Tummy time by age: how much, when to start and what to do if your baby hates it

You can start tummy time in the first days after birth, with 2 to 3 sessions of 3 to 5 minutes a day (AAP). The AAP and NICHD describe 15 to 30 minutes a day by about 7 weeks to 2 months. The WHO and NHS say at least 30 minutes, spread across the day. Always awake, always watched.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the US child health institute NICHD describe a build-up over the early weeks, while the WHO and NHS set a daily total for babies under 1 who are not yet mobile. If your baby is managing far less, you have company: the WHO's guideline group noted studies in Canada and Australia in which about 30% of infants met the recommendation.

How much tummy time does a baby need at each age?

None of these bodies publishes an official month-by-month chart, so this table shows only what each one says.

The 30 minutes does not have to happen in one block. Little and often counts: 1 or 2 minutes at each diaper change is one suggestion from NHS Grampian. If adding it up in your head is one chore too many, our page on the baby feeding and diaper tracker explains how tummy time can sit alongside feeds and diapers.

No source gives a stopping age. The WHO refers to babies not yet mobile, Berkshire says until your baby rolls unaided, and the AAP says to keep practicing at 3 to 6 months. The CDC's milestones are holding the head up on the tummy by 2 months, pushing up onto elbows or forearms by 4 months, and rolling from tummy to back and pushing up with straight arms by 6 months.

When can you start tummy time with a newborn?

The AAP says tummy time can start the day your baby comes home from the hospital, and NICHD says most babies can start a day or two after birth. The NHS says from birth, on your chest, only when you are wide awake and unlikely to fall asleep, moving to the floor when your baby is ready. Before the umbilical cord falls off, your baby can lie tummy to tummy on you while you are awake and reclined, with a pillow supporting your head (AAP).

If your baby was born premature, has reflux disease or has special needs, ask your pediatrician first, because some babies need special consideration (AAP).

How do you do tummy time?

• Pick a moment. After a diaper change or when your baby wakes from a nap (AAP). Try not to do it just after a feed, because it will be uncomfortable (East of England NHS).
• Pick a surface. A clean floor, a nap mat or a blanket secured so it does not slide (AAP). Keep it flat, stable, away from stairs and bookcases, and clear of sharp, small or easy-to-swallow objects. Avoid a sofa or bed, because babies can roll off (East of England NHS).
• Set up your baby. Tuck the elbows under the shoulders (East of England NHS). A small rolled towel under the arms gives slight support (NICHD, NHS).
• Give them something to look at. Put yourself or a toy just out of reach, arrange toys in a circle, or let a young child play with your baby while an adult keeps watch (AAP).

What if your baby hates tummy time?

The NHS calls this very normal. Lifting the head is hard at first, and from the floor your baby often cannot see you (Oxford Health NHS). It does not mean you are doing anything wrong, and none of these sources advises pushing through distress. They offer gentler positions instead:

• On your chest, tummy to tummy, while you are reclined and wide awake (NHS, AAP)
• Lengthwise across your lap with head support (AAP), or on your lap with a raised knee under the chest so your baby is less flat (NHS Grampian)
• Carried leaning on your forearm, or in the burping position with the chest supported (NHS Grampian)
• Held over your shoulder, facing you (East of England NHS)
• Side-lying as an awake, watched play position: on a blanket, with a rolled towel behind the back if needed and both arms in front (AAP). It is never a sleep position.

NHS Grampian says that if your baby is leaning forward even slightly, that counts as tummy time. Speak to your health visitor or pediatrician if dislike of tummy time seems to be a problem (Berkshire Healthcare NHS).

Tummy time with reflux: positions and timing around feeds

None of these sources says tummy time treats reflux, or that it causes or worsens it. If your baby has reflux disease, ask your pediatrician about tummy time (AAP). What the sources do offer:

• More upright positions. The leaning-forward positions above still count (NHS Grampian).
• Timing. After the feed and final burp, keep your baby upright for 10 to 15 minutes (AAP), or for as long as possible (NHS). The advice to avoid the tummy just after a feed is about discomfort in general, not reflux.
• Back for sleep. Reflux does not change this. The AAP calls fear of choking on the back a myth, because the gag reflex protects the airway. Do not raise the head of the crib, and do not use wedges, positioners, nests or inclined sleepers (AAP, NICHD, NHS). If you are worried about sleep position because of reflux or another condition, talk with your provider rather than changing it on your own (NICHD).

What does tummy time help, and how strong is the evidence?

NICHD lists three benefits: stronger neck, shoulder and arm muscles for sitting, crawling and walking; better motor skills; and help preventing flat spots on the back of the head. A 2020 review of 16 studies in healthy infants linked tummy time to gross motor and total development and to the ability to move while prone, supine, crawling and rolling. Links with social and cognitive development and with plagiocephaly (flat head) were indeterminate, and there was no link with fine motor skills or communication. Most studies were observational rather than randomized trials, and bias was high. The WHO makes a strong recommendation but rates the evidence behind it as very low quality.

So nobody can promise that tummy time will prevent a flat head or make your baby smarter. A flat spot usually rounds out as a baby grows and sits up (AAP), but mention it to your pediatrician so they can check it. It can also help to alternate which end of the crib the feet go and limit swings, bouncy chairs and car seats (AAP, NICHD). Head-shaping pillows are not safe (AAP).

Is tummy time safe? Awake and watched for play, always on the back for sleep

Tummy time is only for an awake baby with an adult watching. The AAP says to stay with your baby to avoid suffocation, even if the phone rings or you are called to another room.

• If your baby seems sleepy or falls asleep on the tummy, chest or lap, move them onto their back on their own firm, flat sleep surface.
• Chest tummy time is only for when you are wide awake and unlikely to fall asleep (NHS).
• Every sleep, naps included, is on the back. This covers babies born early and babies with reflux. For babies born early, the NHS says to follow safer sleep advice for a year from the due date, not the birth date.
• Babies may start rolling as early as 2 months, and swaddling must stop once they start, usually around 3 months (NICHD).

NICHD says tummy time does not directly reduce SIDS risk. It is there to help your baby develop. For the steps that do address sleep risks, read our guide to safe infant sleep and SIDS.

When should you mention tummy time to a doctor?

If your baby is not meeting milestones, has lost skills, or you have any other concern, the CDC says not to wait: talk with the doctor and ask about developmental screening. Bring these up with your pediatrician or health visitor:

• Head control or movement. These local NHS thresholds are not universal rules: cannot lift the head on the tummy by 4 months, or no signs of trying to roll by 6 months (Oxford Health), or not improving at lifting the head and propping on the forearms (Berkshire Healthcare). The national NHS says to ask if there are no signs of moving by 12 months.
• Head shape. The back of the head is not evenly round, the ears are not even, or you feel ridges along the head. After a bath, when the hair is wet, is an easy moment to look (AAP). A pediatrician can tell positional flattening from craniosynostosis, which is uncommon but more serious and which extra tummy time does not correct. Raise moderate or severe flattening that is not responding to position changes rather than waiting: the AAP discusses physical therapy and, if there is no response by 5 or 6 months, helmet therapy.
• Head tilt. Your baby holds the head tilted or twisted, or always turns the same side of the face down. This is usually torticollis and should be treated early. Rarer causes exist, including hearing loss, misaligned eyes and, very uncommonly, a brain tumor, so the pediatrician examines to find the cause (AAP).
• Reflux. See your doctor if it is not improving, first appears after 6 months, continues past age 1, or your baby is not gaining or is losing weight. Ask for an urgent appointment for green, yellow or bloody vomit, projectile vomiting, blood in the poop, a swollen or tender tummy, a very high temperature or feeling hot, cold or shivery, repeated vomiting without keeping fluid down, diarrhea over a week or dehydration signs, inconsolable distress, refusing feeds, or any other concern (NHS).

Call your local emergency number

Call if your baby stops breathing, will not wake, is struggling for breath, is stiff, shaking or jerking, has lips, tongue, face or skin that suddenly turn pale, blue or gray, or is limp, floppy or not responding as usual, which can include the head falling to the side, backwards or forwards, or difficulty lifting the head (NHS). This is a sudden change, and it is different from head control that is still developing slowly.