This is my third baby and the first one who refuses to sleep on their back. He's 5 months old and healthy as heck but it still makes me nervous. We cosleep so I have a little comfort there knowing I will be close if he decides to lay on his face but I'm still nervous. I read that sleeping wedges are dangerous.
Anyone have a trick?
I'm with Sara. If he's doing it on his own, he's golden. Both my girls were rolling onto their tummies to sleep by 3.5 months. Couldn't do a darn thing about it, but once they have that kind of control, you don't need to do anything about it.
If he's rolling over on his own, let him do his own thing. My daughter has always slept better on her stomach and was much happier once she could roll over and I could safely let her.
Once they're rolling, as long as they're in a hard surface (so they don't do the CO2 suffocation thing (because of increased CO2, they dont feel the need to breathe, so will rebreathe CO2 until they suffocate in soft mattresses/pillows/blankets), they're fine.
If he's in bed with you (soft mattress, pillows, blankets), time to pop him into a cosleeper or his carseat. Cosleeper with hard surface won't have him rebreathibg CO2 and he can sleep on his stomach to his heart's content, carseat means no way to sleep but on his back.
Let him sleep on his stomach.
My older two are 24 and 22, when they were newborns the wisdom was stomach so if they spit up they wouldn't drown in their spit. They slept like rocks from the day they were born. So by my third who is 13 we had the back to sleep. Well he didn't sleep, he was miserable so he got to sleep on his stomach as well, slept like a rock after that. So you would imagine I didn't even try the back nonsense with the fourth. Thing is my kids could lift their heads as newborns, they were never at risk.
If he's rolling on his stomach he has enough control to stay there.
Don't worry about it, just make sure pillows and blankets are away from his face.
My pediatrician says once they can roll its okay for them to sleep however they are comfortable.
yup so does mine she's 3 months rolling back n forth but for sleep back it is I wake up to find her on tummy roll her back over,for my peace of mind till she is older
Our daughter was rolling within weeks of being born, Heck at birth she lifted her head to look at me when I announced her name!
At 4 weeks she was rolling to her tummy no matter what we tried. She also slept through the night.. Doctor said if she could roll over she was fine.
Yep, I am with the rest of the pack on this ... once they are rolling on their own they are fine. Reiderate the whole hard surface - remove items that could cause suffocation etc. I think you have gotten good advice.
And I will add that when we did the cosleeping thing we were fortunate enough to have two queen beds side by side secured together. Daddy and the dogs got one ... the little one and I got the other, before we did this I slept on the queen in the nursary with baby. We did not start this until he was about a year old and fully able to "fend" for himself in bed.
I think he's fine....mine started sleeping through the night when she could roll over on to her belly.
Don't worry about it. Just make sure there are no obstructions (loose blankets, etc.) that he could get tangled up in. My son slept much better when he could finally put himself on his stomach.
At that point, where he is doing the rolling himself, his muscles are strong enough to keep his head oriented the correct way.
Something like SIDS is usually very rare after a certain age.
If he can roll over from his back to his tummy, then he can roll over from his tummy to his back if he needs to.
Try putting him on his tummy during the day and watching him. If he can roll over back and forth, you can take a deep breath. You can even bait him with a toy to get him to rollover for you.
My daughter hated being flat on her back, so I rolled up two shirts, one of mine and one of my husband's, ones that we had worn. I used then as wedges to put her on her side a bit. They smelled like us, it kept her comfortable and calm.
He'll be fine since he can roll. My son has always been a tummy sleeper, as have I. It was horrible trying to get him to sleep on his back as a newborn. Once I put him on his tummy, he slept much better. He was still up late and through the night, but when he slept, he was out. He was raising his head up in the hospital, so I wasn't too concerned with him not being able to breathe.
If a baby is rolling in it's sleep they are big enough to roll on what ever part they want to roll on. Just make sure there is nothing in bed with him at all.
I would worry too so if you need to go ahead and keep rolling him on his back for the next month or so but after that you'd be up all night every night. Because once they roll over well they all sleep on their tummies.
As long as he can move his head and body he will be fine. I never forced my children to sleep a certain way.
my dr said some babies just won't sleep on their back. my son was the same way. if he's strong enough to roll over he's strong enough to move his head to where he can breathe properly. he's fine. mine came out holding his head up and couldn't have cared less when i tried to get him to sleep on his back. he would roll right back over. no worries. sleep is a must....if it's on his tummy, so be it.
It sounds like he has the strength to move around if needed, so I would not worry about it to much. Depending on how you co-sleep, and your mattress etc., I might change some things in bed. If your mattress is not very firm, a stomach sleeper might not be as safe as a back sleeper. In that case I would recommend a co-sleeper that attaches to the side of the bed, that way baby can be right there, but not face down on a plush mattress. Also, as I am sure you are already doing, keep ALL blankets etc, away from your baby, especially if he is on his stomach!
as long as he can move his head to the side he is fine, my daughter ONLY slept on her stomach, and still only sleeps on her stomach and she is 3. i wasnt worried about it because she had control of her neck early (like a week or two old) and was able to move it around to breath.
Just when they start sleeping longer they go and do this!! The only thing we found was flipping him back over. A few months of that and we felt because by that time we felt he could lift his head. Although he was slepping in a crib mattress with no pillows. We tried the wedge and he only got tangled up in it. By five months they are mobile enough the wedge is more of a danger for us.
What we felt the safest with was his own crib, no blankets, no toys or pillows even took the bumpers out. the sheet and the baby that was it. would you be able to have room in your room for a small crib so he can still be close with you ??
