# Baby Development and Play: Tummy Time, Milestones and Play by Stage

> Tummy time, movement milestones and play by stage, from Emma Hubbard.

Stage: baby - Topic: Play and development - Page: https://www.askcladle.com/guides/baby/hubbard-baby-development-and-play

Grounded in: the topics covered by **Emma Hubbard**, a paediatric occupational therapist who makes videos on baby development on YouTube ([her channel](https://www.youtube.com/@EmmaHubbard)). This card summarises widely accepted developmental guidance on those topics in Cradle's own words; it does not quote her. Her videos show the positions and activities far better than text can.

## TLDR

- Short, frequent tummy time from the early weeks; your chest, lap or a tummy-down carry all count.
- Milestones come in wide ranges. Floor time builds them; long stretches in bouncers and swings limit practice.
- Check in about a strong head-turning preference, stiffness or floppiness, using one side much more, or lost skills.

## Tummy time

- Start from the early weeks with short, frequent sessions while the baby is awake and supervised, building up
  gradually over the first months.
- It doesn't have to be on the floor: lying on a parent's chest, across the lap, or carried tummy-down all count.
- Many babies protest at first. Shorter sessions, getting down at their eye level, a mirror or a rolled towel
  under the chest can help.

## Movement milestones come in ranges

- Head control, rolling, sitting, crawling (some babies skip it), pulling to stand and walking each arrive over
  a wide window of months.
- Floor time lets babies practise; long stretches in containers (bouncers, swings, car seats outside the car)
  limit that practice.
- Babies usually do best reaching milestones by themselves rather than being propped into positions they can't
  yet get into alone.

## Play by stage

- Early months: faces, voices, high-contrast images, gentle movement.
- Around the middle of the first year: reaching, grasping, mouthing and passing toys between hands.
- Later in the first year: cause and effect, containers, stacking, cruising along furniture.
- Simple household objects are as good as special toys.

## When to check in

Talk to the pediatrician or a paediatric physiotherapist about a persistent head-turning preference or flat
spot, stiffness or floppiness, using one side much more than the other, or loss of skills a baby already had.