i'm looking for some feedback from everyone on baby sleeping positions - did you decide to change the position your baby slept in or did you let them find their own? and when did either one happen?
i checked with my MCHN at his 4mth appt re-sleeping positions and she suggested the safest thing was to continue putting him down on his back & he would find his own position when he was ready.
DS is now 5 months old & has been rolling from his back to his tummy for almost 2 months. until yesterday he hadn't worked out that he could do this in his cot as well as on the floor! i put him down in his cot pretty much asleep & he just rolled onto his side. at some point he then rolled onto his tummy. he was fine like that but woke up when his nervous parents were trying to move his head to make sure he could breathe properly. after that, when we tried to put him down again, he'd go straight onto his side & then onto his tummy...then cry.
he rolled a couple of times from his tummy to his back when he first started rolling but never again so i spend a lot of time each day rolling him back from his tummy because he gets upset/bored after a while & cries.
would you roll your baby back onto their back? is he too young to be sleeping on anything but his back? he's a big, strong baby so i think we forget sometimes that he is only 5 months old.
i'm also esp interested to hear your experiences if your DS/D is in a sleeping bag - DS normally is but wasn't last night at first. when he was back in his sleeping bag he got even more upset because he couldn't roll properly.
I used to put DD on her back and then she would find her own position, i can't remember how old she was when she started rolling onto her side though.
I would often find her on her belly but she always had her head turned to one direction to breath.
I think the best we can do is put them on their back and let them go from there!
I am in exactly the same position as you, my little man is 5 months old and can only roll from his back to his tummy and has just started sleeping on his stomach. As soon as i put him in his bed on his back he rolls straight over....even if i put him in there asleep he rolls.
For the first week i was having to get up all night because i could hear him struggling, but as soon as i would roll him onto his back he would be on his tummy by the time i got to the door....but last night was the first night that i didn't have to get up to him to roll him over. A couple of times i have seem him with his face buried into the mattress but then i stand there to watch what he does and he turns his had to the side so he seems to know what to do but it is still nerve racking.
I have seen at major baby stores that you can buy a wrap thing that goes around the mattress and keeps them on there back...but that cant be to comfortable for them because like us they like to change positions while they sleep.
My little man is also in a sleeping bag and this doesn't seem to bother him when he rolls over on to his tummy.
DD has started doing this too, except usually she's not right on her stomach but still kind of on her side with her legs twisted over...if that makes sense! I worry about her sleeping on her tummy so if I notice her like that I try and gently roll her over, usually she just rolls straight back over anyway! During the day I don't worry too much, but at night I worry a lot.
She also wriggles around heaps and last night she wriggled right down to the end of her cot, lying across it with her head turned toward the end of the cot. She was almost stuck there as she is almost as long as the cot is wide now! I did try and move her so she was lying properly but she woke up after about 10 mins. She is in a sleeping bag at night now and seems quite happy and free to move in it, she gets it all twisted though which is annoying for me!
My DS is also doing this. As soon as worked out how to roll it started happening in bed too. Now he barely ever rolls when he's playing, but as soon as you put him down to bed it's on for young and old. The first week or two I kept rolling him back onto his back, but in the end we've decided to just let him sleep how he wants to sleep. I have an angel care monitor which does give me some peace of mind, but I do still worry and like to check in on him.
All my babies tummy slept from day 1. I know that SIDS guidelines rule against this but my babies would just NOT back sleep. They could all hold their heads soon after birth. I followed all the other SIDS guidelines and made sure the mattress was firm, we didn't smoke, didn't use bumpers on the cots etc. I didn't swaddle or use sleeping bags. By the time I had my 3rd baby a paed told me that it often runs in families that babies prefer tummy sleeping.... it obviously runs in ours! The paed observed how well my baby was able to hold his head up whilst on his tummy so quietly gave me the "go ahead" to let him sleep that way.
In the past most babies were placed on their tummies because the "experts" said that they could choke on their vomit if they slept on their backs. These things are always changing. If you are deeply concerned then ask a MCHN about the frequency of babies preferring to tummy sleep. Mine said that about 1 in 10 would only tummy sleep.
Make sure that there are no potential obstructions or entanglements. Make sure the mattress is firm. Personally i wouldn't stress, especially if your baby is able to hold his head up when on his tummy.
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sleeping positions
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