5.5 Months Old Does Not like Tummy Time and Cannot Roll

I week before he turned 5 months my son just decided to start rolling both directions. He had rolled from tummy to back a couple times when he was 2.5 months but in between just wasn't ready. So one day they'll just be ready and will let you know. I know a lot of babies get frustrated on tummy which is why the cry so just try and keep her down instead of feeling the need to pick her up right away. And try at different times during the day vs. only once. Go down at eye level with her so she knows you're there.

Hi T.,

First of all, don't despair. Sometimes kids are late bloomers. And sometimes kids will entirely skip the crawling stage and move into walking. In the meantime, there are some things you can do that will help your baby whether she crawls or not.

When she does have those 3-5 minutes of tummy time, engage her in really active play. Talk to her and rattle her favorite toys in front of her. Another thing you can do is to get a medium size beach ball and put your baby tummy down on top of the ball. As you hold her, slowly roll the ball forward until her hands touch the ground, then roll backwards until her feet touch the floor. Do this a few times to get her used to putting weight on her arms. The babies generally like this activity. But when she starts getting fussy, it's time to move onto something else.

As far as the rolling, when she is on her tummy, try positioning her hands and arms under so her head is up. Then take a rattle and shake it above her head so she sees it and move it in the direction you want her to roll. Hopefully, she will continue to want to see the rattle and her head and body will turn. You can provide her with help by moving her hips in the direction of the roll.

Good luck. I'm sure your baby will get it. When she is walking around a year from now, this will be a story you can file away to tell her about when she is older. :-)

My doctor said that now that babies sleep on their backs they tend to rollover later. Anywhere from 4-7 months was considered to be normal now. Just try getting on the floor with her a try just a few minutes at a time. Neither of my kids were big tummy babies and they actually learned to roll from their back to their stomach first.

Do tummy time WITH her. It's hard to be interested in stuff if your just on your tummy. So make it a Mommy baby play time to help her have fun with it. You can be on your tummy to rolling and looking like a super mom. Make it FUN!

Hi T.,
My son is over 10mo now, and he is progressing slower than 'typical' with rolling and crawling. He started sitting fairly well, now all on his own, but the tummy time was never a hit. He had reflux, which made tummy time harder, and he is a chubby boy, with a fairly big head to hold up. He started to really roll a lot just a couple months ago (8mo).The dr. always said it was normal for some kids to progress slower; esp if they are chubby. Our little guy looks like he'll start to crawl any day now, but he still just likes to scoot around in circles on his bottom. Don't worry... enjoy that she isn't mobile yet!

Hi T.,

Don't worry too much. My daughter didn't like Tummy time and didn't know how to roll over either. She only started to roll over by herself about 7 months on her own. Once she got that down, then she started to do the tummy time. Slowly, she started to do the baby push up to start the next stage of scooting around. Every baby is different.

My only advice is to just keep trying to do tummy time as much as possible. Try putting toys she likes just out of her reach and to the side so she'll be motivated to reach and roll, and also get down there with her so she can see your face. You can also try rolling her onto her side and see if she'll take over from there. Tummy time can also be on the thighs of your bent legs with her looking out at something like maybe the tv (our little one seems to be fascinated by the lights and colors of the tv and it doesn't seem to matter what program is on). Praise her with lots of hugs, love and kisses after tummy time. Good luck - I think we all struggle with this!

i was worried too but my daughter didn't like tummy time and was slow at rolling over. but once she did roll, she quickly crawled and was walking before 12 months. i don't think you have anything to worry about.

I have a 5.5 month old baby too! The rolled up towel for support and getting down on the floor with toys helped us as well. Another thought is that tummy time doesn't have to be on the floor. It can be snuggling in bed, laying her on your chest while you recline, draping her over your lap so her head hangs off a bit. In all of these places you can cross her arms over her chest to prop her body and head up. If you use every opportunity, all of the 5-minute sessions add up to a lot and it may make it a bit more palatable for your baby.

T.,
My son did the same thing! He hated tummy time. We figured out that one of the reasons he did not like it was because he could not roll on to his back when he felt like it. He wanted more control over his environment. So, what we did was we made a game of showing him how to roll over. We would lay him on his back and sort of rock him from side to side by batting his legs back and forth until finally we would push him all the way over and exclaim Yay! or Wow, look what you did! Then we would try to show him how to roll from his tummy to his back before he got too upset. We would usually start him out at one end of a blanket and roll him to the other end, so that way he could see that he was making progress as he rolled along. Plus anytime he tried rolling over we gave him lots of encouragement (even if he was getting frustrated). You can do it, c'mon, etc. When he first accomplished it, we practically jumped up and down! We clapped and hooted and hollered so that he knew he did a good job. It was my experience that he did not really start pushing himself up on his arms very far until AFTER he started rolling over. He used his head and his legs more than his arms. I hope this helps. Good Luck!