The story of the tumtum
By Dr. Mirav Newman, PT, DPT, Founder, tumtum
The creation of the tumtum was inspired by my work as a physical therapist with children over the past 25 years. I primarily work with children with physical disabilities. I also work with infants from birth to 3 years of age that need help with typical motor developmental milestones. Over the years, I noticed babies need help tolerating and mastering tummy time skills. Mastering tummy time helps to ensure a baby develops good core strength and reaches all their milestones on time. For many years, I advised parents to make accommodations for their babies while on their tummy or supine and side-lying. I used less-than-ideal makeshift props every day. We needed a perfect wedge to make all this easier. It needed to be easy to carry from home to social events and other outings like parent and me classes and play dates. I knew the wedge needed to be wide enough that baby would have enough support under their arms. I knew it needed to be angled to allow for gravity-assisted movement. And most importantly, I knew needed to be budget-friendly so every new baby and family could have access to it.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends tummy time to begin from day 1 of life. Babies need 60-80 minutes of tummy time a day. Babies on time with motor skills at six months tend to do well with the rest of development. Typical motor development is directly correlated to speech development. Today, babies are not easily tolerating this amount of tummy time, and we are seeing how this effects infant development and secondary skills like crawling, sitting, feeding, and walking.
Since the ’90s, when the back-to-sleep program was initiated to prevent SIDS, we noticed changes in babies' development. There is an increased incidence of torticollis and plagiocephaly. Torticollis is a tightness in the baby’s neck that causes them to prefer looking to one side and may also cause some side flexion of the head to one side. If not corrected, this position will cause plagiocephaly or a flat head. When a baby rests on the back or sides of the skull for most of a 24-hour period, it often causes plagiocephaly. The incidence of plagiocephaly significantly increased over the past 20 years to currently 46.6% of infants by the age of 3 months. The best prevention for these conditions is active and awake tummy time. The neck stretches when the young baby lays on their belly and rests the head on one cheek and then turns their head and relaxes on the other cheek. This results in a symmetrical neck posture. An awake baby lying on their belly on the tumtum is more comfortable than lying flat on the floor. They tolerate it with more ease. In addition, as the baby grows and gets stronger, lying on their tummy and pushing up on elbows, forearms, or extended arms on their hands is also easier on a firm incline. This position is gravity assisted and helps the weight shift to the pelvis away from the head, making lifting the head easier. The tumtum allows babies to achieve more awake time on their bellies.
I am passionate about helping babies develop good alignment and core strength. Creating positive and successful movement experiences during floor play gives the baby an edge to learn to play independently and confidently. We do not need containers to keep babies busy and entertained. The best place for the baby is on the floor. The tumtum wedge is a great tool to help babies and their parents. I am so excited that this dream finally came to be a reality. Here at tumtum, our mission is for every baby to have a tumtum wedge at home from day one of life. We know they will benefit from it for years to come. Grab yours today!
