Tummy Time Trials and Tribulations

So...the past couple of weeks, Finley has been less and less interested in spending time flat on his tummy. Which means no more rolling over and lots of tears when put face down. Tummy time is important as babies begin to gain strength in their neck muscles to hold up their heads and it sets to groundwork for rolling and crawling...which means we can't give up trying to get him to enjoy his time down there. He has been taking evening cat naps on his belly, but when he's awake he can be rather distraught.

We can do tummy time in a variety of ways in order to get him to relax and enjoy it:

1. flat on the floor

2. propped up on a bolster pillow or the boppy

3. on our thigh/leg

4. on our bed

He doesn't have to spend a long time there, but he needs to become more and more okay with it. A month ago, we could get at least 5 to 10 minutes but lately it's been like 2 or 3 :( The best thing I have learned is that he needs to be distracted from where he is, so I sing to him, read to him, and most successfully: take pictures of him. He likes to look at the camera, so snap away I say! Looking at the pictures below, you'd never know he was so against tum-tum time.

However, my most successful tummy time experiment happened this morning after giving him a diaper change. We have known for a while now that Finley LOVES being on his changing table, so why wouldn't he like being flipped upside down on it? See for yourself!

Pretty nice looking head and neck control, eh? Sweet! And as fate would have it, I typed most of this blog around 10:30am and when he woke up we tried some time on the changing table again and then I relocated him down onto the rug in his room and what did he do?? He enjoyed himself on his tummy for a minute or two and then rolled himself over!! I guess we're on the right track and our diligence is slowly paying off...