By Dorie Meek
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?
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.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 11, 2006. Read the original PDF.