Do Some Babies Skip the Rolling over Milestone?

Wait a month. She will start really flipping. All babies do it differently, but usually by 9 months they are really moving around. Getting up on the side is the first step in rolling over. She will be there soon.

Doctors always see babies at 9 months, and it's not because of not meeting milestones. it's every 3 months for the first year.

My son didn't roll from back to front until he was 9 to 10 months old, he just had no interest in being on his tummy. Muscle tone and all other milestones were fine, he just didn't have the incentive to do it. He finally started rolling to his tummy when he started crawling, if he wanted to go somewhere then he HAD to roll from his back to his tummy to get moving. Don't panic or worry yet, she probably just doesn't want to roll over bad enough!

I have heard of babies skipping pretty much any "major" milestone. She may not roll over before learning to crawl but, at some point, I'm sure she'll figure out how to do it.

Also, both of my kids had 9 month check ups as a standard checkup, not as something special/extra added in to address a concern. They had different pediatricians when they were babies, and a 9 month checkup was standard for both. So, I actually think it would be strange NOT to have one at 9 months. At this age, going 6 months between appointments is too long - way too much changes between 6 and 12 months.

Anyway, your daughter sounds fine. She is learning to move around and, I imagine, holds her head up well when she's on her tummy. So I think rolling will just come along later down the road, not as much of a big deal when it does, but more just yet another way that she moves around.

Just keep giving her a lot of time on the floor to do what she wants to do and she'll figure it out. I always joke that babies do things when they want because they can't read the books to see when it's expected.

I am no expert - just my opinion, I don't think they do skip this. My son was delayed with that and I had him evaluated for early intervention at 11 months. We did PT for a year, in our home (it is free - covered by taxes) and it was awesome. He is a very active completely "normal" 2 1/2 year old now, you would never guess he had ever been "delayed". I'd talk to your ped, get a referral for early intervention and have them come evaluate your daughter. Why not? Can't hurt.

She's trying some sort of locomotion. It's less important what that locomotion is and more important that they want to get from here to there.
My daughter didn't want to follow that milestone list at all in any order. But, in the end, she got everything she needed to do. She's 4.5 now and there are no signs of problems from her not wanting to roll over or even really crawl. She got places and learned to walk just fine.
9 months is a normal interval for baby well checks. I remember going then with all 3 of mine.

As a mother of 3 sons and through my work as a pediatric occupational therapist in which I treat babies who miss developmental milestones or are slow to accomplish these milestones, I see this issue as an important one. Each developmental milestone has some importance to development of the neck, shoulder, scapular muscle complex and influences motor coordination and contraction of these muscles together for later developmental steps. Rolling and crawling are very important as neck and shoulder muscles develop grading of muscle movements and help with coordination of more discrete actions-- even influence development of use of the eyes to coordinate later effective reaching and manipulation of objects or coordination for trunk muscle control (to position in transitional postures such as moving up and down with use of upper extremities to and from sitting). Some premature babies, babies with lower resting muscle tone, or babies with Torticollis are slower to reach developmental milestones. However, as an occupational therapist and mother, I often assist the family and baby to help the child accomplish as much skillfullness as possible to achieve the milestone in view of the developmental significance to later developmental milestones ahead. Seeking consultation from a pediatric therapist can be of assistance to you and your baby and often this type of therapy is short term in duration.

Kudos to your doctor for keeping an eye on the details. It can't hurt to take her back a bit early, but I think she'll be fine. Between maybe six and nine months is when a lot of kids start rolling and flipping around like crazy. Or she may end up on her hands and knees one day almost ready to crawl before you know it. Many kids seem to skip a stage when actually they just go through it very fast -- my daughter did the "pulling up on furniture to cruise around" stage for about five minutes before she was done and was walking. Don't worry and wait a month and see! But do be glad your doctor is proactive and thoughtful.

morning, yes my son skipped it completely, nor did he crawl.. eventually he would stand while holding himself up against our couch and would walk across the length of it.. until one day, he took one step, then another..
Children are all different.. some spin before walking, crawl... some roll over.. some don't..

have a great day!

My oldest totally skipped the crawling stage. At 9.5 months, she pulled herself up on our coffee table and started walking by herself! She was long and thin, so I wonder if that helped. I would just take your PED advice and take her back in at 9 months, she just wants to make sure. I would not be worried just yet. If she is meeting her other milestones it could be that maybe she just isnt interested in rolling over. Good luck mama!

My best friends boy never rolled over. He hit all the other milestones but not that one. It was a bit weird but had no bearing on his future success. He is now and athletic, straight A 16 year old.

If all else is well I wouldn't worry about it.

My oldest never rolled over. She HATED tummy time and would just scream until she threw up if we put her on her stomach. She refused to roll over from front to back (it's like she was offended that we put her on her stomach and couldn't get past the "how DARE you, evil parents!" of it all), and when she was on her back, she knew she didn't want to be on her tummy, so she didn't want to roll over. Of course we worried ourselves sick that she missed this "milestone." However, she ended up pulling herself to standing very early, and walked early (did I mention she also refused to crawl? Yeah, it was totally beneath her).

As much as we worried then about our baby who wouldn't roll, hated tummy time, and refused to crawl, she turned out absolutely fine! She has always been extremely mature for her age, a straight-A student, and is now in the pre-professional program at a ballet company, so her early refusals to "get with the program" had more to do with her being stubborn than anything else. That personality trait has served her well so far - she never, ever gives up when she decides she wants something. Not a bad thing. ;)

Babies are always seen at nine months. My granddaughter never really rolled over. She would just do a sit up. That's how she still does it!!
Flat on back to sitting right up lol. Go figure. To this day not a climber etc. has incredible fine motor skills, great attention span, just not a physically active one. Her sister who is due to be here in three weeks will be the wild one. Lol. They are all different. Don't worry she will be fine.

My middle son only rolled from back to front. He did the army crawl at 5 months and walked at 9 months. Here he was walking at 9 months old but he had never crawled the "normal" way or sat up on his own. I said something to my pediatrician about it and she told me that he must have skipped that chapter of the "How to be a Baby" book. Obviously he eventually learned to crawl and to sit!

IMO, if your daughter is attempting to crawl instead of roll then it is probably fine. You may want to try putting her down on her back more often. If she prefers to be playing on her tummy and trying to move about I bet like my son she will be a lot more likely to roll back to front vs front to back.

My daughter rolled over once. Yep, once. that is all. She hated to be on her tummy. She never crawled either. By 9 months she was pulling herself up to stand and was walking at 10 1/2 months. Every child is different. Enjoy your baby.

First, it's normal for a baby to be seen at nine months. Most pediatricians schedule well-child appt's at 1,2,4,6,9, & 12 mos. during the 1st year.

I don't think it ever matters what other children are doing. What matters is what your gut / mothers intuition is telling you about your child. If your confident, your child is well, they most likely are. On the other hand, if you have a feeling something's not right , it's worth looking into.

My son never rolled over. He was a big healthy baby. He went from lying on his back or tummy to eventually sitting and crawling to walking. My nephew never crawled. He rolled like an out-of-control bowling ball. He too eventually sat and then started pulling himself up and walking. And it was well past 9 months that my son sat or my nephew stopped rolling. It's amazing how different babies are!