Frustration during activity time

[KristieJ2011]

Hi,

I have a baby girl who will be 5 months next week.  She learnt to roll 3 weeks ago, from back to tummy.  She can currently only roll one way, from right to left, and she has yet to learn to roll back down.  The past few weeks since her rolling began, I have noticed a real change in the way she 'plays' during her play time.  She would insist on rolling onto her tummy at every opportunity but then would cry in frustration.  I think it is sometimes due to being tired physically from holding herself up, sometimes from not being able to roll back down, sometimes from not being able to reach her toys, and sometimes not being able to play with her toys properly because she is on her tummy.  She is getting more and more verbal with her frustration, she makes whining noises which escalates into crying kind of sounds then if I don't intervene it would escalate into full blown crying.  So far, I have tried to rub her back when it happens and tell her it's ok, if the whining escalates, I flip her back to her back and try to move on with another activity to distract her.  However, I am not sure whether what I am doing is right - it seems like distracting her is kind of teaching her not to deal with frustrations, and flipping her onto her back or moving toys closer to her feels like I am not giving her a chance to learn.  This whining initially started to occur when the rolling began but now I find she's making those noises as soon as she starts feeling frustrated even when there is no rolling involved (say like she is on her back but can't hold her toys in a way that enables her to chew them properly - she is currently teething).

I don't know what to do in order to make play time more enjoyable for her.  I heard that frustration is what will help her to figure out how to be more mobile and that intervening too early will prevent her from learning independent play.  However, I don't know what to do when she begins whining and crying.  Any thoughts or experiences anyone can offer?  Could it also be that once her tooth cuts through she might get less frustrated during play?

Thanks heaps in advance.

K

[RachelC]

Hugs. Bumping this for more eyes.

[skatty]

My dd was fussy from around 5 months until she was crawling, I swear she used used to get angry looking at all the things she could see and not get to and baby swear because her body wasn't ready to do what she wanted it to  My dd hated tummy time and lying n her back so I found having her sitting up in a high chair with an inflatable inset and cushions so she was well supported or in a one of those inflatable playrings also with cushions helped her be less fussy, nothing made her more angry than rolling herself one way and not being able to roll back  I think she is to young to be learning how to deal with frustration herself so don't worry about that and reaching for toys will be a better idea when she is more developmentally ready like when she is sitting unsupported and the next step will be crawling.

[KristieJ2011]

Thank you so much for replying.

I think you are right about her not being developmentally ready.  I am now trying to make play time less frustrating by placing things around her to see and touch easily. I am also helping her to play in a sitting position (supported by me) and she has really enjoyed it.  When sitting supported she is lunging to get to objects and that helped me to understand that when she is on her tummy she is not able to do the same or do anything hence she gets frustrated.  Even though she doesn't always end up getting whatever she is lunging at in the sitting position, the mere effort of throwing herself at something really satisfies her (for now!)...

K

[skatty]

Good to hear she is happier, I really recommend those blow up rings, we got a lot of use out of ours