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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Ideas on rolling

13 replies

fififrog · 01/08/2011 10:21

DD is 18 weeks. She can roll easily from back onto tummy but despite having rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time at about 9 weeks (way before she could go the other way) she still hasn't got the hang of it. The problem is she gets stuck on her tummy in the night an I have to get up usually twice a night to roll her back and she can be hard to resettle.

I know I just have to wait it out but the problem is she seems to have given up trying now and just waves her arms and legs around and gets annoyed during tummytime. Faced with months more of waking up loads in the night I wondered if anyone had any bright ideas how to encourage her to at least try rolling? I have tried waggling something interesting behind her shoulder but she doesn't try to reach for it.

Cheers

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Octaviapink · 01/08/2011 13:38

Good lord, don't encourage them to move! DS is 8m and has only just started rolling around (long after sitting). Best they stay where they're put! Gross motor skills can't be taught, anyway. They develop them when they develop them - they're inherited.

Original poster

fififrog · 01/08/2011 20:58

Please don't tell me I've got another 4 months of awful nights... :-/

I keep telling myself she has to get it soon!!

OP posts:

Steeplearningcurve · 01/08/2011 21:06

No advice I'm afraid, just sympathy. DD is currently keeping herself awake trying to roll from back to front but she HATES being on her tummy, so Im sure there will be lots of crying once she manages it

The disturbed nights are awful aren't they?

thisisyesterday · 01/08/2011 21:08

ds1 never learned to roll from tummy onto back.

well... i mean, at some point over his 6 years he did as he must be able to now, but certainly not until he was very mobile. he walked before he could do it

sorry, that doesn't help does it?

PelvicFloorOfSteel · 01/08/2011 21:08

I think octavia is right about these things developing in their own time, however if DD has already done it she should be able to do it again. Our garden is on a slight slope and DS2 did his first roll down the slope, it seemed to help him grasp the idea, if I move like this I end up here, and after a couple of days going downhill he did it on the flat. He might have done it then anyway but I think it helped develop his technique, worth a try if you can find a nice gentle slope anyway.

Original poster

fififrog · 02/08/2011 18:31

I like the hill idea - I tried this pm but she wasn't in the mood, but will jeep at it! Thanks!

OP posts:

skewiff · 02/08/2011 21:37

I disagree that gross motor skills cannot be taught. My son has cerebral palsy and none of these skills came naturally to him at all. We had to teach him every little step. He is 4 1/2 now and I can't remember how we taught rolling. I think you have to do it manually with your daughter over and over again until she gets it. This will help her to get it.

There is no harm in starting this young and she has got every chance of learning now. My daughter is 11 weeks and I am starting encouraging her to roll.

SnarkHunt · 04/08/2011 08:19

My daughter is 5 months and has only ever rolled once each way. Both times it was in the garden on uneven ground so she was helped by the incline, on grass, which she can kind of dig her toes in and get some purchase, rather than her soft slippery playmats, and naked (she wears cloth nappies and I think they stop her doing the sort of leg crossing-roll-initiation). I'm sure they just get it when they're ready, though of course take the point about needing to actively work on it for little ones with physical problems of any sort.

Lulabel27 · 04/08/2011 18:39

We have the same problem, dd was 18wks when she first rolled from back to tummy and she still can't roll back (26wks now).

We found in the beginning a bolster worked which was basically a mat in her cot with two Velcro foam bolsters that velcro'd into position to keep her in one place at night. This stopped her rolling..
.
Now we don't use it as she has become a lot more comfortable on her front (I left her for slightly longer and longer periods on her front during the day until strength grew) and actually sleeps quite well on her front.

Lulabel27 · 04/08/2011 18:40

Ps we don't use the bolster any more if you'd like it I'll post it to you just pm me your details

RobynLou · 04/08/2011 18:44

I remember seeing a cot sheet for sale which had a 5 point harness sewn to it to stop lo rolling! seemed a little extreme.

Timeoutofmind · 04/08/2011 19:56

My DD learned to roll from front to back about a month after she rolled back to front.

She also hated tummy time but all of a sudden she just became comfortable on her tummy and now sleeps that way and has done from around 26wks.

I tried a lot of things to try and get her to roll.back but I think that as with most things they just do it in their own time.

hazeyjane · 04/08/2011 20:02

Ds (1) has developmental delay, and we do physio to encourage him to roll. the main exercise is to put his feet in his hands, and roll him from side to side, i usually put a toy or a mirror either side of him so he is encourage to lay on his side.

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