For the first several months of my daughter’s life, I found getting through tummy time to be a challenge on the best of days. Most of the time, my daughter hated it. She’d cry and scream from the minute I rolled her over onto her tummy. Building up the minutes as I read in many resources didn’t help. It certainly didn’t help that my daughter has Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) Phase 1, and although I tried lots of toys and objects, they weren’t catching her attention and so she wasn’t looking up or enjoying her time on the mat. In fact, once she progressed past the crying stage, she’d place her head down, suck her thumb and take a nap. Needless to say, I felt a bit jealous seeing photos of happy babies on their tummies surrounded by toys that interest them.
For a long time, I didn’t push her to do tummy time as often as several of her paediatric physiotherapists recommended (I wish I had!). But today, my daughter is enjoying tummy time much more and can last more minutes at a time. It sure wasn’t easy getting to this point but I experimented a lot and found some things to help more than others.
If your CVI kid’s physiotherapist has recommended tummy time, you might be looking for ideas to help motivate your child. Here is a list of some of the things that worked for us. Hopefully they can help ease tummy time for you and your CVI kid too!
Give your child toys with interesting textures
While waving toys at my daughter doesn’t work, she’s happy to stay on her tummy for a few minutes to put them in her mouth and chew on them. I switch up the toys very often to keep her interested. As she builds up strength in her neck and back, she’s able to lift her head up higher to get at bigger toys. Notice in the photo how the physiotherapist has provided instruction to tuck the arms under the chest area.
Use a foam wedge
You can usually spot these in paediatric physiotherapy clinics. My daughter’s physiotherapist strongly recommended it for tummy time as it places their bodies on a gentle incline to help improve their tolerance for prone position and head control. They’re highly suited for children with special needs and can be used for practicing both gross motor and fine motor activities. Always supervise them when using the foam wedge in case they try to roll off.
Make a new or interesting sound above baby’s head
For the first little while, my daughter would lift her head up from the mat when I shook a rattle above her head, presumably because she was surprised. Interestingly, she would not reach towards it. This left me scratching my head, especially considering her hearing exam showed perfect hearing in both ears. Recently, my husband came across this article by Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired which provided a very reasonable explanation. As it turns out, sound is not a strong motivator for babies to reach out based on sound cue alone until they’re around 12 months old. Of course every baby is different. When my daughter hit 8 months, I noticed a considerable difference in how she reacted to noises. Now I can finally say that she turns her head towards the direction of interesting sounds.
Ideas for sounds that interest babies:
- Baby paper or crinkly fabric
- Rattles with various sized beads, such as the rainmaker rattle
- Squeezing an empty soda can (of course you do not give this to them)
- Sounds animals make (I usually just play sound effects from YouTube)
- Honking sounds from squeeze toys
- Homemade rattles using pantry items (dried beans, seeds, sugar, pasta, etc.). You can place the food item in empty prescription pill bottles that have the child safety lock feature.
- Musical instruments such as bells and whistles
- Sounds you can make with your lips
- The subtle, rustling sound of shaking curly gift ribbon
- Paper ripping
Dim the lights and try using light-up toys
There are plenty of light up toys on the market, including the neat light up cubes activated by water (pictured above). My daughter was quite fascinated by them and enjoyed dipping her hands in the water.
String lights in a clear container might keep your child interested for a few minutes!
If you have a portable light table, you could try leaning it against a wall with a toy in front of it. Just be sure it’s secure without any chance of toppling over.
Gently roll them forward and back on an exercise ball and experiment with other positions
When I first placed my daughter chest-down on the inflatable exercise ball, she didn’t love it. That said, it quickly grew on her and she now seems to enjoy our daily exercise ball routine. Make sure to hold your baby securely and very slowly roll them forward and back. Naturally, your child may attempt to lift his or her head up which will help to build strength.
Another position that worked really well for us was placing my daughter tummy-down on my chest, face-to-face. This is mostly how we started tummy time as the close proximity gave her comfort and she could last a couple minutes without getting upset. With her face close to mine, I could talk or sing to her to keep her interested.
Click here for a video by Kids on the Move that demonstrates a variety of tummy time positions.
When placing your child in prone position on the floor, you can put a rolled up towel or blanket underneath the chest/armpits area for support.
Cindy has a deep interest in Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) and is currently studying Early Childhood Education. She focuses most of her time on her energetic daughter: playing, cuddling and helping to make her world visually accessible. Cindy holds a degree in Marketing and has worked in the not-for-profit sector for many years.