Our 3 week old can roll from tummy to back…Googling sparks a worry

[Torrach21]

Hi all,

We have 3 week old identical twin boys and one of them has shown us (repeatedly) he can roll from his tummy to back. He does this by kicking up his legs and levering himself over. I googled it to see was this some odd newborn reflex and (understandably) get the normal range of “all babies are different” and “it could be an early sign of an issue”. I haven’t been able to find any reports of any other parents seeing this so wondering if this community could help and share any experiences, thank you.

(Midwife had no input so far and I have it on list to speak to health visitor about but as yet we don’t have one…Christmas handover delays exacerbated by COVID. Only one twin does it).

Hi there,

Are you worrying about hypertonia/high muscle tone? Early rolling can be a sign of this. My DS2 did it but only because he would back arch to such an extent that he would then flip over. It sounds like your little one is using a different technique and actually I've heard of lots of babies doing this and it's no issue. Sometimes they grow out of it and then re-learn how to do it later on. Try not to worry if there are no other concerns.

Thank you - yes basically the worry was that it can be a sign of later issues. Really appreciate the perspective