Turning Over-5 months

Vel

My baby was 20 weeks yesterday. Due to having a bit of a flat head on one side, the district nurse asked the physio to have a look at him. She visited twice and gave us some tips on reducing the flat head and also said that he seemed to not be using his left hand as much as his right or turning his head as far to the left as he does the right. She gave us some tips on how to encourage use of hi left hand side (which he does use but possibly not as much)

She then decided to ask a peadiatric physio to have a look at him. She called today and didn't comment on him using one side more than the other but was saying that he should have rolled over by himself by now and that babies usually do this at 3/4 months. She wants me to encourage him to roll over by placing him on his stomach much more often and for 30 minutes at a time. My baby absolutely hates being on his stomach. The longest I can have him on it before he screams the house down is about 5 minutes. She said I can do things to distract him from crying, like waving toys around but he is having none of it.

I just had him on his stomach for the last 15 minutes and he screamed the entire time. He is in a state and so am I . I don't know how I'm going to get him to enjoy being on his stomach so much and to be honest I don't really relish the thought of having to spend so much of his waking hours seeing him so distressed and trying to keep him entertained with a toy.

Has anyone any experience of this and I'm interested to know at what age other people's babies started turning over?

TargetWidow

My DD was 6.5mths before she started to roll over onto her tummy willingly (mostly in her sleep and was freaked out by it!). Shes a fine healthy normal little 16mth old now. Like yours she hated being on her tummy despite efforts to give her tummy time every day. I got a great trick to help her from a Gina Ford book... Fold up a bath towel into quarters and put it under her chest to help her prop her self up a little when she gets tired and until such time as she builds up upper body strength to hold herself up. It's a confidence thing too for them, poor little mites. The towel gives them a little more control over the whole thing. ~Hope this helps.xxx

January

Same as TargetWidow, my daughter was around 6 months before she started rolling over willingly... Don't be worried about it, and she absolutely hated being on her stomach for more than 5 minutes at a time also.

Vel

Thank you so much. I have been a bit of a disaster since the physio left wondering if he isn't developing properly or if we should have been doing more to help him develop. I was just reading a couple of baby books and none of them say anything about rolling over at 3-4 months. The physio said if he doesn't develop the muscles that help him to roll over he could have problems with balance and with things like handwriting when he is older

Tried him a little while ago on his tummy and he got into a complete state again and was doing those little crying shudders for ages afterwards. I felt so bad When I explained that he hates going on his tummy she said I should ignore the motherly instinct to pick him up and to leave him to cry but I can't do that. I'll just keep putting him on his tummy for short periods like I have been doing as any longer and I'll have one stressed and unhappy little chap on my hands (nevermind me!). I could be doing lots more entertaining and productive things with him than forcing him to stay on his tummy.

Thanks again, I feel a whole lot better after reading your replies

Ludo

We went through the same thing with our boys. They had slightly flat heads on one side from birth and could not turn their heads fully to one side either. Went through the whole physio thing also. They hated being on their belly at the start and screamed the place down whenever we did it. We kept at it for short periods every day and they eventually got used to it and began to enjoy looking at books in that position. I think they were about 8 months (6 months corrected) before they rolled over on their own properly. The odd accidental one alright which frightened the life out of them

Doesn't seem to have done them any harm though. They are 20 months now and are flying around.

The flat head thing was more of an issue for us. We could not get them to lie on the other side of their heads....no way on earth would they do it. We tried everything from towels under them to hanging little budgie mirrors and bells on one side of their buggy to get them to stay in the position we put them in. Not a hope. Again it has pretty much sorted itself out. There is still a slight flatness if you look very closely but almost gone at this stage.

lalalulu

OP.. I wonder if the pyshio has children herself? Not by the sounds of it. How can you ignore a 20 week old baby's cry for help?! And turn off your mothering instincts As with other poster's my lo didn't roll over till she was 7 months and even now that she's 9 months she can't roll herself back over when she's on her belly. She is a happy, content healthy baby. Take what a lot of these so called experts say with a pinch of salt, by all means keep encouraging your babs with tummy time but don't think your baby won't develop properly if he/she doesn't do it. Also my babs still has an odd shaped head from spending so much time as a younger baby lying on her back but now that she can sit unaided and she dosen't sleep as much during the day you can see the difference in the shape. Best of luck and congrats on your new babs

Vel

lalalulu, she was a young girl without children (I asked her). She kind of sighed when she spoke of how mothers these days won't let their babies cry without picking them up but there's a big difference between letting a baby cry and forcing a very distressed baby to lie on his tummy. Its very easy to spout all you have learned in college but without the firsthand experience of being around a baby day in day out a lot of what they advise just isn't possible to do.

Thanks again, feel so much better. My mother was trying to reassure me today by saying that she is always on the lookout for little uns with flat heads and sees quite a few!:D

January

To be honest... I would have told her to come back to me when she had her own children and tell me how easy it was to leave a distressed baby crying for a period of time. It's not good for the baby or for the mother.

deisemum

Some babies do not like being over on their tummy. I mind a 16 month old girl and she's no interest in crawling and doesn't like being put on her tummy at all. She prefers trying to walk holding hands.

Khannie

I hate these arbitrary "your baby must" things. If your child hates being on its tummy, why the hell would it roll over onto its tummy from its back like? Makes no sense to me whatsoever.

MoonDancer

Trust your own instinct. He'll be rolling around & crawling within months, Some kids dont even crawl, they just pull themselves up & start walking!
There's no point in you & the baby getting distressed over this.
If he gets upset lying on the ground, pick him up and try again another time. One day he'll just take to it, don't worry. Mine hated being out of my arms nevermind on their tummy, they'd be kicking & screaming!
You're not alone!