Tummy Time: When to Start and How Much

Tummy time — placing your awake baby on their front for supervised play — builds the neck, shoulder and core strength babies need for later milestones: lifting their head, rolling, sitting, and eventually crawling. It matters partly because safe back-sleeping (which is essential) means babies get less natural front-lying time than previous generations, so tummy time deliberately makes up the difference while awake.

When to start

From day one, in short bursts. A newborn's tummy time might be as brief as a minute or two, several times a day — even lying across a parent's chest or lap counts as an early, gentle version.

How much, as your baby grows

• Newborn: A few short sessions a day, a couple of minutes each, building toward roughly 15-30 minutes total by 7 weeks.
• 3-4 months: Longer, more frequent sessions as neck control improves — many babies start genuinely enjoying it around this point, once they can lift their head and chest to look around.
• 6 months+: Often naturally incorporated into general floor play as babies become more mobile.

Always supervised, always awake

Tummy time is strictly an awake, supervised activity on a firm, flat surface — never leave a baby on their front unsupervised, and never let them fall asleep on their front, which returns to the same SIDS risk that back-sleeping guidance addresses.

If your baby hates it

Very common, especially at first. A few things that help: try it on your chest first (easier and more comforting than the floor), get down at eye level and talk or sing, use a small rolled towel under the chest for extra support, or try right after a nappy change rather than when tired or hungry. Little and often beats forcing longer sessions your baby is fighting.

Signs to mention to your health visitor

If your baby consistently turns their head only one way, seems to strongly favour one side, or by 4 months still can't lift their head briefly during tummy time, it's worth mentioning at a routine check — usually easily addressed, but worth ruling out things like torticollis (tightness in the neck muscle) early.