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Your baby needs a little tummy time daily. Yesterday I wrote about crawling, noting that with sleep recommendations now (wisely) advising infants sleep only on their backs, babies are spending less and less time in a downward facing position - making it all the more important that parents build well supervised tummy time into their daily routines. Tummy time has many benefits. Primary among them, it strengthens the back, neck and arm muscles that help with holding up the head, rolling over, sitting and crawling. It also helps to decrease the incidence of flat spots on the back of your baby’s head. And it can help relieve gas and constipation, just to name a few. You can begin short, supervised periods of tummy time as soon as your child is born. These earliest sessions often begin on mom’s chest - but can be done on other safe surfaces as well. Begin with 2-3 minutes at a time and work your way up. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends increasing the frequency and duration of these sessions to the point your baby spends a total of 20-30 minutes a day by the time your baby is 7 weeks old. Be forewarned that, especially early on, tummy time is a workout (and therefore not always well liked by some children) - but with time and experience will help to develop the muscle strength your newborn lacks. This little one (shared to IG by enjoybabyss) has got tummy time down pat. Check out those strong neck muscles!