Responsible Health for Children
Judy Towne Jennings, PT, MA Special Education Researcher


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Physical Therapists


Baby Development Tips


Do you have any of these questions?
  • My baby is not rolling over or crawling. What can I do?
  • Why should I place my baby on his tummy?
  • My baby is getting a flat spot on her head. What can I do?
  • How soon should I begin to let my baby play on his tummy?
Lesson One - A month old baby's job is to turn his or her head from side to side - on the tummy and on the back.

"Good" play can prevent:
  • Flat heads and neck problems
  • Developmental delays from too much time in one position
  • Fussiness, constipation, and spitting up
"Good" play will help babies develop the muscle strength and coordination needed for:
  • Preschool success with paper, pencils, and crayons
  • Good balance when walking and jumping
  • Good eye tracking for reading
  • Good focus and attention skills
Information of this page will help parents understand the importance of good play and what they can do to encourage good constructive play

Baby Development Information

(A Tummy Time Brochure in English and Spanish)

The Baby Development Information brochure is designed for new parents. It is in a question and answer format to help parents understand the importance of varying infant play positions including time flat on the tummy, on the side, and on the back. "Tummy Time" is the term referring to the placement of a baby, who is awake and attended, on the tummy to exercise the neck and back muscles.

"Tummy Time" play is especially important for babies to gain strength from the head to the feet. Pushing on the hands and forearms helps the hands open to manipulate toys. When a baby does not practice lifting the head up every day, neck strength will not develop as fast as the head grows. The baby will not like being on her tummy. Tummy play helps to build the muscles needed for rolling over and crawling. Scooting on the bottom will get the baby from one place to another, but it falls short of exercising all of the body during movement. Our philosphy is that a baby needs a sufficient amount of time on the tummy to help integrate the early reflexes into useful patterns that allow free movement. Since many babies have difficulty tolerating the tummy position, the brochure gives helpful tips to make "Tummy Time" tolerable and eventually fun.

We gained great knowledge about baby development during our research study of 78 babies who were 6 months old. One baby problem associated with sustained positioning on the back is flat spots on the back or side of the head. Another problem, a preference to turn the head only one direction, can result in neck restrictions. This is sometimes called wryneck or torticollis. It is becoming more common in babies and can begin as early as 2 weeks. Without positioning changes, your baby might need a fitted helmet or sessions of physical therapy. Prevention of these positioning problems is always better than trying to fix them later on.

Our goal is for every baby to have a sweet round head with good muscle strength, to roll and crawl within 6 months, and to enjoy manipulating toys. The brochure can be downloaded by individuals free. Our research is linked on the Older Child page.

We will sell software containing both the English and the Spanish versions of the brochure to agencies who wish to use the brochure in bulk. We will embed the agency contact information on the back page of the brochure. The cd with contact information included is $25. Contact our email address.

Publications of Interest to New Parents - FREE

Please click the links below to download each PDF item:

Baby Development Information Brochure (baby-information-brochure.pdf; 537KB)
Baby Development Information Brochure - Spanish (Desarrollo del bebe) (desarrollo-del-bebe.pdf; 537KB)

Pictorial Milestone Chart for Baby Development (milestone-pictorial.pdf; 111KB)
Companion sheet for Road to Success CD

APTA Press Release on Tummy Time (TummyTime.pdf; 84kb)

Newsweek Article Quotes Judy Jennings on Tummy Time:
"The American Physical Therapy Association is now urging parents to give babies more "tummy time" while they are awake and supervised. TIP SHEET's Christina Gillham spoke to Judy Towne Jennings, a pediatric physical therapist and..." Full Article

Developmental Presentations

Babyhood Road To Success.pdf (Babyhood-Road-To-Success.pdf; 1.5MB)
A Baby Developmental PDF demonstrating why and how a baby develops as they do normally. This is a PDF to teach parents the long term effects of early appropriate play with their baby.

"Good" play can provide opportunities for free movement to:
  • Develop head, neck, and body control against gravity
  • Integrate infant reflexes to allow coordination of arms and legs
  • Give the child the "I Can Do It" attitude necessary for all independent activities.


Bibliography of Interesting Books


Beverly Stokes. "Amazing Babies: Essential Movement for Your Baby in the First Year". Ontario. Move Alive Media. 2002

Roxanne Small, PT, "Building Babies Better, Developing a Solid Foundation for Your Child" Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Trafford Publishing, 2005 ISBN 1-4120-6233-0

Debra Smiley Holtzman, "The Safe Baby, A Do-it Yourself Guide to Home Safety and Healthy Living", Sentient Publications, 2009 ISBN 978-159181-085-8



These PDFs are also available in presentation quality CDs from Judy Jennings, PT, MA. Please email your order request to judy@fit-baby.com. The price is $15 plus shipping.
Homepage | Tummy Time Baby Development Tips | Toddler Play | Group Presentations | Older Child and P.T.s

Phone:
 513-829-4755
 Fax:
E-mail:		 513-829-7451
judy@fit-baby.com		 905 Maple Ridge Ct.
Fairfield, OH 45014