Encouraging rolling front to back

[MrFlibblesEyes]

Ds has just turned 6 months old and has recently learned to roll from his back to his front which he likes to do all the time! The trouble is once on his front he doesn't seem to be able to get back onto his back and after a while ends up whining for help! He did roll front to back a couple of times when he was around 4 months but they were more a fluke than anything and he has never been able to reliably do it. He enjoys tummy time and can lift himself onto his forearms/hands when on his front, and if he is on his side he can easily flip himself onto his back so he gets that part of the motion. It's the initial part he is reluctant to do, he just makes himself into a stable little tripod! Are there any ways I can encourage him to learn so he doesn't get himself stranded?

Could you try using a toy, maybe getting him to look up and to the side, might encourage tipping onto the side? Or be on the floor with him, to the side?

Ds can do front to back, I'm pretty sure he did it out of grim determination because of his absolute hatred of tummy time 😂 God knows how we'll encourage him to crawl...

He tries doing back to front but can't quite manage it yet. Any tips on how to help him roll that way??

I like reading threads like this, it highlights how different they all are!

Yes it's interesting how they all develop at different rates isn't it? I've tried the toy thing but he won't be fooled into tipping over and me being on the floor with him doesn't seem to make a difference! He's always been very stable, he could sit up with miminal assistance really early and has been sitting independently since he was 5 months- I think he's just a very rigid baby and maybe doesn't like the tipping feeling haha. I suppose it might actually help with crawling if he can't escape being on his front! There's not much advice I can give on the back to front rolling apart from I used to sit behind his head when he was on his back so that he would kind of arch his back and bend round to see me which tipped him onto his side a bit. It was weird though, it was ages of not being able to quite kick over and then somehow it just clicked and he did it perfectly every time after that! Think it's just practice and they get there in their own time. Actually saying that, putting him on a slight incline helped as I think it made it easier for him to understand the inertia needed to roll over and get used to the motion.