How long to leave baby stranded on tummy?

[crazychemist]

Hi there,

I have twins, adjusted age nearly 6 months. One of them has been able to roll back to front for a couple of weeks now, but has started doing it ALL the time as soon as I put him down. This would obviously be fine, but he HATES being on his tummy unless he’s being actively entertained e.g. singing, toy shaken for him. So when I pop him on his play mat in the morning to sort breakfast or do hair for DD I can guarantee he’ll be on his tummy and grizzling within a minute. He ramps up to properly cross quite quickly, leaving toys within his reach makes no difference, he makes no attempt to hold them /play with them.

He was able to roll front to back for ages, so I’m not sure why he now seems to have forgotten this. Or does he want to be on his tummy and is frustrated because he wants to be on the move? I leave him for a bit because I have to get on with things, but I feel really guilty sometimes! I never had this with my eldest, and the other twin very rarely goes back to front and never without encouragement.

So do I leave him to it for longer so he can work on whatever it is he’s trying to do? Or if I don’t have time to supervise should I stick him in something he can’t roll in e.g. bouncer?

That's interesting because they usually learn back to front first (because this just requires reaching for something to the side). Whereas front to back requires coordinated twisting of the torso/back/shoulders so is usually much harder to master and comes second.

If he's been doing both way rolling then he is probably frustrated at not being able to move. It could also be that earlier front to back rolling was more fluke than coordinated movement, so he still has that gross motor skill to learn.

Either way, it's getting a little frustrated that gives then the desire to move, practice and ultimately learn. So while I wouldn't leave baby full on crying, some grizzling might just be conversationally saying "damn, I can't do this, I really really want to learn" - which isn't in itself distress.

I would put down on back and maybe turn back over once or twice in the first 5 minutes if grizzling. But then if he keeps on turning over, just make sure he has stuff to do while in-situ (toys within reach or watch) and if the grumbling continues to escalate when independant playing, I'd be more inclined to think there is another reason - hunger or tired.

If you're busy, you're busy, he can wait. If you're just sat there playing with him, give him a buy of time to work it out, then move him back.

That's interesting because they usually learn back to front first (because this just requires reaching for something to the side). Whereas front to back requires coordinated twisting of the torso/back/shoulders so is usually much harder to master and comes second.

Do you reckon? Anecdotally, most babies I know have gone front to back first- they basically push their torso up with their arms, overbalance and voila! Both of mine have done it this way first and really struggled to get back to front because they'd get stuck on their side with their arm preventing them from completing the roll.

I'd probably just put him in a bouncer or something, OP, if it were me. Just remember that jumperoos etc have a time limit of 20 minutes a day.