Rolling
Brenda
Brames-“If she can’t do it by
herself, then I will be there to assist her so she can do it.” Crystal went through a period where she was
having a hard time rolling over by herself. She would often get stuck. Moreover, she hates being face down and
stuck. For a while, I kept trying to encourage her to do it on her own. I would even bribe her, but it seemed
that she really just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t willing to accept that because rolling works so many muscles
all in the same exercise. Finally, I figured out a way to assist her all the while she can put forth as much
effort as she was able to. I don’t know if I would ever be able to explain how I do it in words. I am half
tempted to make you a demonstration video, because I feel that success is all in the technique. I kinda bump
her, softly and slightly. I place my hand on her bottom and just give her a little nudge, I can feel her
efforts, any progress she makes in the right direction-then my hand is right there to make sure that she doesn’t
roll back which is discouraging to her. Once she makes the roll to her belly, I taught her the position her
arm needed to be in to continue the roll. She must put her arm up before her head reaches the floor, because
her head will lay on her arm. She can’t lift her head over her arm so we just fixed that problem by always
keeping her head level with her arms. Then as she lifts her tummy up to complete the roll, I revert back to
nudging her and softly bumping her and not allowing her to fall and roll in the wrong direction. Well now she
is back to rolling all by herself and she rolls very well too. She actually enjoys it.
Laura
Stants-
My son slept through the night without a single turn or roll, about 8 hours straight. (Yes I should have
woken him up to feed him and probably turn him at least once! Hindsight and 4 years later makes a
difference in knowledge.) He was fine, didn't wake up and fuss, didn't whine or cry to be turned.
Other kids I've read about need turned every hour or couple of hours. It's odd, but I think one of the
reasons Devon didn't need turned
was because back then it never really occurred to me to switch positions for him when he was little, he just
always slept in the same positions though I would vary the direction his head turned every night. I
think once a child gets used to switching positions than they'd certainly want to keep switching
positions. Like me, I'm used to tossing around the bed at night so I couldn't stand to be stuck in one
position! But don't take that wrong, I'm not suggesting not turning kids just so they don't get used to
it! I just think that's what accidentally happened with me. Anyway, all that to say it's just
going to be up to their personality and they’ll let you know if they need to be turned still, and it's a
good possibility that they still will since they have been...best guess of course, you never know!