There are two words that a new mom is introduced to, two little words that form the base for your baby’s strength and milestones to be reached, such as head control and crawling. These words are…tummy time.
I used to be a perfectionist, following a sequence of a day to day structure of A-Z, since I had my baby my day to day structure now resembles something like DXGHSY (There is no logic but I still get things done!) The one thing, however, that my husband and I do every day with our baby girl is tummy time. The first 2 months seemed to be a breeze, no crying, no whining – we thought we were the masters of tummy time…we were wrong. My 3 month old, suddenly found her voice and her opinion and tummy time turned into a game of jack in a box, where as soon as she was placed on her tummy the screaming would emerge, but pick her up and a smile would instantly appear.
I have since learnt, to disguise tummy time with a fun homemade activity, of a textured hula hoop. It offers me the satisfaction of at least 10 minutes of tummy time with no tears…and let’s face it, when your baby screams the one thing that we, as moms, will always do is anything to stop the screaming!
What you will need:
1 x hula hoop
Anything with a texture (enough textures to be wrapped around the hoop)
- Separate the hula hoop (this was a job for my husband)
- Insert/wrap each texture, one after another, on the hoop
What is great about this activity is that it can be used for tummy time and then when my baby (and yours) is stronger and able to sit to encourage reaching.
Contributed by Kathy Cowell of Clamber Club
Website: www.clamberclub.com