Rolling over so soon???

[Madilyn68]

I was a little freaked when my daughter was a week old, I laid her down on her back and she stretched out, stiffened her limbs and just rolled right over onto her side. She's been doing it ever since. If I didn't know any better I would have thought it was totally normal for them to do this at this age... She also was picking her head up and holding it up to look around day one. The little gal is solid muscle so it makes sense, but still... freaks me out a bit.
Does anyone else feel like their newborn is developing too fast? Do I have a super-baby or does anyone else's baby roll over and pick their head up by the first week?

 

[jessmke]

My LO was also very strong right from birth. In the hospital when she was born I would hold her against my chest and she would push herself up with her legs against my lap, she has been able to bear her weight while standing since 6 weeks old (just needs help with balance). She had full head control by 5 weeks and was easily rolling both directions by 12 weeks. Now at 5 months she can sit completely unaided, she is almost crawling, and today she pulled herself up into standing from a seated position in her pack n play. The nurse at our clinic calls her small but mighty, because she is only in the 15th percentile for weight.

 

[SarahBear]

I think my first was starting to lift her head by 2 weeks. I honestly don't remember with my second, haha. What was weird about my first is that she could support her weight on her legs from birth and enjoyed being supported in the standing position from very early. I have a picture of her at 2 months standing and being supported just by holding onto my finger and leaning against my legs. My second was strong too, but was more "normal" in that he would drop his weight if you tried to hold him up. Anyway, don't be freaked out if your baby stops rolling. She wouldn't be doing it on purpose at this age and will later need to learn how to coordinate her muscles on purpose.

 

[SarahBear]

My LO was also very strong right from birth. In the hospital when she was born I would hold her against my chest and she would push herself up with her legs against my lap, she has been able to bear her weight while standing since 6 weeks old (just needs help with balance). She had full head control by 5 weeks and was easily rolling both directions by 12 weeks. Now at 5 months she can sit completely unaided, she is almost crawling, and today she pulled herself up into standing from a seated position in her pack n play. The nurse at our clinic calls her small but mighty, because she is only in the 15th percentile for weight.

Oh, also don't be worried if this does NOT lead to advanced motor skills. You never know how things will go and strength does not mean balance or coordination. Even though Violet had good strength, she didn't learn to sit un-aided until 7.5 months (the same time that she crawled). Also, Leo crawled by 5.5 months and sat at 6 months even though he didn't seem as strong at birth. Now he is just learning to walk unaided at just short of 14 months whereas Violet was 11 months when she was at the same skill level as Leo is now.

 

[minties]

I think that lifting the head up is normal at birth as mine both did, and birth videos on YouTube show babies doing this to find the breast. Neither of mine rolled over that young though. I think my son could roll onto his side at a few weeks old but not all the way over till 13 weeks. He was grabbing at things and holding them at 9 weeks though which was cute.