8-Week Old Will Not Sleep Soundly on back...help!

My oldest daughter tried to do this on me too. What I started doing was having her fall asleep on my chest on her tummy, and when she was sound asleep, I would transfer her to her bed on her back. Then, after a little while, I would get her drowsy on her tummy be rocking her, and then transfer her, she cried a little, but eventually would fall asleep. Eventually, I was able to put her down for her naps, nighttime on her back after rocking or holding her for a few minutes on her tummy.

I hope that this can help.

Honestly, I was putting my daughter to sleep on her tummy since the day she came home from the hospital. I tried the back, but as she did not like to be swaddled, her arms flailed and she woke herself up maybe 5-10 minutes after I put her down. After that, it was tummy time. She is now 12mos and still prefers to sleep on her side or belly. I just think that all children have a way they prefer to sleep and that we shouldn't fight it so hard. Think of how many of us were tummy sleepers and we are all OK.

at two weeks old they thought my son had spinal menegitis.so to make along story short they did 11 lumbar punctures in 48 hours still not obtaining fluid. After that he refused to sleep on his back. My pediatrician said all you can do is try and tight crib sheet no blankets or animals.

T.~it sounds like you have the same problem I had with my kids. From the time they were born they didn't want anything to do with sleeping on their backs. They always slept on their tummys. I brought this up to their doctor and she said that most kids like to be on their tummys and it was okay. Even to this day my kids (ages 6 & 2) sleep on their tummys at night. So it is okay in my opinion as long as you are comfortable to let them sleep on their tummys. Good luck and I hope this helped you.

If it was me I would let her sleep on her tummy as long as nothing was in the crib with her. My daughter is a tummy sleeper also, I took her bumper pad out and let her sleep on her tummy. You have to do what you feel safe doing, but holding her all night is a BAD habit!! If you continue to do this you will always have to hold her to sleep!!! Bad habits are VERY hard to break.

T. I had the very same problem ans I too posted on her to get advise. Which I got lot of. I did my research and found that the same time the "back to sleep' campaign launched they also started to mandate that is a baby dies from unknown reasons aka sids they must do an autopsy. Which is also part of the reason that deaths from Sids dropped. However you really don't ever hear about that. At about 5 weeks my husband and I decided it was safer for my daughter to sleep on her tummy in her crib then on our chests with us on the couch. We'd end up falling asleep holding her and that scared me as well. I was really scared at first but I think that's because the hospital tries to scare you. I would talk to the people around you and you will find many of them put their child on the tummy as well many of them were tummy sleepers. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Starting around 3 weeks I started putting Peter on his tummy for naps and he slept SOOOO much better. Longer, more restful.. everything.

So I got a "Baby Sence V" movement monitor and the started letting him sleep on his tummy all night long... and by 5 weeks, he slept through the night 6 hours!!!

My mom put all of us kids on our tummies when we were kids. The peds used to RECOMMEND it 30 years ago. babys sleep better that way!

Look into one of the movement monitors. If baby quits breathing you'll know ASAP. Peter's went off once in the middle of the night. The second I picked him up he took a nice deep breath and was fine. I just laid him back down and reset the alarm. All was well.

Have you tried putting her on her side? Are you still swadling her tightly to sleep? At 8 weeks she's probably still having muscle jerks when she sleeps which is what is probably waking her up if she's not swadled. If you are still swadling her and she's breaking out there are great products at babiesrus that you can put her in to sleep or just get larger blankets so she can't get out. If the swadling doesn't help try putting her on her side and put rolled up blankets next to her to keep her there or get one of those sleep positioners. Swadling was a life saver with my kids. I hope it gets better for you.

T.,

I can definately relate with you! My now 3 year old daughter was fine sleeping on her back BUT when my son was born, he refused from day One! The first few weeks we tried the back and the side, needless to say we didn't get much sleep. I tried holding him, he slept fine. Don't get in that habit or your daughter will always want to be held while sleeping.

Everyone in my family kept telling me to try putting him on his belly to sleep but I refused for a long time because all the "experts" say "Back to sleep". Well, that just wouldn't work for us! I started out w/ naps, I watched him, and was amazed at how well he slept. I put him on his belly to sleep one night, and it was miraculous! I woke up about 50 times to check on him that first night, but he's now 6 months old and won't sleep any other way!

Hope this helps

I agree, watch when she is sleeping and see if she is stilldoing the involuntary jerking with her hands that would startle her awake. My son did that. He hated being swaddled so we ended up resulting to side sleeping with a sleep positioner until he was about 6 months old and then we finally gave in to tummy sleeping because he would sleep no other way and was moving his head around well at that point.
I would ask your pediatrician for sure at your next abppointment though.
Good Luck!
C.

My two youngest were tummy sleepers.I just made sure there were no blankets around them.They slept much better..

I know what you are going through. My daughter who is now almost 8 months wouldn't sleep on her back to begin with. The first few weeks a slept upright with her on my chest so both could sleep. I had some friends and family members that had babies just a couple of months older and they had problems too and they told me they were putting their babies on their tummies so I did too. She has slept soundly ever since. Its your call on what you want to do but a lot of moms I know have put their babies on their tummies.

i put my daughter on her stomach to sleep from day 1. she would not sleep on her tummy.

If the child will not sleep on her back then put her on her tummy and let everyone sleep.

I have anew son and he sleeps fine on his back at night. - but the room is dark and quiet. During the day.. for naps.. he sleeps on his stomach so noises do not startle him awake.

Wow! I guess I am not the only mom that went through this ;) Both of my kids would NOT sleep unless they were on their bellies too. It is so scary, with SIDS, but what do you do?!! As a nervous wreck at first, I laid them both down on their bellies and they slept through the night, but of course, I didn't!! I checked on them probably every hour!!! Over time, I stopped to worry so much, and they are fine :) So, I really think that some babies do FINE sleeping on their stomachs. And actually, I don't know if this has something to do with it or not, but both of my kids seemed to crawl sooner than others and have the upper body strength to support their heads.
Good luck & try to get sleep!!! : ) Congrats on your new addition :)

Hi T.~
I would suggest talking to your doc about the tummy sleeping. Hopefully, you trust his/her advice. Back sleeping is def. proven safest, but there are many schools of thought on SIDS, and one true culprit has not been established. One of my sons hated to be on his back, swaddled or not (although it's a good thing to try for sure). Since we have big, fat, healthy babies, the doc said it was okay to try for short times and see how the tummy goes. It did help at naptime, but not at night...maybe, like you, I was just too scared to do it. Have you tried to prop the mattress up a few inches along with swaddling? It may make her feel more secure.
~L.

Hi T.. I have a 5 month old daughter. She also would not sleep on her back. We swaddled her and she slept in her cradle swing until she was about 8 weeks, then she wouldn't sleep there either. The only comfortable place for her was on her tummy, which we did at nap times, because we could watch her. At the suggestion of my pediatrician, I tried for a week straight to put her on her back and also her side (in a sleep positioner) she would sleep for about 15 min. stretches and then wake up crying. Needless to say, no one got much sleep. I eventually gave in to putting her on her tummy and she slept for 6 hrs. She has been a tummy sleeper ever since. I researched Movement Monitors, which you may be interested in. (Babies R Us carries then) They sense any movement, even breathing and sound an alarm on the receiver in your room if there is no movement for 20 seconds. Somthing to mabye give some peace of mind if you choose to put her on her tummy. I haven't purchased one yet, because my daughter is still in my bedroom next to my bed. I've realized that although all pediatricians will say "back to sleep for babies" there are A LOT of tummy sleepers out there. Good luck!

if they can roll themselves, and their beds are "safe" (no fluffy things) then it is safe for them to sleep on their tummies.