How can I encourage my 4 month old to roll over from tummy to back?

Question

I believe my child has the mental knowledge necessary to roll over. My child can do a mini-pushup where head and chest are lifted and the upper body is supported by the forearms. She also "swims" her legs when placed on her tummy. My child also has the instinct to move to get a toy. If I place a toy in front of her and just out of reach, then provide resistance on her feet she will scootch/army crawl (with my help) to get the toy.

However if I place a toy out of reach to one side as is suggested to encourage rolling from tummy to back, my child simply ignores it. Instead of rolling she eventually fusses to be either picked up or placed on her back again where she can see the world more easily. Besides waiting until she does it on her own, is there anything I can do to encourage her to roll? We provide tummy time at least once during all awake times, adding up to at least the minimum recommended 20 minutes daily.

Answer 1

We do some practice rolls with our 4 month-er. This is simply a matter of putting her on her back (or front) and rolling her over by pulling her arm and leg or pushing her bottom, while avoiding that she gets her arm tangled in the process.

She still cannot roll, but she certainly tries to and she also uses her attempts to roll as a way of moving (very slowly) around the room.

There are some tutorials on the web on this. I can't find the one we read, but here's another: http://www.livestrong.com/article/174561-how-to-teach-your-baby-to-roll-over/.

Answer 2

I helped both my kids practice rolling over. I'm sure they would have learned on their own anyway, but maybe it helped them do it a few days earlier. In any case, getting in the habit of spending some "teaching time" with the child early can only be a good thing.

We showed them how to move their limbs. Also we modelled it by rolling around ourselves. That probably helped stretch and tune the muscles but didn't work to get them to roll over.

What ended up doing the trick with my son was to put a noisy toy about 2-3 feet away to his right or left, with him on his back. The sound attracted his attention, and he crunched his legs up and swung over on his side.

We used that same approaches with my daughter, but for her it ended up being the cat walking around. She twisted and turned to try to look at it, and in so doing sorted out how to flip over.