I’ve just scrolled through the comments again, and seen that you’ve answered this same question from another reader already. I’ll try holding my daughter in my lap when she seems up for trying some purées etc. Donning my finest apron. Looking forward to it!

Best regards, and thanks again!

Karin

My LO is 6 months and today all the sudden she started to really make a fuss about being on her back or tummy. (She hasn’t been a fan of tummy time except for her self directed ones on parents chest ets) I have started helping her seated thinking she had to but with this article I am reconsidering that.

I don’t want to make it a habit to hold her all the time but the way she cries & cries on her back on play pen is unreal as well.. I wonder if this is just a mood/phase or what. I don’t use any other tools based on another websites I follow so she is not dependant on any other devices.

Reading this artice to the end, it left me wondering how in heck am I supposed to hold space for the baby on her back for this long? Any pointers in how to interact on back in variety of ways? TIA!!!

Hi Alli – Sorry you are in this dilemma. Does your baby seem to be working towards rolling while in the supine position? What are his movements like? Have you tried placing his head at opposite ends of his bed while he is sleeping so that he naturally turns different directions?

Hi! I just started with RIE 2 months ago and our 4 month old has been strictly on his back. He was just diagnosed with flat head and it’s pretty apparent when you look at his head. I’m struggling with how to treat this issue while still being aligned with RIE principles that I believe in. We bought a non restrictive pillow where his head can still move. And I’m going to start carrying him more often I suppose. I’m really struggling with how to proceed and am feeling immense mom guilt. Feeling like maybe I should have done tummy time?? I don’t know. I would love to get your opinion now on flat head since it’s been awhile since this was posted. And any advice!!! Thanks so mu Co

Also from a child development perspective, children learn to roll from front to back long before they master back to front. Clearly placing them only on their backs would delay their development of this skill until after they roll back to front! A child needs to experience a variety of positions, and should never spend extended periods confined in any single position. Back only is fine for newborns but as they grow they do need some tummy time. My older son wiggled around the room slowly (but with little intentional control at first) and could grasp the bottom shelf of the coffee table if he managed to get over to it and pull himself up enough to yank out magazines before 3 months, even before he could roll over. Without some early tummy time he would have been deprived of the joys of crumpling and shredding magazines…and yes, after the first accidental accomplishment he worked hard to get back to the table for more shiny crinkly fun. Without tummy time I’d never have known what he was capable of.

Many of our modern contraptions are designed to give infants the feeling of being held upright without requiring anyone to constantly carry them. As such they are clearly second best as the infant is deprived of the emotional and social stimulation and comfort of human contact but they are not going to impede natural physical development unless overused. The main objection to them is that many children now go from one to another incessantly; from crib to bouncy seat to saucer to stroller\carseat back to crib and continue in this pattern long after premodern infants would signal their desire to explore. It is far easier to miss a baby’s signals, or ignore a baby outright until they cry, when they are strapped to an inanimate object across a room. And it is tempting to place a child in a contraption they are not ready for, either for convenience or in a misguided attempt to hurry their development along. We live in a society with a longstanding obsession with forcing infants to develop as quickly as possible. We brag about how quickly our children reach milestones, and we strive to obtain early independence at all costs, mostly for the convenience of adults around them. As well-intentioned as this advice is, it will undoubtedly be sucked into the vortex of our obsession. Parents will now fret over the amount and type of floor time and whether they are getting enough, developing fast enough and becoming independent enough…and will undoubtedly critique and judge each other’s adherence to the new directives based on the success or failure of an infant to develop accordingly. As will professionals.

When my younger son suffered from early and severe constipation, beginning as soon as he was introduced to soft jar foods, doctors blamed us and sent us to a dietician to correct our “poor diet”. We were vegetarians who ate all the fibre on the diet sheets and more. The dietician kept mindlessly repeating “He needs more fibre” like a mantra. Neither the doctor nor the dietician could wrap their heads around a medical problem that was not created by the parents. As a result my son spent months in pain, and prolapsed his rectum multiple times, while we jumped through the hoop of following a special diet he had already been on his entire life. Only then did he get the proper medical care he needed. Don’t presume to know why your friend’s child is constipated or how much time he spends in contraptions based on visits which comprise only a tiny fraction of his time. Most parents enjoy the added convenience of placing a baby in a contraption that keeps them safe and occupied while entertaining guests. You can infer very little from short observations when you are a guest who is disrupting the normal daily routine of the house and distracting the parent in question.

Oh I should have kept reading becaise we had similar questions!

We will be introducing solids at about 6 months and I don’t know how we could do that safely without having baby Sofia in a sitting position. My thoughts were to hold her in my lap but that would definitely be an upright position and dependant on parent placement. But laying down would definitely be unsafe with any kind of solid food! Especially since so want to have more baby-led foods where she can feed herself (with supervision of course).

My second question is baby pens that are cat proof – do they exist? I have heard you give suggestions for dogs but there isn’t a gate, fence, or barrier I’ve met that my pants can’t go under, over or through other than a closed door. I definitely do not feed safe enough even in a yes room to leave a closed door between us because I wouldnt be able to hear her.

When supervised I just let the cats come around but if I’m going to have a minute where she is alone I close the cats into the basement (don’t worry they have their “cat room” down there and love it haha) but its exhausting to herd the cats into the basement and shut the door then repeat the process of sitting next to her and observing before I can do something so simple as pee or make some tea. I don’t feel safe leaving them out, even if they’re well trained and have never swiped at anyone they’re still animals, very curious about the baby and Sofia loves their fluffy tails.

I’m sorry I’m so long-winded. I guess if I were to shorten my questions they would be:

Eating safety while sitting up without propping up and cat-proof barriers