![\"SONY](\"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/DSC08267.jpg\")
<\/a> Rolling is a bit of a hybrid skill, being used as both an immobile and mobile skill. Rolling is usually the earliest gross motor milestone a baby will hit and occurs between 2 and 6 months though it can certainly happen earlier (Honeybun was 5 weeks, Sugarplum was 18 days and Doodle was just 16 days old the first time he rolled!)\u00a0 Most babies will begin with rolling only one way (tummy to back or back to tummy) and will add the other way a few weeks or months later.\u00a0 Many babies who are placed on their tummies to play but prefer to be on their backs will learn to tip their large heads which rolls them over.<\/p>\nYou can encourage head control by placing baby on his or her tummy as much as s\/he will tolerate (though don\u2019t overdo it or leave them there when overly distressed).\u00a0 Lay in front of your baby and talk to him\/her or place toys or other interesting objects in front of baby (mirrors and books are great) to encourage him\/her to want to lift his\/her head.\u00a0 You can also use a pillow (nursing pillows like the Boppy work great) to support baby under his\/her torso which gives baby a boost and helps him\/her lift his\/her head.<\/p>\n Most infants will be sitting independently by 8 months and once a baby is confident in sitting they will develop the skill of getting to sitting from laying.\u00a0 Babies will often push themselves up to sitting from their tummy usually going over one hip to get to their bum.<\/p>\n This \u201cimmobile\u201d infant phase is my most favorite time of childhood so far (you can read through my personal breakdown of child development phases in \u201cThe Roy Theory\u201d<\/a>).\u00a0 Usually infants are incredibly happy once they can sit up and see the world yet they aren\u2019t getting into everything.\u00a0 You can set them on the floor with some toys, walk away and when you come back they\u2019ll still be there (though sometimes no longer sitting up!)<\/p>\n Infants are often classified in two groups: mobile and immobile, those who move and those who don\u2019t. Most infants remain in the immobile phase for the first 6-9 months and spend the majority of their time laying and sitting and occasionally standing, usually with support. The major movement milestones of this phase are rolling and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,158,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baby-business","category-monthly-milestones","category-family-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4405"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14582,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405\/revisions\/14582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>The majority of babies are born with little to no head control meaning they have very floppy heads because they are not strong enough to hold their head steady.\u00a0 Over the first few months, babies develop the strength to hold their heads up and steady.\u00a0 Babies will develop the strength and coordination needed for head control when held upright with support behind their head or when playing on their tummies.\u00a0 Many babies don\u2019t enjoy tummy time and most will attempt to lift their heads off the ground either to see or in protest.\u00a0 What start as little tiny head lifts become higher, stronger and more controlled over time.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u00a0Once baby has established good head control and can easily hold their head steady for short periods of time, baby can start working on sitting.\u00a0 At first baby will need support while sitting.<\/p>\nInfant seats like the Bumbo\u00a0chair are helpful as they provide good back and side\u00a0support and nursing pillows work great for infants who don\u2019t need as much back and\/or side support.\u00a0 Many infants will also go through \u201ctri-pod\u201d sitting phase in which they support their weight with their arms as they develop the strength and balance for independent sitting.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Babies who are proficient at rolling tummy to back but not back to tummy, though, may need some encouragement on learning to become proficient in rolling both directions.\u00a0 The best way I found to encourage rolling back to tummy was to put a toy just out of baby\u2019s reach on the floor, level with his\/her eyes.\u00a0 This often encourages baby to reach with the opposite arm when they realize they can\u2019t get it with the closer arm.\u00a0 As they reach, I move the toy slowly away and above their head, encouraging them to reach farther (or if they grab it, you can gently pull them) causing their shoulder to lift off the ground which if take far enough will cause baby to roll to his\/her tummy.<\/p>\nFor more on fine motor development, check out my\u00a0Infant Gross Motor Development Chart\u00a0and my\u00a0Infant and Toddler Child Development Checklists<\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"