3 month old - Head Control - HV has been scaring me!

[mummytosteven]

DS is 14 weeks old, and seems quite happily smiling, gurgling, grasping objects etc, and even managed to roll over a few times from tummy to back at 5.5 weeks. The HV has now been worrying me - apparently last week when she saw us, she was worried about DS's head control, which has improved since I've been sitting him up more, but also she is concerned about DS lifting his head up, so I've got to put him on his tummy to get him to do this more (which I must confess I hadn't been doing much coz he hates it so much!) Anyone got any views as to what is normal for a 3 month old, or whether a bit of a delay in head control is particularly worrying for later on in develop[ing sitting/crawling skills?

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Wouldn't worry too much yet although ds started to raise his head on tummy at about that age. We encouraged him by having a freestanding mirror (fisher price) on the floor so he could push up and see himself in it - they just love seeing "other" babies !! I'd have said that by rolling he has already proved to have upper body strength developing. Perhaps hv was less concerned but more rather suggesting a way of helping him, if in a slightly heavy handed fashion.

I wouldn't worry if I were you - my dd hated lifting her head up and would only do it very reluctantly even at 5 and 6 months. She still learnt to hold it up fine though and now at nearly 12 months she crawls, sits and stands just like any other baby.

No expert but my guess is a lot of babies don't like being on their tummies at first ? since the back to sleep campaign they just aren't used to it. Ds used to dislike it at first and would only stay like that very briefly before complaining. A few days/weeks later (can't remember exactly how long) he really got into it and we had difficulty persuading him to stay on his back during nappy changes/dressing! Still do...

thanks everyone for the nice reassuring messages. Shall keep my fingers crossed for the next HV appointments.

mts, my dd HATED being on her front and did little with her head until she was sitting (similar to wobblyknicks' dd), ds LOVED being on his front and lifted his head from an early age. I used to get told to put dd on her front but she just screamed so I stopped. I would follow your gut instinct and not the HV!!

Dont worry, I read in a book that babies arent lifting their head up as much these days because we lay them on their backs all the time which means that in development turms they arent as advanced in neck muscles as they used to be. Just lay your baby on the stomache more frequently and they will soon strengthen the muscles.

If he doesn't like being on his stomach on the floor try these lie down yourself and lie him on top of you.
Sit on floor with your legs out straight and lie him across your legs play with toys in this position.
play "aeroplane" games

As he is doing eveything else that he should do its probably as everyone says that he is not used to the position

Just to add to the general consensus - my 5 1/2 mo hates lying on his belly - but almost sitting up on his own. My mum said that sleeping on front had a lot to do with neck and arm strength... I just think that an adult tends to work from a "back" (= "sitting" position?

I think 14 weeks is quite young to be lifting his head well. My ds1 met all his physical milestones bang on time - crawled at 9 months, walked at 13months etc and I don't really remember him lifting his head well off the ground until about 4 months. Incidentally - how big is your son's head - both my children have huge heads and I'm sure that must make it harder. My ds2 is behind with his physical milestones - he has low muscle tone and I suspect he might be dyspraxic. He didn't lift his head up well still at 5months and even then he managed to crawl by 1 year and walk at 17mnths so he was still within the normal range. So I don't think you should worry at the moment.

update - the HV came round yesterday, and thinks his head control is coming on leaps and bounds, though possibly still ever so slightly behind for his age. (phew!)

thanks everyone for the words of wisdom. DS still hates being on his tummy...