Sleeping on tummy?

DS (5wks) does not settle well. He often has days where he will not sleep much at all.
In the past week DH and I have discovered (though I suspected it earlier might be the case) that DS can and likes to fall asleep on his tummy quickly.
Im just a bit anxious about making this a regular thing due to the SIDS risk and strong recommendations that babies are slept on backs not tummys.
I dont want to have to be constantly monitoring him every 2 mins if he is sleeping on his tum.
Should I be concerned?
Is there any thing else I can try?
I guess some babies just prefere to be on their front.

My DS was similar - he enjoyed sleeping on his tummy and usually does sleep on his tummy since he started rolling! I was cool with it during the day cos when he was quite young I would have him asleep in the bassinet in the same room when I was.
Overnight I would sleep him on his side. He was wrapped so I would just bundle some of the blankets behind his back so that he wasn't flat. Might be worth a try?
The only suggestion other I can think of is an Anglecare monitor (I think that is what it's called). It sounds an alarm if it detects that the baby is not breathing. For peace of mind it would be a worthwhile investment.

Salsa, I can totally sympathise on this one! DS is a horrid sleeper, from birth he would wake every 2hours or less. When he had his 7 week checkup, our paed told us to sleep him on his belly during the day as he was favouring one side of his head while on his back and his head was a bit misshapen.
The first day we put him on his belly i think he slept for 4 hours! Then eventually I found myself putting him on his belly around 5am then it started going to 4am, then 3am, then midnight...and
eventually we just put him to bed on his belly from then on. HYe might have been around 3 months old i think? But I still freaked out and hardly slept lol.
He is still a terrible sleeper, but if we lay him on his back he wakes straight away, and if he rolls over onto his back early in the morning, then he wakes up screaming as well...

I don't know what else you can try..we tried a Amby hammock, along with a sleep sheep (which did help somewhat) he also has the air con going as background noise seems to help too.
We also did the bath before bedtime or late in the afternoon, baby massage as well. Didn't really help though....

Our DS is definately a bub who loves to sleep on his tummy...not that he is doing it to great at the moment lol.
Goodluck, hope you find something to help :)

Nic

Salsa - I put DS to sleep on his belly from about 4 weeks. We coudlnt get him to sleep at all on his bakc due to colic and reflux.

Only now that he is almost 4 months will he settle on his back.

He has very strong neck muscles and can lift his head from side to side back at 1 month old - i did though borrow a breathing monitor for peace of mind overnight. :)

Where are you located?

At night he sleep fine on his back, and then usually ends up in our bed by about 6am. I feed him in bed and he is usually on his side, and then I fall alseep feeding...
He does also have nights when he might wake for 1 - 3 hrs. Argghhh! And we cant settle him back to sleep, but as its night time we havent tried putting him on his front.


CM
My SIL lent me a foam wedge that goes under them so enable them to sleep safley on their sides. I have used it a few times. I`ll have a look at the anglecare monitor - I think I might have heard of them years ago, but had forgot all about them.

Nic
ohh its tiring isnt it?
He often goes down for 2 - 10 mins and then screams. But thats when we put him on is back.
We have tried massage, baths, craddling, singing, noise, quiet, rubbing his tum, stocking his head, the rocker, the bassenet, our bed, the floor....
We have tried lots of things, one of the best we got last week is a babyhawk mei tai wrap/carrier. It keeps him upright (which he preferes) and is at least twice a day the only thing that will get him to sleep. It lets me be hands free, but its hit and miss whether he stays asleep once I transfere him out of it into bed.
I read that infants that dont sleep much often go on to be kids and then adults who dont sleep much :rolleyes:


PP
Im in outer central melbourne.

Yes, DS has strong neck muscles too - so that eases my mind a fair bit.
He sicks up alot, needs burping lots, and generally has quite a bit of gas. So perhaps this is related to his sleep issues.


well i just got about an hr sleep from him on his front (first all day) but he is waking again.)

My Cameron was the same...slept a whole let better during the day when on his belly. I know it was against the rules, but I figured it was ok during the days as I could go check on him - which I did constantly. Funnily enough though he hated tummy time - go figure???? :rolleyes: During the night he was fine on his back though. Then when he was about 3months old, one night we were woken with Cameron crying and when we checked on him - he had flipped himself over to his belly and has slept like this ever since. Think he takes after me in that department, as I always sleep on my belly too :lol:

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Nic
ohh its tiring isnt it?
He often goes down for 2 - 10 mins and then screams. But thats when we put him on is back.
We have tried massage, baths, craddling, singing, noise, quiet, rubbing his tum, stocking his head, the rocker, the bassenet, our bed, the floor....
We have tried lots of things, one of the best we got last week is a babyhawk mei tai wrap/carrier. It keeps him upright (which he preferes) and is at least twice a day the only thing that will get him to sleep. It lets me be hands free, but its hit and miss whether he stays asleep once I transfere him out of it into bed.
I read that infants that dont sleep much often go on to be kids and then adults who dont sleep much :rolleyes:

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I sometimes resorted to driving DS around in the car, but the last week or so he wakes upon us returning home and me unbuckling him from his seat!!
Gosh i hope it's not true about kids who don't sleep much are the same as adults!

We found DS was a windy bubba as well, which is part reason, why we bought a Amby hammock. He would go to sleep in it if you bounced him off to sleep but then you had to keep on bouncing as well, as soon as we stopped he would wake.. so it didn't work all that great for us. He did go to sleep in it once, think it was for about 3 hours.

You know what i found (and still find) the hardest was not DS NOT sleeping, but the wondering...wondering what we could do to help him sleep, wondering if we were doing something wrong or was there a way we could do it better? was there something we hadn't thought of? or something out there that we hadn't tried? We were forever wondering and second guessing ourselves! and still are a little... I feel like such a walking zombie some days - yesterday arvo I went to pick DD up from school, DH was sleeping and DS was asleep too..so I lock the house and go downstairs to get in the car and then I realised!! I had walked out of the house and left DS behind! :o How bad did I feel then! (Even if he is asleep I still pick him up and take him to school for pick up) Then when I did get in the car (with DS this time lol) I tried to unlock it while i was sitting in the drivers seat! DH was not amused when i told him this morning... more because i think he is getting worried about my lack of sleep!

Oh I'm so glad I found this post as I've been worring myself sick the past week, so it's nice to hear I'm not the only one with a young tummy sleeper

Our DS is almost 5 weeks aswell and I have disocovered he loves sleeping on his tummy, due to haveing very bad reflux, I should have know this would happen as I've always been a tummy sleep and even slept on my tummy through most of my pregnancy , plus the day after he was born I was having trouble getting him to sleep so one of the midwifes said she'd look after him for me while I took a shower & when I came back she said I hope you don't mind but I put him on his tummy to sleep and it was probably one of the longest sleeps he had in the 3 days we were was in the hospital.

we noticed straight after birth that he had good head control, so I wasn't too concerned about letting him sleep on his tummy during the day for the past 2 weeks, but now he just won't go to sleep at night, I've changed him to an amby hammock 2 days ago but all I seem to do is bounce him to sleep only to find he wakes as soon as I stop so I don't think this is working.

I'm thinking if I put him in the bassinet right next to myside of the bed, I can trial him on his tummy after his last night time feed say which is usually around 4-5am as I'll be able to see him then because it's starting to get lighter outside.

As soon as DD could roll i couldnt stop her sleeping on her tummy, for a few days id roll her back over everytime i checked on her but it was a waste of time, she would just roll straight back over!!! I was worried but she wont sleep any other way. hope your sleeping gets better.

Hi,
My DD began rolling over about 2 wks ago and ever since then she sleeps on her tummy. I'm worried about the SIDS thing too. She has a very strong head and can move about in the cot quiet easily. I don't mind her sleeping on her tummy in the day cause i can keep an eye on her but at night time it worries me. I try and put her back onto her back once she is asleep but she soon wakes and i have to put her back. ARGHHH. Is it ok to sleep her on her belly now that she can lift her head and roll or is there still a high risk of SIDS. I don't know what to do. I'm forever going in a checking that she is breathing. Has anyone got any idea on the cost of the monitoring system you can put under their matress?
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Angie

My DD2 is the same. She has slept on her tummy from about 5wks old. She wont sleep for long any other way. I went and bought an Angelcare sound and movement monitor, just for a bit of peace of mind. She is still sleeping in our room in her bassinet but will soon have to go into her own room in her cot soon. I will freak out heaps then. She has always had strong neck muscles too.

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Hi,
My DD began rolling over about 2 wks ago and ever since then she sleeps on her tummy. I'm worried about the SIDS thing too. She has a very strong head and can move about in the cot quiet easily. I don't mind her sleeping on her tummy in the day cause i can keep an eye on her but at night time it worries me. I try and put her back onto her back once she is asleep but she soon wakes and i have to put her back. ARGHHH. Is it ok to sleep her on her belly now that she can lift her head and roll or is there still a high risk of SIDS. I don't know what to do. I'm forever going in a checking that she is breathing. Has anyone got any idea on the cost of the monitoring system you can put under their matress?
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Angie

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I wouldn't be as worried about sids as she is rolling herself. Just make sure that the blankets are tucked in short or get a sleeping bag suit. I think (I haven't checked it too closely) the breathing/movement monitors are about $200-300. I could be wrong. You could always try pre loved baby good places, they often have them at about half the RRP.
:)