Twenty-five minutes — is that enough?

That was the actual question, and the answer is yes, roughly.

Twenty to thirty minutes after a feed gives her stomach a chance to settle. Less than that and you'll get more spit-up than you wanted, particularly in the early months when posseting is at its peak anyway.

The order matters more than the gap

The follow-up was the better question: should I wake her, let her play, feed her, then settle her to sleep?

So we not sure what the correct order is, but we used to wake her up, do tummy time, then feed, then play a bit then downtime and then sleep. Sometimes if the gap was big enough a little top up of food before sleep would work as well.

When she's just woken and hasn't eaten for hours

Then feed her first. A hungry baby is a bad tummy-time participant and you'll get thirty seconds of protest rather than anything useful.

The gap is a guideline, not a rule that overrides an actual hungry baby at five in the morning.

She will sometimes, and it doesn't mean you got the timing wrong.

Shorter sessions work better on a fullish stomach. So does keeping her upright in the gap rather than laying her flat and then flipping her over.

And if she's genuinely uncomfortable, stop and try again later. There's no quota to hit which papa learnt. He kept trying to beat Ari record of tummy time each time. There were some days she could hold for 30 seconds and then other days where she was struggling with 10.

Call your doctor immediately if

Blue or grey, a struggle to breathe, or a floppy baby you cannot wake — call your local emergency number now.

  • She chokes, or struggles to breathe during tummy time
  • She goes pale, grey or blue
  • Forceful vomiting, or vomit that's green or bloody
  • She's floppy, or won't wake properly