Fun Tummy Time Ideas for Parents and Babies

Tummy time is not only extremely beneficial for your baby’s development, it is also a great time to have some bonding experiences with your baby. If you’re getting sick of the same books, toys, or noisy games every wake window, there are simple ways you can elevate tummy time to be more exciting for you, your baby, and anyone else in the family! Keep reading for our tummy time tips, including some of the best tummy time products you can get your hands on.

Let’s Get On Our Bellies!

Tummy time refers to placing baby on their stomach while they are awake and someone is watching them. (source: Safe to Sleep)

Supervised tummy time is important because it helps to:

• Strengthen baby’s neck, shoulder, and arm muscles so the baby can start to sit up, crawl, and eventually walk on their own
• Improve baby’s ability to move and control their muscles to complete various actions (sometimes called “motor skills”)
• Prevent flat spots on the back of baby’s head

Most babies can start tummy time sessions a day or two after they are born. Babies benefit from having two or three short (3- to 5-minute) tummy time sessions each day. As your baby gets older, you can have longer, more regular sessions throughout the day. Pediatricians recommend that by about 2 months of age, babies be getting 15 to 30 minutes of total tummy time daily.

The following ideas can help you and your baby enjoy tummy time

• Spread out a blanket on a clear area of the floor.
• Place a rolled-up towel under baby’s arms to help prop them up slightly.
• Try short sessions after a diaper change or nap.
• Put a toy within baby’s reach to help baby interact with their surroundings and learn to play.
• Have someone you trust sit in front of baby to encourage interaction and bonding.

Ways to Elevate Tummy Time

Tummy time is very beneficial for babies and an important part of their early development. However, for parents, it can get repetitive after a while. The same books, toys, and noisy machines start to take over, and tummy time can become more of a chore, or an opportunity to get chores done, than a happy experience for you and your baby.

If you’re looking for ways to create a developmentally beneficial environment for your baby during tummy time, we’ve got just the things you need! Mess-free bubble play, oral development toys, and involving the whole family are great ways to make tummy time a great time.

Bubble Play

Bubble play with a newborn? That’s right! Bubble play for newborns encourages:

• Visual tracking
• Head-turning
• Reaching for bubbles
• Hand-eye coordination
• Excite curiosity
• Encourage touch
• Awareness of shapes and textures

Skin-happy, mess-free bubbles are here: Say hello to SPIKE’s Sensory Bubble Play! Our bubbles are long-lasting & mess-free without the soapy gooey residue.

Perfect for kids and babies with skin sensitivity, sensory play, bubble therapy, classrooms, birthday parties, special events, and more! Made with non-toxic worry worry-free botanical ingredients, our bubble solution will not dry out your skin or cause stickiness.

If your kids love bubbles, but you hate the mess and are worried about skin sensitivity to bubble play, you will fall in love with our skin-happy bubble solution!

Oral Development Toys

If you’re working on feeding skills with your baby, you’re going to love our entire line of oral development toys!

Innobaby’s teethers aren’t just great for teething pain; they’re considered “training teethers,” which means they’re great for a bunch of different reasons:

• They stimulate the muscles of the lips, tongue, and cheeks to improve oral motor skills
• Aid in nursing, eating solid foods, drinking from cups, and speech development
• The light and easy-to-grip handle also improves hand-eye coordination.
• Encourages bilateral movement and stimulation of both sides of the brain

If your baby is already showing signs of teething, makes click noises while feeding, or you want to improve their nursing skills, these are the perfect toys to play with during tummy time! With tons of textures and colors, your baby will love picking them up all by themselves and exploring.

Involve the Whole Family

Tummy time is a great time for other family members to bond with baby. Moms usually get the benefit of spending the most time with baby between feedings, diaper changes, cuddles, and more. This makes tummy time a great opportunity to involve siblings or partners so that they can bond while mom takes a break or supervises. This can be especially helpful for toddler-age big sisters or big brothers who are having a tough time with the transition of having a new baby in the home.

Ideas include:

• Have your older children or partner lay in front of baby
• Keep toys within reach of baby, but wave toys to encourage visual tracking
• Sing songs, read, clap, or use sign language
• Have your toddler be in charge of blowing the mess-free bubble blower—YES, toddlers can use it all by themselves!

For more awesome parenting tips and amazing products for the whole family, visit us at Innobaby.com!