8.5 months and not rolling...

[LouandHenry]

My little boy is 8 and a half months, he is a very happy little boy, he sits unaided and barely ever falls now, he enjoys being in his walker and being on his feet but he still isn't rolling and he is getting so frustrated he can't get around. I try and put him on his back and help him roll to his tummy, I also encourage him with toys and he'll reach for them but won't turn. If he is on his tummy, he tries to bring his legs up, gets frustrated and just cries... help??? Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated!

I think if he's able to sit up unaided then i wouldn't worry too much. He's still really young. My LO is almost 7 months and is rolling but cant sit up yet. Babies all develop at their own pace. Some babies go straight to walking and never even crawl. If its really worrying you though, speak to your health visitor x

@hshbjamo Thank you! I'm a first time mum, to be honest I'm not too concerned, just wish he could get about a bit. Bless him he gets so frustrated! X

My DD is 8.5 months and while she can roll, she hardly ever bothers 😂 she has done it a few times from back to front, only once from front to back. She's extremely lazy on her front and has little interest in trying to lift herself during tummy time etc. Like your DC she is sitting up well and hardly falls, can move about a bit while sitting.

She's probably going to talk before she walks because she can't be bothered to make the effort to move, but she does love to make herself heard! 😂

I think they all just go at their own pace and some are faster at certain things, some slower. A friend's DS is a little younger and is already pulling himself to standing 🤷🏼‍♀️

I wouldn't worry as long as DC is doing well generally.

I honestly wouldn't worry. Can you help him to stand and help him to learn to cruise round furniture instead? My son never rolled over or could do tummy time. He sat unaided at 6 months and then just started pulling himself up onto furniture and got around that way. He crawled at 7 months for around 6 weeks and then walked.
I was a FTM as so worried he couldnt roll etc as all my friends babys were but then he beat them all with walking. Every baby is so different try not to worry too much. But if he loves his walker I'd try him out of it and get him up holding onto things to move around.

My little girl is nearly 18 weeks old and has been rolling both ways since 16 weeks old which was a surprise and is doing great with tummy time so its definitely showed me how different every baby is in their development.

Neither of mine rolled until 12 months old and didn't crawl until 18 months. They get there in their own time.

My (now adult) DD, rolled once…..and that was it. She hit all her other milestones and grew up happy and healthy. Don’t worry. 😁

My DD is 10 months old and doesn't roll, she doesn't even like being on her feet, she only sits. I wasn't worried at all as my first was the same (didn't crawl until 13 months, walked at 18 months) but I saw the HV last week to make sure I wasn't too blasé. She said it was absolutely fine, there is a huge range of normal when it comes to these milestones. So don't worry!

And honestly it's so much more hard work once they are on the move so I'm quite happy the way things are!

I know I'm going to sound like the health visitor here but if you want to encourage physical development to happen more quickly, it's best to ditch walkers, bumbos jumperoos and all the rest of it. Chuck them on the floor, scatter toys about and let them work out how to reach them. They all get there in time.

Another one who's DD didn't roll until she was 8 months. I never worried as she sat unaided from 5.5 months and was finding her own way of moving around. She then rolled, crawled, pulled herself up and started cruising furniture in less than a month 🤯 she's now walking unaided at 11.5months. As others have said it's definitely easier when they are less mobile 😂. Oh and changing nappies once they do roll - nightmare!

Mine son was another one who hated rolling. He did it a couple of times, that was it. He really wasn't a fan of tummy time. He also didn't walk until 18 months - was cruising from around 10 months but no steps. Health visitor came out to do his check at 18 months, said she'd be putting him onto the developmental delay pathway due to not walking ... My son decided to take his first step a few hours after her visit, much to my relief 🤣 My husband works in a child development service and is always advocating that children develop skills at a different pace, sometimes the dichotomous view of health visitors / other parents that kids should be able to do things by week X. It's not helpful to parents whose kids don't follow those neat trajectories. I personally wouldn't worry at your stage OP :)

My boy rolled front to back at 4 months (anything to get off his tummy!). He only rolled from back to front for the first time this week, at 11 months. He just wouldn't entertain going onto his tummy intentionally.

Eldest DD was the last to roll, crawl and walk out of the babies in her NCT group.
Now when you see the group of them running around together (all aged 5) it’s impossible to tell who walked / rolled / crawled / spoke first and who got there last. They all get there in their own time. x

Thanks everyone! Appreciate the reassurance. I'm not worried about his development just want to be doing the right things to encourage him. Thanks again I honestly appreciate you stopping to reply.