Sleeping on His Tummy

From what I understand, as long as he is strong enough to roll over from his tummy to his back should he need to, then it's fine if he sleeps on his tummy, even if he is young.

Once you baby can roll over on his own it is okay to let him sleep on his tummy. In fact, it is impossible to keep him from doing so once he is mobile. Many babies prefer this position. The concern is putting a baby to sleep on his tummy when he can't roll or move his head effectively to prevent suffocation.

If you were to place him on his tummy before he is able to make that choice, the risk of SIDS doubles (the risk is still small, but is double). However, I have been told that as long as you put him down on his back and he puts himself on his tummy, there is not an increased risk of SIDS. So it sounds like you are safe to have him sleep on his tummy. Also, if he is choosing to, there is no way you will be able to stop him.

Hi E. -

I would continue to watch him closely, but as long as you are with him, he is much safer than if he were on his tummy in his crib. Babies who sleep near their mothers wake to nurse more often and this is one way that co-sleeping protects your baby from SIDS.

Secondly, as far as getting more comfortable sleep, I would start working on your 3-yr-old not getting into your bed at night by setting up a special little sleeping place on the floor next to your bed and try having him climb in that when he comes in to be near you at night. The infant's need to be near you should come first, next your toddler, then your 3 year old (they are able to comprehend more). Of course, you should be completely compassionate to your oldest, but the most needy of your children (the youngest at this age) should get the first priorty when it comes to closeness to mommy at night. You can give your 3yo incentives like a sticker chart where they get a sticker every morning if they stay in their bed all night, and even little prizes.

Many of us were raised on the rule of sleeping on our tummies. The guidelines changed with the increase of SIDS, but the cause hasn't been agreed upon. One thing that is agreed upon is the fact that toxins in mattresses could be related. So if your child is in a regular mattress I would be a bit weary of letting him sleep on his tummy unattended as his face is right next to the mattress. I would also make sure the mattress is not placed over a heating vent or in direct sunlight as the heat will cause chemical fumes to be released. While co-sleeping, I see no issue at all since you and the baby are intune with each other and studies have shown that babies will actually regulate their heartrate and breathing with their mother's. Babies with sleep apnea have shown dramatic improvement when sleeping with their mother because the mother's breathing signals the baby to take a breath reducing the risk of SIDS in those babies.

If you are concerned, you could purchase an organic or latex mattress for your baby and rest easier knowing a major risk factor has been removed.

It's a tough decision, but you have to do what is best for the entire family.

Happy Sleeping!

My daughter is 14 months and has always slept on her tummy. If there is none of the obvious risk factors for SIDS I see it as not a problem. Do your research, and don't succumb to fear mongering. We slept on our bellies and we survived.

E.~

Every five years it changes: this year is sleeping on their sides. I went crazy with my son trying this because he would only actually sleep on his tummy - flat on it! I was lucky to have a peditrician who transferred from the East coast and she said that trends keep changing because they honestly don't know what is best. So she said to take a deep breath and let him sleep how he wanted to. Humans have survived this far without wondering if their kiddos were ok on back or front or side or whatever the new trend is. She said just crank up the heat in his room, remove excess blankets and let him figure out what his body needs.

I think now is a good time to transition, but if you have troubles try letting him sleep beside the bed in a carseat. My daughter loved this and always slept through the night. Then I moved her carseat into the crib. Then for naps we did just the crib and so on until she was just in the crib. She did just fine, and neither kiddo ever climbs in bed with us. We have another on the way and I am so thankful that we don't have to worry about toddlers trampling our new addition as they get in bed with us. Hope some of this helps!

Sidenote on the two kids - one sleeps on his tummy but one sleeps on her back! It's just their preferrences. Go see what your other ones are doing *winks*.

All three of our kids (ages 5, 3 and 10 mos.) were tummy sleepers from the very beginning. Even my Dr. said her kids slept on their tummies. If that's how they want to sleep let them and forget it. If you're trying to force back to sleep and they don't like it, no one is getting any sleep and I don't think that's healthy either. Our two older kids look like frogs when they sleep, with their legs under them and their fannies in the air and the baby sleeps in an L shape on his side with a blanket and a stuffed animal tucked under his arm and around his face. If the baby's sleeping, so are you - go with it!

I know there are people out there who would say "back to sleep" at whatever cost to your own sleep, but some babies are just tummy sleepers at if your baby is rolling over awake then I wouldn't worry about it to much. The co-sleeping thing will, in my experience, get harder to break as time goes on. You might want to try having the baby in your room with you but not in bed (maybe a co-sleeper type crib?). We co-slept in bed until 2m, then moved her to a co-sleeper next to the bed (but she still ended up in bed with me at 6am when hubby went to work). We moved our daughter to her own crib/room at 4m because she was sleeping 10pm-6am without waking and we decided we wanted our bedroom back. I put her in the crib for naps for a week or so, then when she was napping ok I tried overnight. The first few days were tough with the naps but she adjusted to the crib surprizingly well. She slept 10pm-7:30am the first night! Turns out my husband getting ready for work was waking her up in the morning so she slept longer in her own room.

GOod luck with whatever you decide! Co-sleeping is a great thing but the transition later can be problematic. I'm glad my daughter seemed to not miss it that much. She is 1yr now and never sleeps with us. If I bring her into bed with me/us she thinks its playtime. Once she's in a toddler bed and can come into bed with us in the morning that might change.

The "back to sleep" campaign started because researchers found that placing an infant on his back decreases the chance of the baby dying of SIDS. But I think it's important to remember that SIDS deaths were very rare even when it was the norm to put babies to sleep on their tummies. (AND a number of so-called SIDS deaths were later determined to be homicides.)

Since the risk of SIDS is minimal in a baby who can't roll over, my pediatrician told us that the risk of SIDS is virtually non-existent for a baby who can roll over. (My youngest started flipping himself over at two months - he hated sleeping on his back! Our doc told us to just make certain there was nothing that could restrict his breathing (blankets, stuffed animals, etc. but otherwise to let sleeping babies lie!

great advice about tummy sleeping being fine... as far as cosleeping, i'd suggest getting a bigger bed or putting two mattresses together on the floor, so there's room for everyone!

If your son is rolling onto his tummy on his own, then I would say Yes that it is ok for him to sleep there. Really at that point you can't stop them. As soon as my babies could roll onto their tummies, that is where they slept.

From a couple of sources I've seen that most cases of SIDS occur between 3 and 4 months old (around 80%). Some researchers believe it is because there is some critical physical development going on at that time. The good news is that co-sleeping cultures have SIDS rates that are miniscule compared to non co-sleeping cultures. Anyway, if you are having your baby in a crib by himself around this age, and he only sleeps on his tummy, you might feel more secure with one of the monitors. I do personally know 3 people whose babies stopped breathing for no apparent reason, but since the parent heard it, they were helped to breathe again. One reason they think that back-sleeping prevents SIDS is because the babies don't sleep as soundly (as you've noticed). We had a baby who was a light sleeper, and he slept better in our bed. I didn't sleep as soundly, but at least I wasn't up rocking, bouncing and soothing him half the night. There are some trade-offs, but not for too much longer, to really be safe.

My daughter has been sleeping on her tummy since she could roll herself over at 4.5 months. I was freaked out for a while, and kept putting her back to sleep on her back. But, she just kept rolling back over. She's 19 months old now and still sleeps on her tummy. No worries, your baby will be just fine. (And you'll get more sleep too if you let them sleep how they are most comfortable.) Take care!

Hi there. My 3 1/2 month old sleeps better on his tummy too. I can put him down on his back and when he stirs I just turn him over to his tummy and he falls back to sleep. I think that if he is strong enough to lift his head and turn it side to side when on his tummy that you shouldn't worry. He should be fine.

My pediatrician advised us that if a baby can get themselves into a position, then it's okay to let them sleep that way. Double check with your pediatrician, but that's what ours told us.

It seems that once they can roll over the risk of SIDS reduces. Does he use a pacifier? I have heard that they also reduce the risk. Our daughter likes to sleep on her tummy with her face burried in the corner, or on her side with a blanket over her face! But she rolls around enough that I haven't worried!

Let the baby sleep. Stick him in the crib. He'll be fine.

If he can roll over, I would let him sleep however he is comfortable.

I let my boys decide how they wanted to sleep. :) There is no statistical correlation between tummy sleeping and SIDS; the decline in SIDS since the "back to sleep" campaign began is attributed to scientists identifying "new" diseases / problems that lead to death that would have been attributed to SIDS in years past. Incidence of SIDS is statistically even between back sleepers and tummy sleepers.

At any rate, now that your child is old enough to roll over, he will roll over if he has to in order to breathe, so you can rest easy.

Hi E.-
All three of my boys were tummy sleepers without incident. I believe healthy babies without the obvious risk factors will be fine sleeping in whatever position they find comfortable. The 'experts' can't even agree on which is the best sleeping position, as they keep changing their guidelines. As for switching from your bed to the crib, a wise woman once advised me to make 6 months the cut-off for co-sleeping in order to have the easiest transition. That's what we did & it went very smoothly. I hope this helps!

Well, if he's rolling over by himself, it should be okay. At least that's what the nurses told me.

Our daughter, 9 months, has slept on her tummy since she was about a week old. I dont see a problem with it.

My kids were born in the late 70's and the doctors then told us to have them sleep on their tummies in case they spit up, it wouldn't get breathed in, but run out. I can't believe they change the rules all of the time. Anyway, my kids survived, especially if they can turn their heads, they will automatically do that if they need to breathe. If you want to put a wedge on either side of him, I think side sleeping is the safest. Relax and go with your motherly instinct.

My son at the age of 2 months was a stomach sleeper. He had the same issues with swaddling and startling if he was on his back. I finally gave up and let him do what he needed to do. My husband and I are co-sleepers as well, and to date there has never been an issue for us. Go with your gut. If it is saying that he is happy then let him be, if something is warning you that it is dangerous then do what you need to get that warning turned off.

Good Luck mama.

S.

Hi E.! WE used the Anglecare monitor, which has a motion sensor that slides under the crib mattress. It detects even the smallest breaths, and if he doesn't take a breath for 30 seconds an alarm goes off. This monitor gave my husband and I piece of mind that if our son stopped breathing we would be alerted. If he is comfortable I would let him sleep on his tummy, but I still would be worried about SIDS, so maybe this monitor would help you???? Maybe it would help you sleep better.

No, it's not OK. Babies sleep longer and deeper on their tummies--and that's the problem.
Read up on the latest on SIDS to find out when tummy sleeping is OK for infants.

3 months is when my son started to roll too and no matter what I did he would roll to his tommy. He did just fine. Despite what doctors day you can't go in and turn them to thier back every time they trun over in their sleep. Just be sure that there are no blankets or anything he could get his face down in and not be able to breath. The reason doctors say to sleep on their back is for the risk of SIDS.
One study I read said that babies who use paccifiers have a better chance of not having SIDS. If you don't use one it might be something to consider. They also said it was more of something in the brain that didn't responde when they were suposed to trun over if breathing was hard for the baby.
All in all I think that he will be ok.

Good luck!

My son is three months old and he does the same thing. I put him in the crib on his back, but he immediately rolls onto his side, then ends up on his tummy. I asked the doctor about it and he said if he's old enough (and strong enough) to do it himself, than he should be okay. He's my third baby that prefers sleeping on his side/tummy, so I'm not as worried about it, but as mothers we're bound to worry a little, right? :) Take care and good luck!