My DD has been a great sleeper up until the last few days but suddenly won't settle when I put her down on her back. If I pick her up and lie her over my chest, she drops off to sleep instantly. So last night I tried putting her down in her cradle on her tummy ... BINGO. Fast asleep. Of course, being aware of SIDS risks, I didn't sleep at all and just stared at her for ages. Every time I tried turning her over onto her back, she'd wake and start thrashing around again.
How do I...
a) get her to sleep on her back, OR
b) manage the risks of her sleeping on her tummy?
How effective are these 'sound and movement monitors'? I'm a little dubious about them as I wonder what use it to be told after the fact that your baby has stopped breathing... does it let you know in time to actually do something about it? Given that baby is right next to me in a cradle that is practically attached to the side of my bed, do you think a monitor might just detect MY sound and movement??
DS was a tummy sleeper. I didn't really let him sleep that way until he could roll over so I know he had excellent head control ( and I was a paranoid 1st tim mummy ). There are those 'anti roll' pillows to keep thm on their backs, but DS HATED his.
I have found DD likes being on her belly aswell... I have a feeling I will be where you are in a few weeks time.
I have never used a monitor myself, but I have had both in my room next to my bed for at least the first 6 months.
I don't have kids, but I wonder if you could somehow encourage your daughter to have tummy time while she's awake? Maybe that would help to "satisfy" her craving to be on her tummy and she would go back to sleeping on her back? I'm probably raising more questions than answers for you though.
Do you swaddle her? A lot of the time it's that feeling of space in front of their bodies that freaks them out - being tightly swaddled can avoid that, and a double swaddle if a single is not enough! Personally I'd rather persevere with finding alternative ways of getting her to sleep on her back before allowing her to sleep on her front. Just not worth the risk, imo.
Hi there, my bub has always been a tummy sleeper I guess you could say, even though it's not recommended! She developed pretty bad reflux in her first few weeks so from then refused to sleep on her back and I was going insane with no sleep as I didn't want her to sleep on her tummy by herself so I'd stay up and hold her!! Does your bub have reflux maybe??
I don't know if you'd be more comfortable co-sleeping and how old your bub is, but I then invested in a hab and strapped her to me so she was 'tummy' sleeping on me and I'd sleep on my backpropped up with about 4 pillows (not great for my back!), I set my alarm for every hour to check on her as I was paranoid!! Even though I thought my 'mother instinct' would kick in as she was on me I was still paranoid!! Then as her reflux got better I rolled her off me to sleep next to me in bed and she sleeps in her cot during the day....mind you I now am having night time issues!!
I do have a sound and movement monitor and they do work....not that she's stopped breathing but when I take her out of the cot and forget to turn it off the alarm goes after 20 sec's. It's an Angelcare and I just bought it at Target but there are others available I think.
I hope some of this helps you, you're more than welcome to ask me any questions if I haven't explained myself or you want more info, take care and good luck
Softy- i'm having exactly the same problem as you encountered. my DD just wont let herself be put on her back and will only sleep on her tummy while on our chest!!!! i never thought my baby would sleep in bed with us, especially actually ON ME, but its the only way i can get her to sleep! i hope we too can get her sleeping on hr own soon, even if it is lying next to me rather than on me!!!
Thanks so much for all your helpful replies. I'm going to continue to try and teach DD to settle on her back for a little while longer but if all else fails, will invest in a monitor.
Hollye, she doesn't seem to have reflux from what I can tell. She settles as soon as she is picked up or moved to her tummy so it really seems to be about the position. What else would I see if she had reflux?
toomanytoomany - She seems to have just as much trouble wrapped or unwrapped. When wrapped, she practically turns herself inside out trying to get herself free - seriously, it sounds like she's straining so much she'll explode! When she's unwrapped, she flails her arms and legs around and seems to wake herself up even more. I'll keep having a bit of a play with it all and I'm sure we'll eventually find something that works for us.
Softy - She's just next to my head so I can keep a very close eye on her and I think that when I stir, she stirs too which I understand helps prevent SIDS. Some times she ends up sleeping with us but I can't relax completely as i am scared of smothering her and she still won't settle on her back even in the big bed. I think I would have gone the same way as you with the HAB but I can not sleep on my back (perhaps my girl takes after me!) so end up just sitting there in bed for hours, bib fast asleep on my chest, and me wide awake!
All the best to those of you having settling issues and blessings for a loooong sleep in the near future!
Good luck with it all. I'm not yet a mum, but I have bought the breathing monitors. We've actually gotten the Angelcare one for the cot and also a Respisense (a small one that clips onto their nappy) for when we're out and about.
When we were weighing up what to and what not to buy I thought it might be overkill to get both. But then I did a bit of reading and TBH it made perfect sense to me to have a breathing monitor with them whenever possible because sleep aponea (sp?) is common in babies. And, it doesn't just happen in bed, it can happen in the car, in the pram or anywhere that they're sleeping.
Yes, you can follow all the SIDS advice (but some bubs just wanna sleep the way they want and sooner or later they will be able to roll over to the position they want), you can check on them every ten minutes and you can have them sleep with you, but there is literally a 3 minute window (maybe less) from the time they stop breathing to when it's too late. I can't help but wonder whether or not you would notice that they had stopped breathing if they were asleep in the pram or the carseat, or even while you had them in bed, it's not like they will necessarily make a noise or cry, I imagine it may be a very silent thing that you wouldn't notice unless you were paying really close attention to them.
Anyway, that's just my opinion and what lead us to purchase the two monitors. Both of the ones we've got sound an alarm after 20 seconds, so you have probably a good 2.5 minutes to try and get them breathing again if something happens, but in most cases the shock of the alarm will be enough to wake them up and shock them into breathing again.
Both of mine have been tummy sleepers and we have a breathing monitor. Its for our peace of mind, that if anything - god forbid - did happen, you do have an opportunity to get them breathing again, rather than wake up to a horrible scene a few hours later ya know?
Miss M has a problem with regular breathing, she sounds off the alarm quite frequently because her breathing slows down so much. So we just wake her up and she resettles into a better breathing pattern. I would hate to think what would happen if we didn't have the opportunity to wake her up.
I find that many babies do prefer to tummy sleep. I am not sure how you would minimise the risks, I would've said, if she were a bit older and easily lifting her own head and turning, not to worry too much. But I see by your ticker she is only one month old, that is probably too young for tummy sleeping, definitely not recommended, but I am sure alot of people do it. Certainly once she is rolling over, she will find her own comfortable position anyway.
Anyway DD was a fan of tummy sleeping at about 8-10 weeks of age. It was something that I went over and over again as everytime she was screaming and wouldn't settled, if I rolled her on her belly, or laid her on my chest she was straight off to sleep. I spent many nights on the lounge with her asleep on my chest.. SO.. I ended up letting her do that for about a week and weaned her to sleep on her side. I used the position roll pillow things and would put her down, on her side and it was just enough to keep her happy and let her sleep. I used a monitor the entire time but I was a little more comfortable as she was able to turn her head from one side to the other.
You might find if DD is screaming when on her back, she might have a sore belly or wind pain. I used INFANTS FRIEND (all natural and can give from birth) with DD to great response from her and it helped with any upset belly or wind pain (which she got alot of at first). Maybe try some of that over a day or two and see if that helps her out and that way it'll allow you to rule out pain.
Anyway DD eventually slept on her side for the majority of the time until she could roll over and now she is a 100% tummy sleeper. Doesn't matter what position I put her to bed in, she rolls straight onto her tummy. DD is 9.5 months now.
I have the angelcare sound & movement monitor and LOVE it as I am sure you'll be able to tell from my reply to the other thread. It will pick up your sounds if DD is beside you in your bedroom (so you can turn the sound detector off really) but the movement is completely based on 2 x sensor pads you place under the mattress so you won't affect that unless you are touching or bumping the bed at night which yes it will pickup and think is bub.
I used the monitor for the time DD slept on her tummy and although I was still paranoid and hovered over her quite a bit (she slept in a cradle in our loungeroom till she was 12 weeks), i at least knew it would give me a "heads up".
I remember admitting in mothers' group to the clinic nurse that DD was sleeping on her tummy and the look of disgust I got and the reply of "this is an example of what you should not be doing" to the entire group made me so embarassed and feel so bad but at the time it was all I could do to keep her settled and comfortable.
Good luck with it as it's a tricky one on what to do.
Both my kids were tummy sleepers from about 4 weeks onwards. Best thing for me, as I was so paranoid of them puking during the night and chocking on it.
SIDS risk if you have bumpers, teddy bears etc around their heads and so on. WHICH I AM SURE YOU DONT!!>
My pediatrician told me to sleep them on their bellies, So that is what I did.. I was never worried about it.. as a few weeks later their head control was very good and they got much stronger being on their belly to lift their head etc.
Do what you think is best.. but have a look on other sides on belly sleepers.. you will see the odds of belly and back and sick.. are not all that different.
FWIW I thought I would add that when I've seen pics of friends premmie babies (both in SCN and NICU) that have been of them tummy sleeping. If the midwives in the nurseries will let them do it (presumably so that they get that much needed sleep) and when they are so small, it must not be as risky as some people will have you think. That said, I personally think that if you are going to let bubs tummy sleep then it is best to have a movement monitor, mainly for peace of mind, but also just in case.
Kat - with regard to the sensor monitors - we have the tommee tippee one and it works a treat, it goes off after 20 seconds - so perhaps this would ease you mind if Ivy prefers her tummy? You can get them at Target for about $200 but we got ours for $150 when they had 25% off. (There is a $10 target voucher in the bounty bag if you go that)
DD was a tummy sleeper from birth, even in hosp she would NOT settle unless she was on her tummy. Both boys managed to sleep on their backs/ sides - I found if they were unsettled being on their side was better. When they were older I used a rolled up blanket against their tummy & that seemed to soothe them better than being on their back withtheir belly exposed.
But I stressed out & worried the whole time too. I have an angelcare monitor this time... from all the PPs seems that's the way to go.
It does seem if babies decide they want to be on their tummy there's not much you can do to change their mind....good luck with it all
My DS is a tummy sleeper and we have an Angelcare monitor. The sensor's sensitivity can be changed to suit your situation. We found that we had to make it less sensitive during summer when we were using his ceiling fan as the air movement was enough to trick the sensor. So you could always change it so that when you're lying in bed that it won't pick your breathing up.
I know a lot of people who have let their bubs sleep on their tummies and never had a problem. I think there will come a moment when you will decide one way or the other and I hope it all works out well for you.
I'd be getting the monitor, set it up so it will go off if she stops breathing and try a few tummy sleeps.
One other suggestion, do you tuck her in so she's got pressure on her belly from the blanket? My DS found this comforting, but he wasn't as hard to get to settle..
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Tummy sleeping and monitor question
). There are those 'anti roll' pillows to keep thm on their backs, but DS HATED his.
Does your bub have reflux maybe??
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