Who else sleeps their newborn on their tummy

[Bathsheba]

Great honest thread... can be such a taboo subject to raise hey?

All 3 of mine slept on their tummies from birth. With my first I just intuitively knew that there was no-way-known she was going to sleep on her back. For a start she had a huge bump on the back of her head from a vacuum extraction... it looked sooo sore and i just couldn't make her lie on it (it went down quite quickly though... a matter of days).

With my second I started to ask my MCHNs and doctors how dangerous it really was. Some of them told me that as long as ALL the other SIDS guidelines were strictly adhered to it should be ok. My son also was just not interested in back sleeping either.

With my third I spoke to a MCHN that told me that she encounters about 1 in 10 babies that refuse to back sleep. She said it usually co-incides with good neck strength (yes to all 3 of mine)... and that it also "ran in familes".

All my babies have been able to hold their heads up for longer than usual periods from birth.


Also none of them could bare swaddling. I don't think you should swaddle and tummy sleep... mine needed their arm strength to lift and move their heads.

I really think it can be done safely... a firm mattress is extremely important though... and no cot bumpers.

If I had forced my babies to back sleep it would have been so traumatic... however I rarely recommend it to new mums... I wouldn't like to say that it was the right thing to do and then have a tragedy occur. I really think it should be something that is "sanity checked" by a professional.

ETA: great point Nelle about central heating. We have it but keep it off overnight.