44 | April 2020 |motherandbaby.co.uk
T U M M Y
TIMESpecialFirst, consider where yourbaby cangethis
tummy time fix. ‘Tummytimecanhappen
on any surface,’ says Clare.‘A clean
carpet, outside on thelawn,on a towel
on wooden flooring, oryou caneven
have your baby lying onyou.’When
you start out, you mayfindyour
baby is happiest on histummy
when he’s on your skin,
because he’s getting
the warmth and
connection that
Geting startedcomesfrom skin-to-skin contact. Try holding
him on top of you while you lie on your
bed (just make sure that he’s secure
and that you don’t fall asleep) or
have him lying across your lap
while you sit in a chair, with your
hands keeping him safe.
‘It’s great to have tummy time
on different surfaces because
this helps to develop your baby’s
sense of touch,’ says Clare. ‘He’s
getting sensory information from‘Georgie had
reflux, which made
tummy time difficult, but one
of the things that helped was
creating homemade fairy light
bottles for her to look at while she
was on her tummy. Georgie was
mesmerised! Just get a clean plastic
bottle, put a string of fairy lights
inside, and tightly tape on the top.’
Katy Symon, 37, from
Barnsley, is mum to
Georgie, 10 months