Roll over, damnit!

[LMLJigsaw]

Hi Everyone,

Proud dad here of a nearly 6 month old baby girl... who's really making me pull my hair out.

She's always been a back to sleep baby, so I anticipated a delay in rolling over, but this seems so damn strange.

She's very adept in rolling from her back to her stomach. When she gets to her stomach, though, she cries... she struggles... she plants her face into the blanket that she's playing on... and she cries again.

Today, wife and I cam home from work to find the baby sleeping on her tummy (not an issue), but Grandma let us know that she was basically face-planted on the mattress. (That scared me a little)

The doctor told us not to worry, and if she falls asleep like that, to just let her sleep. She could move her head if she needed...

I'm just annoyed (and ranting) is all. When she was smaller (2 to 3 months), she would flip from tummy to back all the time. Now, she just cries. I want to let her cry until she figures it out (read: I'm a heartless daddy) and my wife doesn't wait as long as I want to.

Besides increasing tummy time, anyone else have any ideas to promote rolling from tummy to back?

 

[brunette&bubs]

no advice but didn't want to R&R
My son is almost 4 months and does ZERO rolling.

she'll get the hang of it. Promise! all babies do

 

[LMLJigsaw]

I'm also concerned for my wife. I don't want her to lose precious sleep worrying about our daughter rolling over and face-planting for sleep. We hear so many SIDS horror stories...

 

[minties]

How strong is the baby when she is on her front? Can she do a full pressup, and get her head and upper torso right up off the ground?

I understand your frustration as my 6 month old wont roll from stomach to back either. He CAN do it - he just seems to have forgotten how.

Lucky for me he sleeps swaddled so can't roll onto his front.

 

[Cookie1979]

My son only started rolling at the weekend (he is just over 6 months) he would accidentally roll from his front to back, but that was only when he tipped over, and when he was on his back he'd get to his side and not go any further. I don't think it has anything to do with him not being capable, I just don't think he could be bothered. All of a sudden he decided he would bother to roll and now does it fairly regularly, also he wasn't keen on lying on his tummy, now he will purposely go from sitting up (he could sit up unaided before he could roll) and pull himself forward so he is on his tummy and is quite happy to stay like that. Was quite surprised.

She will do it when she is ready, I think its mostly about when they want to do it rather than not being able to. Will suddenly happen. Nothing you can do though, if she doesn't like it or doesn't want to do it she wont...they can be stubborn little things.

 

[Peardrop]

Ollie is 10 months and STILL only rolls from back to tummy. He can crawl and is trying to pull up now! He has also slept on his tummy from when he learnt to roll at 3.5 months. He used to roll in his swaddle! My only advice is to use a movement sensor monitor such as Angelcare. It gave me piece of mind and meant I could always tell he was breathing.

 

[brunette&bubs]

to OP...my son has slept on his belly for 2 months and no issues because he can hold his head and upper torso up AND actually scoot around.
HTH

 

[lori]

My LO went through a stage where he would roll onto his belly in the night and cry until someone came to flip him back over It was so irritating because he could roll both ways, but somehow forgot how at 2 am. It lasted quite a while (about a month) and just as we'd resigned ourselves to never sleeping again, he figured it out.

I'm not sure what to suggest, but just wanted to reassure you that your LO will figure this out. Be patient and trust that a baby strong enough to roll over isn't going to let herself suffocate.