Dorie Meek is director of the Infant & Family Support Program, provided by Saint John's Health Center in partnership with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. Meek answers questions concerning children ages birth to 5 years old.
I have a beautiful 5-month-old baby boy. He started rolling both front to back and back to front a month ago. But now he doesn’t do it anymore. Is that normal? He loves it when we play with him and roll around, but he doesn’t voluntarily try on his own. He does tummy time really well all the time now so I know it is not a strength issue. Should I be doing something about this?
Roller Watcher
Dear Watcher,
Congratulations on being such a great mom and being aware and responsive to his development. As long as your baby is enjoying his tummy time and playing with you, you can relax. He is actually early in rolling from back to stomach. A typically developing child will just be starting to roll from stomach to back around five to six months and then progress to the back-to-stomach roll between six months and crawling. You may have yourself an early walker. Follow his enjoyment signals — coos, smiles, laughs — and take lots of pictures. He’ll be crawling in a blink. Good luck.
Dorie
(Dorie Meek is director of the Infant & Family Support Program, provided by Saint John’s Health Center in partnership with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. Meek answers questions concerning children ages birth to 5 years old. Submit your questions to “Dear Dorie” at meek@smmusd.org, or call (310) 452-6132; fax (310) 452-6392).
