A really, really exciting thing happens in your baby’s life around the third or fourth month. They learn to roll. Now, it’s a very exciting time in your life as the parent because it’s really the first time your baby learns to master a new skill. For those first three months, the baby doesn’t do much but just lay there. Now, they’re starting to explore movement.

The only trouble with this new little development is that it often means that they can roll in one direction, and then they get a little stuck there, and you will have to help them get back into a more comfortable position. Another thing with babies is they’ll often roll, the most common way is that they start from their back and roll to their stomach, but they’re not that familiar with being on their stomach. They don’t spend a whole lot of time on their tummies. So what happens is they get a little frustrated, a little angry that they’re there. They’re not comfortable there. They’ll start to cry, and you’re gonna have to come in and help.

And this is all just part of the miracle of life. But when you’re trying to teach your baby to sleep well, it can cause some problems. So let me give you a couple of tips to deal with this.

The first bit of good news is that this is going to blow over. What happens when a baby is mastering a new developmental skill is that it’s like a biological urge to keep practicing the skill, and even though they’re getting frustrated with it, even though they’re getting a bit grouchy about it, it’s almost like they can’t stop. They can’t help themselves but continue to try this new skill. And that once that skill is mastered to a certain degree, then the body can relax, and the brain can relax, and everything will sort of float back into place.

But for those first week or two as the skill emerges, they’re practicing this skill practically on repeat. So if you’ve got a baby who’s happy and sleeping well on their back, chances are high they’re gonna start rolling to their tummy usually when you first put them down at bedtime, but sometimes also in the middle of the night they’ll just roll there, and then get a bit stuck, and cry for you to come in and give some help. And all you can do is help, right? If a child is in an uncomfortable, unfamiliar position and they’re not happy to sleep there, then we really have no other option but to go in and help.

Now, when you do go in, keep it minimal. You don’t wanna reward, secondary reward, this behavior with a lot of interaction. You’re not gonna start a big game of peek-a-boo or anything or tickling in the middle of the night. You’re just gonna go in matter of factly, roll your baby back into their preferred position and leave the room again. And you will find that you’re gonna have to do this a few times before they settle in and finally fall asleep, and that’s just the way it is. They need a bit of help and all we can do is help.

Now, one thing you can try though during the day is if you can help baby master both directions. Then hopefully, with time and practice, they’ll be able to manage this behavior on their own. If they roll to their tummy, they’ll know exactly how to roll back to their backs. So during the day, trying practicing with your baby. If she gets herself over to tummy, see if you can help her figure out the steps that it’s gonna take to get back onto her back. You can give her a gentle push or position her arms just so and just kinda do this back and forth from back to tummy as many times a day as you think about it, so that you can help the skill emerge a little faster.

And in the meantime, just celebrate the fact that she’s doing exactly what she’s supposed to be doing. She’s meeting a developmental milestone, and this will blow over until the next one shows up.

Thanks so much for watching today. Sleep well.