Is it normal? Tummy time/sensory activities

Don’t know if i’m expecting too much but what is normal wake window wise for a 17 day old? I imagined there would be some time whilst he’s awake when we’d do tummy time, some sensory activities (like showing him the black/white cards etc), nothing major just a few mins. But all he seems to do is wake up, cry, i change him, he then cries/screams whilst i get his bottle ready. He then feeds until he falls back asleep. I talk to him whilst feeding/changing but not sure when other activities are expected to fit in. There just doesn’t seem to be any time when he’s awake and settled enough to do tummy time/put him on a play mat etc. Is this normal at this stage?

Show your support

Very normal, your baby is so young. More awake time comes with age x

I think this is normal in my experience, my little one has high sleep need and at 11 weeks old her maximum wake window is an hour even after she's had 12 hours of sleep at night. We still don't do tummy time everyday as sometimes if she's grumpy it's just not worth the agro, I think we started tummy time about 5 weeks in all honesty and would be about 3 minutes a day if that. She can now hold herself up on her arms so it hasn't done her any harm. My advice would be just do it when you can and don't beat yourself up if you can't fit it in. You could also just do it on your chest, maybe easier to fit it in that way and baby may not get as upset as they are on you x

Very normal at this stage

Tummy time on your chest is fine at this stage. At this point, he still thinks he's in utero, so that's why it's advised to have plenty of cuddles, skin to skin and keep doing what you're doing. Don't pressure yourself to do more yet - there's plenty of time ahead. Sing to him, talk, he takes a lot in during each window. You're doing great! 💕

About 30-45 minutes at that age if that! By the time you’ve changed the nappy and fed and snuggled your time is up. It’ll all come :) I got told by hv to do all this when my boy was a couple of weeks old and he was prem! I remember getting really stressed thinking how can I do all this and skin to skin and tummy time etc etc there’s no time! Don’t pressure yourself at all-those times will get longer and more opportunity. You’re doing the best by your baby right now - feeds, snuggles and keeping him clean :)

Totally normal - it’ll come in time 😊 if you think about everything you do in a day, there’s plenty of stimulation. As others have said, tummy time on your chest totally counts. We also put some sensory cards up around their changing mat (this also distracted ours during stressful changes!) and generally sang / spoke to them whenever we were doing anything x

My son wasn't typical at this age (he hated and still hates sleep), but from what others have told me, yes it sounds very normal.

You're doing great, don't worry 🤗 My daughter (13 days old) is only really alert for a few minutes a day.

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌