much sense it made, and how it fit what I felt so deeply.

[tzs]

i think everybody else pretty much summed it up.

just wanted to say i was in the same place. heck...i still even feel carpet-envy sometimes when i think how fun it would be to lie down on the floor with her while we played (but um....it's hard, cold, and hairy down there.)

when she was at that "tummy time" age i just put a blanket on the floor. actually i sewed up something kin of like an activity mat...just with different textures and squeekers and stuff.
also if i wanted to lie around with her we'd do it on the bed.

but also i did tummy time when i/she wanted to. previous posters are right about wearing your baby exercising the same muscles...from what i've heard.

[1blueheron]

Thanks for all the input. My mom is a very low-pressure mom, so when she mentioned floor time I wondered if I was missing something. We do hang out on the bed sometimes. When she's on her back, she just chills out, eats her fists, and talks to me, so it seems weird to put her on the floor just for that.

I think I read the same thing about babies not touching the ground somewhere - was it Bali? Anyway, like I said, was just wondering if I was missing something. We are kind of parenting in a vacuum here, as we have no nearby family, no tv and live in the middle of nowhere (well, at least as far as that's possible in this part of the world).

[Nicole730]

We barely do floor time here, we have hardwood floors and a toddler running around, so not comfy or safe. My mom put DD down yesterday on the carpet at her house and she almost instantly rolled over. There's a skill I didn't know she had... Anyway, PP are right and it's no biggie not to have floor time.

Originally Posted by tzs

just wanted to say i was in the same place. heck...i still even feel carpet-envy sometimes when i think how fun it would be to lie down on the floor with her while we played (but um....it's hard, cold, and hairy down there.)

I am not feeling carpet envy anymore, now that we are PTing DS, it is so nice not to clean up pee from carpeting! Makes the hardwood floors worth it.

We also bought two large pieces of foam from JoAnns and then spread a quilt over that. Comfy for the baby and almost comfy for the adults.

[HappiLeigh]

I don't think I'd worry about a babe in arms. If you were keeping her in some baby-holding contraption all the time it might hold her back, but I'd think when she's ready for some freedom she'll let you know. That said, has she ever been on the floor just to see if she likes it? My DS (3 months) adores being on the floor and spends a lot of time there just because it is often where he is the happiest, just looking around and kicking and practicing rolling.

[1blueheron]

Originally Posted by HappiLeigh

That said, has she ever been on the floor just to see if she likes it? My DS (3 months) adores being on the floor and spends a lot of time there just because it is often where he is the happiest, just looking around and kicking and practicing rolling.

She's been on floors a couple of times, mostly at other people's houses. She just seems to chill out wherever she is. She seems strong, I'm sure she could roll over if it occurred to her, but she seems to not care. Ok on her tummy, ok on her back, as long as she can get a fist in her mouth.

[SaoirseC]

Both of my kids had lots of floor and tummy time, neither crawled before 8 mos. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Plarka]

Our floors get really cold even though they're carpeted, so I bought a foam camping mat, cut it in half, and duck taped it together so it's more square and not so long. The baby plays on that on her tummy all day long, and when fusses, I carry her in the sling. She loves her mat most of the time!

[sept15lija]

My DD (4 months) likes floor time, she likes to roll or grab at things or talk to me (I usually lay beside her on the floor along with my DS and play games)...or play with her feet (her newest and cutest thing she does! ). But she is also in arms or in a wrap or a sling tons, and I have no doubt floor time is not necessary for development.

[november]

I was the same way at first, mama. EVERYONE kept telling me I needed to put her in the floor more, let her learn to play by herself, blah blah blah. I was holding her too much, she needed to learn independence, that sort of thing. But it just didn't feel right to me, not to mention the fact that she HATED it. Only within the past two months has she started digging floor time, now that she sits up and scoots all over the place and wants to play with toys.

Anyway, from what I can gather (from my dr, to books, to observations of other similarly aged kids), my daughter is a bit ahead in the motor skills department and she had a LOT less floor time than I think most kids get and not nearly as much tummy time, either (she'd scream her head off). So it obviously didn't hinder her development to be held all the time. =0) Just go with your mama instinct, imo.

[hrsmom]

We didn't do floor time, other than to take pictures once in awhile! Your babe sounds fine to me, too!!!! (My mom and her aunt were constantly- so it seemed- trying to get me to put my baby down, moms in different generations have different ideas of what's necessary.)