My son will be 5 months old in a few days. He is able to roll from his back to his stomach, but has a hard time rolling the opposite. He seems to sleep better on his stomach, but gets frustrated when he wakes up and cant turn over. He has turned over, but it is not consistent. Question is....is it ok if he sleeps on his stomach ay night?
He's fine. Let him sleep however he is comfortable.
He's no longer little enough that he can't support his own breathing. For both of my babies, as soon as the rolled, they slept on their tummies.
Does anyone remember when most babies slept on their tummies? I know I did. :-)
The reason we started putting babies on their back to sleep is because a newborn's muscles are not strong enough for easy breathing. It is thought to be the cause of SIDS ( I think). My kids would never sleep well on their backs so I would lay them down on their sides, sometimes on their tummy.
My info is kinda old my baby is 21.
Talk to your ped's office and ask questions. I think usually by the time they are 5 months old the muscles to support breathing are strong enough for the baby to sleep on their tummies. But to be safe call and ask a nurse at the ped's office.
Some kids just really need to sleep on their tummies. My younger child could not settle and had a really hard time. I talked to the doctor about it and he told me to try putting him on his stomach to see if it helped. Wow - what a difference! I talked to the doctor about the new development and asked about SIDS. He told me that it's best to put newborns on their sides or backs, but if they simply cannot settle that way, it wasn't the worst thing in the world to switch them to their stomachs as long as we were judicious about not having the room too hot, things in the crib, etc. My son, as a teen, is still a stomach sleeper.
Dawn
Hi Momma CT. This same thing happened to my eldest son. He had a period of 2 weeks where he was honestly waking up 5 to 6 times a night because he had rolled over to his stomach and couldn't get back to his back. At first I was freaked out when I found him on his stomach but if they are strong enough to roll onto their stomach they should be fine. Besides staying up all night and watching him, there is nothing you can do to prevent them from rolling on their stomach at night.
What I did find helpful was having my son do a lot more tummy time to strenghthen his arms which helped him be able to start to roll back onto his back. I would try more baby exercises during the day.
I am sure he will be fine. My son really REALLY hated being on his back. He hated it so much, he learned how to roll over onto his stomach at 2 1/2 months whenever I put him to bed, and flipping him back was NOT an option. (mostly because he would scream then roll back over to his stomach every. single. time.) He's 2 now, and still a stomach sleeper.
If your son is flipping himself there, and sleeping well, he should be fine.
mine were both tummy sleepers.
Your son is old enough to sleep on his tummy.
If he is putting himself on his stomach there is little you can do unless you plan to stay awake all night and roll him onto his back every little bit. He is doing this himself.
Even if he can't roll back over, he is old enough to push up if he needed to breathe. He will figure out the roll thing really fast and in the meantime he may wake you up a few times when he is frustrated trying.
when they are able to turn over they have head control enough that they can turn their head to breathe, therefore they can sleep however THEY move. Still always put them down on their back but if they flip to tummy let them be.
I had the same thing happen with my boys. And I was paranoid about SIDS because it happens more often in boys. Dr. told me to put them to sleep on their back, but if they roll over in the night it's ok. He said, "you don't need to get up every hour to flip him back over if he rolls". You say it's not consistent that he has turned but it will be. . . Sooner than you think :)
My "children" are 28, 25, & 21. When they were babies, you didn't put them to sleep on their backs because if they spit up while sleeping, they would choke to death. Obviously, they made it ok.
