Different directions of rotation
The time when the baby starts to turn from the belly to the back is approximately between the fifth and seventh month of life. Around the fifth month of life, the baby still rolls unintentionally from the prone position to one side while playing. The active and conscious turning around follows later.
Turning from the belly to the back is often easier to implement and usually precedes turning from the back to the belly. When the baby is lying on its stomach, it will try to lift its head and lean on its arms during these months of life. This effort, which seems helpless at the beginning, demands exactly those muscles that the baby needs in order to be able to turn around in the end.
This ability can also be consciously promoted in the baby. The prone position while playing will encourage the baby more and more to raise his head and to move his arms towards the toy. Not only will the muscles for turning around be strengthened, but also those that ultimately lead to the baby being able to sit alone and start crawling.
Once the baby has turned from the tummy to the back for the first time, this should be positively reported back to the baby. This is achieved by smiling and praising. Because such a sudden turn can of course cause a certain amount of insecurity in the baby.
It should not lose the fun of turning around. The movement can be practiced again and again by holding a toy in front of the baby. At some point, the baby will turn around as if it had never done anything else before.
Between the fifth and seventh month of life, the baby begins to turn around actively and under its own steam. Turning from back to belly is often more difficult than turning from belly to back. Usually the baby becomes more and more agile during this time and, for example, reaches for its own feet and swings back and forth on its back.
These movements stimulate the muscles that are ultimately necessary for full turning around. This requires more muscle power than changing from the prone position to the supine position. These muscles can be actively promoted when the baby is lying on his back and a toy is moved back and forth over the baby.Because it will try to grab the toy.
In the time in which the baby learns to turn around, extreme caution is naturally required. The baby must always be held firmly and must not lie unattended on the changing table or other high places. With the newly acquired method of locomotion, special precautions are therefore also required.
Turning to the side is done in the same way as turning from the tummy to the back or vice versa, and is active between the fifth and sixth month of life. Previous tilting to the side when playing in the prone position is more likely to happen unintentionally. Turning to the side can be practiced when the baby begins to reach for objects.
At this time, the baby also learns to turn to familiar voices and to answer vocally. In addition to holding toys in front of the baby, turning can also be triggered and practiced by simply talking to the baby. Some babies, however, leave out turning around completely as a means of locomotion.
They crawl and pull themselves across the floor and thus reach their destination. Some babies also start by sitting or crawling. If the baby continues to acquire new skills and omits turning around, there is no need to worry.
Even at baby age, an inclination to a certain side can become apparent. This is already an indication of which side of the brain is more pronounced and whether the child will be left-handed or right-handed. This tendency to turn over only one side is therefore something completely normal and not a weakness of one hemisphere. Children can often turn over both sides, but it is easier for them to use the stronger side. Finally, adults also write with the strong hand and don’t try to train the weak hand specifically.
