Tummy time

What It Means

Tummy time is time your baby spends lying on their stomach while they're awake and an adult is right there watching. HealthyChildren.org, the AAP's site for parents, recommends it from the day your baby comes home from the hospital, because babies sleep on their backs and need awake timeWake windowThe stretch of time a baby stays awake between one sleep and the next, often used as a rough guide to when the next nap is due. See more on their fronts to build strength. Those muscles help them reach later milestonesDevelopmental milestonesSkills most children can do by a certain age, like rolling over or waving bye-bye. CDC places each at the age 75% or more of children reach it. See more and prepare them to slide on their bellies and crawl.

How Parents Say It

• "He hates tummy time and screams after two minutes."
• "She's lifting her head so well on her tummy now."
• "Let's do a little tummy time after the diaper change."

The Breakdown

How much, by age, from HealthyChildren.org

How to fit it in

1. Pick a time when your baby is awake and alert, like after a diaper change.
2. Lay your baby on their stomach on a flat surface, with you right beside them.
3. Get down at their level and play or talk with them.
4. Stop when they tire and turn them onto their back if they start to fall asleep.

When to talk to the doctor. If your baby still won't tolerate tummy time after a few weeks, or you have any concern about how they move, bring it up at the next checkup. CDC's milestone pages recommend talking with your child's doctor about any concern with development.

Good to Know

The AAP's rule is back to sleep, tummy to play. Tummy time only happens while your baby is awake and closely supervised, and every sleep, including naps, is on the back in the baby's own sleep space on a firm, flat surface. If your baby dozes off on their stomach, turn them onto their back.

Related Terms and Categories

• Gross motor skills

  Movements that use the large muscles of the arms, legs and torso, like rolling over, sitting, walking, running and kicking a ball.

• Safe sleep

  The AAP's rules for lowering the risk of SIDS and suffocation: baby on the back, alone, on a firm flat surface in their own sleep space, every sleep.

• Newborn

  A baby in the first 28 days of life, the stage doctors also call the neonatal period.

• Developmental milestones

  Skills most children can do by a certain age, like rolling over or waving bye-bye. CDC places each at the age 75% or more of children reach it.

Baby and toddler