Baby doesn't roll over or move

[Anonymous]

my DS, who is 6 months, has still not learned to roll over. He only can do about 2 minutes of tummy time without completely freaking out. He can, however, sit up for short periods on his own (if he's in the right mood), and his ped says he seems like a healthy, normal baby. All of his "playmates" can roll over and either crawl, scoot, or move in some way. My DS is stuck in one spot, and won't make the least effort to move to get a toy - he'll just cry and cry and cry until we bring what he wants to him. Any suggestions on what we can do to encourage him? DH wants to put him on his stomach and just let him cry until he figures out how to roll, or put all of his toys out of reach and let him cry until he figures out how to get them, but I'm not going to agree to that.

[Anonymous]

babies can learn to roll being on their backs.
and if you keep giving him the toy he'll keep crying for it.
let him practice reaching for it.

[Anonymous]

Try assisted tummy time with a boppy under his chest. He'll get used to it faster if his face isn't smushed into the floor. Agreed: put the toys just far enough that he needs to wriggle a bit. If he's sitting up, that is a much more meaningful milestone in this day and age of "no sleeping on tummies".

[Anonymous]

All babies are different and will do things at different times. Just be patient. If your doctor is not worried I would not worry. Enjoy this immobile time. Once they are mobile you have to start chasing, have your childproofing done, etc.

[Anonymous]

Definitely he has figured out how to get what he wants without moving. I think you are going to have to do more tummy time and yes, it involves crying but tummy time is important. And as for him not reaching for things, I think you should put things out of his grasp. That is going to unfortunately be difficult now because he has learned that crying gets the problem solved. But it won't take too long.

[Anonymous]

My second didn't roll over either way until a bit after 6 months. Once he started, there was no stopping him! My doctor wasn't worried at all because he was a great sitter.

Your baby is probably a bit on the later side because he doesn't do much tummy time. A lot of babies hate tummy time. He'll eventually do all these things, but if you are worried and want him to do it sooner than later, you should try to up the tummy time. If he does 2 minutes, start by making him do it for 3 minutes twice a day. After a few days, up it to 4 minutes, etc. By the time he gets to 10 minutes he'll probably prefer his tummy to his back.

[Anonymous]

My son was in PT for gross motor delays and the therapist taught me how to teach him to roll over (and to sit actually -- he could not do that either.)

He had other issues -- he could not hold his head straight up, only cocked to the side -- which was the main impetus for the PT but if you are concerned about your son, or if he doesn't respond to more tummy time, you could ask your pediatrician for a single PT eval visit. They can send you home with some exercises to do with him. Or if you think you can figure out the mechanics of an infant rolling, you can position your son's body and teach him to do it (I can't describe it in writing unfortunately).

I would roll him across the room (on a padded comforter) front to back, then back to front in one direction and then go back the other way. He caught on pretty quickly.

As an aside, my ped was not concerned with his delays, but I was. So I pushed for the PT and am so glad I did. His head being sideways concerned the PT enough that she sent us for a neuro consult. In any case, had we not gotten his head straight per the PT it could have even affected the development of his vision as he learned to see the world at an angle.

[Anonymous]

OP, when you say your son can sit, how does he get in a sitting position?

[Anonymous]

I just put him on the floor in a seated position, and he sits up and looks around for a while.

[Anonymous]

What about doing a modified tummy time where you lay on your back on the floor with your knees pulled up, and you put him on your knees? He'll be on his tummy and will be exercising those neck muscles, but he'll also be able to look at you below.

[Anonymous]

22:55 here. I would recommend not putting your son in any position that you want him to learn to do himself.

This includes (avoiding) all the contraptions commonly used.

[Anonymous]

Talk to your ped. My now 13month was basically immobile at 4m, and his ped recommended a PT assessment, which put him at 5 percent for gross motor function. The PT was intensive (2x week for the first few months) but really just consisted of some simple games and exercises to encourage him to raise his head, reach for things etc and was designed to strengthen his core muscles. He still had some flukey developmental pattern, didn't roll over until maybe 8 or 9 months old, but with the intervention became a perfectly 'normal' and super active little boy. He walked right after his 1st birthday. I don't know if your child needs PT, but even having a session where someone with expertise shows you some techniques for encouraging him to move and strengthening his muscles might be very useful if only for avoiding the harsh approach of your husband.

[Anonymous]

I think you can definitely try all the things the PPs mentioned, but also want to add that this can be perfectly normal, particularly (I think) if your child is on the larger side. Our DD was an early sitter (if we put her in the sitting position), but rolled over once at 4.5 months and didn't do it again until ~7.5. I jokingly referred to her as my 'lump' baby, since she seemed so content to just be in one place and look around. (Though she did LOVE sitting and playing with toys.)

And while I worried about it at the time, it was all for naught and she is perfectly fine - if you saw my monkey of a 2 year old on the playground, you'd never believe she'd been a 'lazy' baby.

[Anonymous]

At 6 months my DD didn't roll or crawl or even attempt to do these things. We did practice rolling over a lot with her, we found she had no motivation to reach for toys, but things like cell phones and cameras were a much bigger incentive. The normal range for crawling is 6 to 10 months, and a lot of books say that rolling over is no longer considered a milestone because babies don't spend a lot of time on their tummies anymore.

[Anonymous]

My niece, who is totally normal, didn't roll over until after she could walk at 1 yr. Her pediatrician was never concerned.