titbit (noun): a small and particularly interesting item of gossip or information.

Hey friends, so I’ve decided to do a cheeky little #titbittuesday every week (ahem…..most weeks) to give you a sneaky morsel of information that will help you with your beautiful bub at home, one that won’t take up too much space in your inbox or time out of your day. Because #baby and #life and because no-one has time to read a massive blog article every week.

I have so much to share with you (I’m literally bursting with information) but don’t want to overload you so I’ll keep the weekly update to a ‘titbit’ and save my longer pieces for special occasions. I love getting into the nitty gritty stuff too so I think the longer pieces will still be a part of what I do. Just not every week.

So here we go……..#titbittuesday numero uno.

And what better place to start than the dreaded tummy time?

The phrase ‘tummy-time’ is drilled into all new parents, and we all know it is a good thing to do. It is the absolute foundation of development for a baby.

And guys, baby physios are totally mad for it. It is the first building block in many beautiful developmental sequences.

It is how babies: 

• Get nice strong necks and backs ready for sitting, standing and walking (yes that’s right, tummy time helps your baby to walk!)

• Build shoulder muscles fit for crawling

• Get those little wrist and finger muscles working, ready to grasp and play and eventually draw and write!

• Keep a nice round head shape

• Explore their new world

• Strengthen their vision

• Start to develop their sense of balance

• Get lovely sensory information into their joints and onto their skin

• Integrate some of their newborn reflexes

• And how they are eventually going to get moving- rolling, pivoting and crawling!!!

Yay for tummy time!!

But my goodness tummy time is hard with some little bambinos!! So. Damn. Hard. 

So how do we get babies to like it on their tummy? We TRICK them Mummas and Papas!! (That’s pretty much my claim to fame….tricking kids into doing stuff).

My top tip? Start in the first week and try tummy time on your naked chest several times a day whilst you’re laying in a reclined position. It’s so lovely for bonding, can really help with the breast feeding experience, and who doesn’t love a lay down after being up all night with bub? Start small, and build on this every day.

Want to make it stick? It is essential that you make a loose routine of it such as:

Sleep

Feed

Cuddles

Tummy time.

It doesn’t matter what order you do it in…..just try and do it every. single. day. You can do this! 

Check out my Ebook when it’s released (it’s coming it’s coming!) and I’ll show you stacks of ways to help your poor little bubba get used to being on his tum. You don’t have to just pop them on the floor and watch them scream about it I promise.

Just don’t bother with something like this thing …….It’s silly. (Ditch the thing on top and the mat is great though).

If you haven’t already, subscribe to this blog here for updates on the book, freebies, discounts and more physio titbits for your babe like this one.

Alana xx