Dr. Jena (00:01)
Welcome to Driving Development, the podcast for parents, therapists, and caregivers navigating child development in a world increasing in opinions and decreasing in critical thinking. I'm Jenna Schultz, pediatric physical therapist, educator, and mom of two. Each week we'll break down the evidence, challenge the assumptions, and help you find the answer that's right for your family. Our goal isn't to tell you what to do, but to give you the knowledge you need so you can know what you need to do. Let's get started.
Dr. Jena (00:32)
My quick Schultz family update for the week involves my seven year old humbling me and demolishing my pride after I already exposed a weakness of mine. I don't know where they get their sarcasm. yeah, no idea, but the story goes it's World Cup week. We're big soccer fans. My husband, he used to play in college, so we we watch a lot of soccer and my boys play as well. and we watched Messi score a hat trick. It was pretty incredible. I was like, I mean
Dr. Jena (01:02)
Gosh, it is hard enough. It's hard enough to score in a World Cup game that he scored three times in one game and he turns thirty nine next week. And I was telling all my family this and I was like, Man, meanwhile I threw my back out doing hot yoga and it hurts to get off the couch and my sassy seven year old added, And you're younger from the other room. Which anything else to add, bud? Anything else you wanna just like let's just keep going, keep digging.
Dr. Jena (01:32)
Digging the dagger in, the funniest part about my lower back hurting is that I told Meg Powers with Province Well Wellness PT that I was doing the podcast on tummy time potentially being overrated. I know you read the title by now, then asked her what the best thing to do for my back is because she does treat adults as well. And sis went, Well, you're gonna hate to hear this, but it's tummy time.
Dr. Jena (02:02)
It's adult tummy time, which, you know, has been helpful, but nonetheless this segues into my topic for the week. The topic is a little spicy, mainly because I'm challenging a norm in thinking, but I want you to stick with me until the end. Is tummy time overrated? Now, before pediatric therapists revoke my license, turn off the podcast, my pediatrician friends stopped talking to me, I need you guys to hear me out. I will not be spending this episode bashing tummy time.
Dr. Jena (02:32)
Not saying tummy time doesn't matter. When someone is getting overrated, screamed at them during a soccer game or match, they're still a good player. They're maybe just overhyped in the audience's eyes because they're not having the best performance. And so I want you to imagine that I'm in a stadium with a bunch of developmental exercises competing. Will I be screaming overrated at tummy time? Let's find out.
Dr. Jena (03:03)
I cannot tell you how many parents have sat in my clinic and said through tears that their baby hates tummy time and they're worried that they're doing it wrong, they feel like they're failing. And I always wanna say, like staring back at them while they're holding this like beautiful thing that they created, failing at what exactly. Because
Dr. Jena (03:26)
Somewhere along the line, Tummy Time went from like, here's a helpful position for your babies to experience, to if your baby isn't logging 60 minutes a day by three months, are they even like developing? Are you even a good parent? And that's just, you know, that's not how parenting works. It's not how babies work. So today I want to talk about what tummy time actually is, where it came from, what the research says, what it doesn't say, and why I think we all need to chill a little bit about tummy time, because while it's important,
Dr. Jena (03:55)
To emphasize, it's not gonna get your baby into college. So let's start with some history. Believe it or not, tummy time wasn't really a thing until the 1990s or so. Your parents and grandparents may be like, we never did tummy time and you were fine. And that's because they didn't do tummy time. So before then, babies slept on their stomachs all the time.
Dr. Jena (04:21)
Some most of them dead all the time and then came the back to sleep campaign. The American Academy of Pediatrics started recommending babies sleep on their backs because sleeping on the back dramatically decreases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS, otherwise known as SIDS. And it worked. SIDS deaths dropped by more than fifty percent, which is incredible. Honestly, one of the biggest public health successes we've ever seen. And you know
Dr. Jena (04:51)
Back to sleep is one of the most phenomenal things to happen in the child development space and child safety space. But there was an unintended consequence. After a few years they saw that babies were spending less time on their stomachs overall. So experts started saying, back to sleep, tummy to play. And that's where tummy time was born, essentially. The idea was simple: babies who spend time on their tummies while awake.
Dr. Jena (05:20)
build neck strength, shoulder strength, trunk strength. they practice skills that they don't get when they're lying on their backs. And and that's true. It it is absolutely true. and then there's there's different recommendations that came from that. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends starting supervised tummy time basically from birth, which I agree with as well. And they said to do
Dr. Jena (05:47)
They said to start with a few short sessions a day as a newborn, fifteen minutes by one month, fifteen to thirty minutes by around two months, and gradually increasing to about an hour a day by three months. it's a very structured recommendation. And to me it comes off missing the mark on the nuance, almost as if your baby is a robot and like all of that is gonna go perfectly to plan, like if you just put them on their tummy.
Dr. Jena (06:17)
From day one and you follow this guidance, it's a hundred percent gonna work. But I think this is where we lose parents because like who came up with this? Like, I understand having a blanket recommendation is phenomenal. Like sometimes people need those concrete things to follow, but if you've had an actual baby, especially one who screams the second that you put them down, that recommendation can feel absolutely insane. And parents hear it as
Dr. Jena (06:46)
Like if I don't hit this number, my baby won't develop correctly. And it's not necessarily what the research says. So here's what the research does say. The research does point out the importance of Tummy time. It says that babies who spend more time in Tummy time tend to have a slightly earlier gross motor skill acquisition.
Dr. Jena (07:06)
they may roll a bit earlier, push up sooner, develop stronger prone skills. And there's even some evidence that babies who started tummy time early were more likely to have active play in toddlerhood. Less screen time, slightly longer sleep durations, cool. helpful. Interesting, but the question's very chicken or the egg, right? Is that because parents that are educated in tracking tummy time from the get-go also tend to be on top of other
Dr. Jena (07:34)
developmental milestones? Do they also tend to be the ones that would opt for something other than a screen down the line and be more involved from the developmental activity perspective? So none of this really says that structured militant style tummy time is the only path to these outcomes, but it does talk about the importance of tummy time. None of it says a baby who hates tummy time is doomed
Dr. Jena (08:04)
But worse, if a baby does hate tummy time and we know that it does have its place to be practiced, the recommendation is often, well, okay, just do more tummy time. They'll get stronger and they'll start liking it. And I have watched parents combat their instincts, watching their child cry and cry on the floor in tummy time to try to hit that number. And honestly, that ain't it.
Dr. Jena (08:33)
If your baby doesn't like tummy time, you need to be modifying it and finding out why their baby doesn't like tummy time. But back to the point, none of it says that, you know, if your baby does 30 minutes one day instead of sixty minutes when they're three and a half months old, it just none of it says it's dramatically worse. And honestly, the research doesn't really tell us a magic number. I think that's the most common question I get is how much tummy time should we be doing?
Dr. Jena (09:02)
And I think that's why these blanket recommendations came out. They came out because that question happened so frequently that we needed to have an answer for it. But I think there can be an answer that includes a bit more nuance. And we're gonna get to that here in a second.
Dr. Jena (09:38)
There's a lot of reasons why a baby might not be able to do tummy time as effectively from the get-go. it could be that they have really bad reflux, or the parent doesn't have the mental capacity to do it perfectly, or they don't have a safe space to practice it, or quite honestly, they didn't get the education on how to start or where to start. And I'm just I I'm wondering what messaging.
Dr. Jena (10:05)
we're sending to parents about listening to their babies. When we give them these concrete recommendations on the exact things that they need to do, and when they do it, their babies scream and cry the entire time. I don't think that babies are little research robots, and I think that's where people making these recommendations make the biggest mistake. Because just doing tummy time is given as the only developmental education that most parents get. Parents assume that tummy time is
Dr. Jena (10:34)
The glory because just do tummy time is usually the only developmental education parents get, they assume that Tummy Time is on its developmental milestone pedestal.
Dr. Jena (10:53)
Because tummy time is usually the only developmental education parents get, a lot of times they'll assume that tummy time is what drives development. And it's the sole thing from the get-go that drives development. It's not. Tummy time is a position. That's it. It is one position. And positions give babies experiences. And the experience in Tummy Time is a helpful one.
Dr. Jena (11:23)
But babies need lots of experiences. Back lying, sidelying, tummy time, being held, reaching, rolling, pivoting, looking around. And that's where I think that tummy time is a little overrated. Or well, maybe over marketed. It's let me put it in a few different ways that I thought were fun to understand.
Dr. Jena (11:50)
And that's where I think Tummy Time maybe is a little overrated or I guess well overmarketed. It's a tool, it's not the toolbox.
Dr. Jena (12:01)
I actually went through and thought of a few different metaphors that I I thought were kind of funny to describe Tummy Time and how to and compare it to how I think Tummy Time
Dr. Jena (12:17)
I actually found a few fun metaphors I want to go through about tummy time being a tool and not being the whole toolbox just to see if I can maybe help drive the point home. there's ton of these and I think they're phenomenal. Let's go one by one.
Dr. Jena (12:39)
Tummy time is like aerobic exercise in the 80s. It deserved the hype, but now we know there's lots of ways to get healthy. It's a good one. Tummy Tum is like protein. Everyone worries they're not getting enough when most babies are getting movement and strength-building opportunities in a lot of different ways. It's a good one. This one was funny. Tummy time is like sourdough during COVID. Suddenly everyone was obsessed and a little perspective was needed.
Dr. Jena (13:11)
Okay, this is one of my perfect Okay, this is one of my personal favorites. Tummy Time like Starbucks pumpkin spice season. The hype is real, but occasionally it gets a little out of hand. Okay, I'm gonna be so for real. I I have tried the pumpkin spice latte a million different ways and it's just not my vibe. I don't like it. Okay, this is funny too. Tummy time is like the air fryer. It's a great tool, but not every meal needs to go through it.
Dr. Jena (13:43)
That's peak because I do use the air fryer for everything. but there are certain things that just I don't know. You can't do it. Tummy time is like Costco. The enthusiasm in the tummy time is like Costco. The enthusiasm is intense. And sometimes you wonder if people are trying to convince themselves.
Dr. Jena (14:04)
Okay, okay, one more, one more.
Dr. Jena (14:08)
Tummy Time is like elf on the shelf. Somewhere along the line, a nice idea became a source of parental anxiety.
Dr. Jena (14:21)
Okay, all jokes aside, I want you to think about your own body. So if you went to the gym and you only worked your back muscles, you'd be kind of like weirdly jacked in one area and not in others, and so you wouldn't do that. You'd do abs, legs, chest, mobility, cardio, stretching. You need variety. And babies are the same way. They're little humans learning how their bodies work. And
Dr. Jena (14:47)
They have those muscles, just like we do, that move their body in all movement planes. And tummy time is one really good exercise and a much bigger workout plan. So here's my takeaway. I think we've been overthinking tummy time. I really do. You don't need a timer, you don't need a chart, you don't need to spend your parental leave wondering if you're hitting your quota. Just put your baby on the floor during awake times.
Dr. Jena (15:17)
And switch up positions. Try tummy time. Try sideline. Try back lying. Let them wiggle, let them explore, move them around, watch what they like, watch what challenges them. And I want you to remember that tummy time isn't the goal. It's a piece of the puzzle. But the overall goal is comfortable and effective development. And development happens through thousands of tiny moments and exposures over time.
Dr. Jena (15:47)
in a lot of different ways. Not because you perfectly executed sixty minutes a day of one activity.
Dr. Jena (15:57)
So to answer the question.
Dr. Jena (16:02)
Is tummy time overrated?
Dr. Jena (16:06)
I think it's rated. But I think it's time we bring So to answer the question, Am I going to be screaming over rated at tummy time?
Dr. Jena (16:21)
I am not.
Dr. Jena (16:24)
So to close this out, I am not going to be screaming overrated at tummy time. But I absolutely will send an angry email to the coach telling them that there are a lot of really phenomenal players on their bench that need to get some playing time.
Dr. Jena (16:47)
So maybe it's time for tummy time.
Dr. Jena (16:53)
So maybe it's time that Tummy Time takes a water break.
Dr. Jena (16:58)
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Dr. Jena (17:30)
We're always gonna end on an unqualified opinion of the week. last week we're always gonna end on an unqualified opinion of the week because I spend a lot of time this podcast talking about opinions I am qualified to speak on. Look, I just this one this is a beef that I've I've had a problem with more as we've entered sports season and I think that there is a better way to engineer Capri sense.
Dr. Jena (17:57)
I don't want anyone coming at me like, well, d don't give your kids caprice ends. That's not what I'm saying. That's not the point. I'm discussing the engineering of this beverage. I are we serio okay, hold on. Are you are you seriously telling me that in twenty twenty six the best we can do is a tiny straw and an even tinier hole? And the straw's so bad. Has there been a task force, a committee? I'd like answers.
Dr. Jena (18:24)
I think it's time we revisit this and that's my unqualified opinion.
Dr. Jena (18:31)
Thank you for listening to Driving Development. If you found today's episode helpful, share it with a parent therapist, teacher, or caregiver who might benefit from it too. From our support, resources, and conversations with parents and professionals, join us inside the Driving Development Daily community. You'll find the link and special listener discount in the show notes. And remember, child development isn't about finding the perfect answer. It's about finding the right answer for your family. I'll see you next week.
