My sweet baby girl has learned to roll! We knew it was coming, but last week she finally made it over onto her tummy. She's not all that happy when she gets there, as she isn't a huge fan of tummy time, but she is quite proud of herself!
Ethan rolled at about 3 1/2 months, so I was a bit surprised that she had absolutely no interest in it at that age. Of course all babies develop differently, but for some reason I just assumed that second babies usually became mobile more quickly to keep up with their older siblings.
I think that a part of it had to do with having a completely different routine. I now have two children's needs to consider, so that means that Ivy doesn't get as much time to play and explore on her mat (and a lot of that time is spent fighting off her big brothers cuddles!)
So knowing that I have no real influence on rolling, as I think it's a natural instinct and she would figure it out eventually, I decided to try some things that might encourage her and make it more fun.
First, I set up a play mat for her that was separate to Ethan's. At first they were sharing, but it was always covered in toy cars, so this works better. Then I placed some of her favourite toys around her; a mirror, a rattle, this squishy rattle toy that she loves, her bunny and her favourite teething toy. Obviously I would hand her things, but I would also show her things that were slightly out of reach, that she would need to roll to reach. I always put the mirror just above her head and to one side, so that when she arched her head back to roll, she could see herself. Then, any time that she would arch her head back or lift her legs to try to roll, I would give her a helping hand, so that she had an idea of what she was trying to do and what it felt like. Eventually she managed to put enough power behind that roll to get herself all the way over. And unlike Ethan, now she's rolling constantly, and after only a couple of days she figured out how to free that trapped arm and is now much happier on her tummy as well!
