Shelly, I think they mean upside down as in feet up, head below - typically you'd be holding your baby by the feet. (Your pictures (sweet baby, btw!
) show your daughter on her belly, which is also very important.)
I too see no harm in it for short periods. I used to do it all the time, as early as a couple of months old. I still do it today (Felicity's almost 4!). And yep, she loves it!
Here are 3 methods I have used:
1. The seated/ankles methodIn the beginning the way I would do it would be to sit on a chair, place her on my lap, with her head at the end resting on my knees. I would simply hold on to her ankles (which would be near my belly), and simply stand up. As I stand up gradually, my thighs/lap will incline from horizontal to vertical, and so would Felicity. To put her back down onto horizontal position, I would simply sit back down.
This is the most gentle process I can think of to getting a baby upside down.
2. The lie down/waist methodWhen Felicity was older (6 months+), I found another way to put her upside down, which is probably something more for Dads (I'm not a sexist!
) as it requires greater arm strength. Often, I would be lying down on the floor or on a bed, and I would be holding Felicity under the arms above my head, with my arms stretched out. It was only natural that I also started to incline her upside down as I move her further up beyond my head. My hands would slide 'up' to her hips level as I hold her upside down. For anyone familiar with gym exercises, this is like a tricep press.
Later, as I'm lying down and she's crawling on my belly/chest, I would simply grab her by her hips, lift her up, and rotate her to that upside down position. This is usually what I used to do (and still do sometimes! - it gets harder the taller she grows!).
3. The sit-on-shoulder methodFrom 1 year+, I had a habit of letting Felicity sit on my shoulder. One of the games I would play would be for her to sit on my shoulder but FACING ME (her feet would be on my back). I would hold her by the arms around the shoulders and armpits. She would often lean back all the way over until she's upside down (her head would be around my belly/belt). Sometimes she would just clasp her feet around my neck and we'd walk around like that for a while, and other times she would just do a back-flip/somersault and land on her feet. If you do this, make sure you "pre-rotate" your hands as much as possible to take account of her flip rotation so that it's more gentle on her shoulders where your hands are holding.
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