>
>
>Okay, true confessions: How many of us had babies who actually *enjoyed* 
>spending quiet alert time on their stomachs before, say, 6 or 9 months?  
>
I can tell you that my first two didn't enjoy it, although my oldest 
enjoyed 'back' time -- used to put him on a large cushion on the floor 
of the room I was in and he was happy. The second one wasn't (asthma 
seemed to be worsened on the ground, so she was in a car seat or chair 
or swing ... or arms, where all of the subsequent children were. My dh 
told me that in his country babies were never put on the ground before 7 
months or some date that I used to remember (sorry -- youngest just 
turned six on Friday, unbelievably) so all of our five children were in 
someone's arms pretty much constantly, except when they were in the car. 
In bed, they were sideways in the crook of my arm or on their backs 
cuddling up to someone: mom, dad, or later (and still) sib. And I felt 
badly when they weren't in arms.

One story I should tell is that when my dh and I were living in separate 
provinces (yuck!) my youngest lived in the sling. For certain things -- 
scrubbing the floors, putting out the garbage, and so on, I would wait 
until my oldest came home from school to take her out of the sling for a 
few minutes to do them. But we had a bedtime ritual that included me 
coming upstairs, nursing the baby and reading stories to the other four 
little ones (all under 7) who all slept in our room, until they went to 
sleep. And then, because the babies are the ones who go to bed latest in 
our house, I would put baby back in her sling and go downstairs, where 
my older daughter was doing her homework. While baby nursed, she would 
work, I would drink tea, and the "important" stuff would be blurted out 
between pages. Then all three of us would go upstairs to bed.

Some time later my neighbour commented that she could always hear my 
baby "wake up for the 11 o'clock feeding." I had no idea what she meant, 
until I realized that the only time my baby cried was at 11 o'clock at 
night, when I put her down on the floor so that I could wash up before 
bed. I was so happy when she was content to cuddle in with the other 
children for those few minutes!

Most of them liked car time and sling time, but not stroller time or 
tummy time... until they were mobile (i.e., could roll over or change 
position).

Jo-Anne

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