Hi ladies! I am a new mom to an almost five month old little boy! He is 22 pounds and at our four month check up the pediatrician told us that we need to make sure we do tummy time three times a day for twenty minutes each. We do this daily and I lay in the floor with him a good part of the day showing him how to roll. He has great head control but no matter what I do our little guy shows no interest in rolling! He laughs and thinks it's hilarious when I roll him over and he does him tummy time pretty good now. I have read article after article on how to encourage him to roll and he still doesn't even try. Should I be worried? Our doc said the chunkier guys sometimes roll a little later but that at his six month check up he should be rolling. Any suggestions? I feel like I am failing the little guy!

The most important thing to remember is that each child is different and the guidelines are just that, a guide.  They are not a strict order that your child must follow or it means something is wrong and you are not doing your job.  The important thing is that your child is able to hold his head up and his muscles are working properly,  even if he is not using them to roll over yet.  My son was also chunky as a baby(although not in the baby fat, had rolls all over sort of way, he was just very solid, but did not have any baby fat rolls on him like many chunky babies do).  My son was about 5 months when he started rolling.  He crawled at about 7 months, but did not  walk until 16  months.  Many people would assume that he was behind because he did not walk until 16 months, and some might even say that there was something wrong with him because of this.  However, my ped told me that as long as he was walking while holding onto things, then it meant his muscles were working properly, he was just not ready to let go.

I have found that when a child is a bit behind the guidelines in one area, sometimes they make up for it in other areas.  While my son was a bit behind physically, he is way ahead mentally.  At 4 years old(his age how), the guides say that they should be able to make 5-6 word sentences and follow simple commands.  With my son, it is  like having a conversation with  an adult.  He uses normal length sentences just like an adult would, and uses big words as well(and knows what they mean).  He knows all of his letters, can count to 20, and follows commands with no problem.  The guides said that at 2 years they should have a vocabulary of about 40-60 words.  My son knew well over 200 words, knew several colors(green, red, blue, yellow, orange, brown, purple, white, pink, ect), count count to 10, and knew about 3/4 of his alphebet by sight.  At his 2 year check-up the doctor said that he was more on level mentally and emotionally(maturity) with a 3.5-4 year  old.  I watch him now with other kids his age, and it is obvious that he is quite a bit ahead of the kids around him.  He is trying to talk to kids his age like he talks to adults and doesn't seem to understand why  they do not understand things in the same way he does.  A lot of this may have to do with the fact that he is home with me during  the day and I do not treat him like a little baby, I don't and have never really done the baby talk with him.  I work with him daily on his letters and numbers in a way that is fun for him, but I think it also has a lot to do with him.  I think that mentally he is ahead for his age.

Anyway, I siad all that just to emphasize that I think when kids are behind in one area, they make up for it by being ahead in other areas.  I would not worry about your little one at the moment.  Just keep doing what  you are and working with him.  He will roll over when he is ready.