Hi moms - our 5 month old daughter has been to rolling onto her tummy during sleep and waking herself up - over and over again... She has no problem being on her tummy during the day, but at nights, it wakes her up crying. She appears to be frustrated to find herself on her tummy. Some nights, this can go on for over an hour at 2am. I am told that she will eventually either learn to get comfortable on her tummy and continue to sleep or she will learn to roll back on to her back. Has anyone experienced this? Any suggestions? Is it okay for her to sleep on her tummy now? Any thoughts you can share on this would be appreciated.
Thank you everybody. She has been sleeping on her side but occasionally finds herself on her belly which still wakes her up but I think we are getting through it. We will work on her rolling back onto her back. I agree that should help her feel better about being on her tummy.
Hi H.,
My pediatrician says after 4 months the rate of SIDS drops dramtically, so he actually told me to put my babies on their tummies, then. Also, my second son had this exact same habit. I let him cry it out a few nights, and either he stopped rollng over or he got used to it-- either way, we all got a better night's sleep after that!
Z.
I would get a sleep positioner for her. It has a wedge that goes on both sides of her and will prevent her from being able to roll over. They work great and are cheap! Good luck! http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2308665
heh - my son went through this at around 4 months. It took him a few weeks to get the hang of rolling back onto his back. A sleep positioner will help some, but don't worry, this will pass soon. (I know, not soon enough for you I'm sure!)
I think people are misunderstanding your question because you are getting a lot of responses about sleeping on her tummy being bad or not bad when I think the issue is that your daughter doesn't like being on her tummy. I didn't go through this because my daughter who is 8 months is not very active in her sleep but you might look for some foam wedges and wedge one in each side under her ribs so she can't roll. She may be too big for the formal sleep positioners. Lay her down on her back with her arms out sideways and then put a wedge under each armpit against her ribs.
I've always read and been told that once that can roll onto their stomach, it's ok to let them sleep like that (although your girl is not ok with that for now). It shouldn't be too long before she's either ok with it or until she can roll herself back onto her back. My girl was doing this too and eventually settled into sleeping on her side.
My son has slept on his tummy since he was a week old... and he's now coming up on 14 months. It's more than fine for your baby to sleep on her tummy, especially once she can roll over.
Hi H.,
Well all we moms feel your sleepless pain! But here's the deal. If your baby can roll over, she has enough strength to pick up her head when she rolls over onto her tummy. That's why the stats show the rate of SIDS drops drastically after they are able to roll over. Does she take a pacifier or suck her thumb? If she does, I would just leave her on her tummy and give her the paci/thumb. If she doesn't do the paci or thumb thing, I would still leave her on her tummy and comfort her with some pats to her back or her buns and soothing words and then let her cry if she needs to. Don't pick her up because then she'll never learn to self-soothe. Also, and this sounds really retarded, but we use a hair dryer for white noise and it works like a charm. I use it to put my baby to sleep and if she wakes up for some reason during the night, I turn it on then, too. I have one with the fan/low/high heat options so I can leave it on fan instead of having the heat on sucking up extra energy. So good luck and God bless. And remember, like so many mamas have said...this too shall pass! Enjoy mommyhood! It is the best, most rewarding job on earth!
Hi H.!
My baby hasn't had this problem (yet), but have you tried using a sleep positioner? They have sides so that your baby can't do a lot of rolling around (http://www.toysrus.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2256227). I don't know if not being able to move would upset your daughter, but it might be worth a try.
Hope you find something that works so you can get some sleep! Good luck!
-R
Thety used to make weggies that you can use in the bed, so the child is propped on her side. She would be able to roll over if you use this.
Does she know how to roll from tummy to back yet? That would be the next thing to work on her while awake. That can be a little scary. The falling backwards feeling. Once she feels confident in that task it should be easier for her to fall asleep again because she won't feel stuck.
If your daughter can roll over, it's fine for her to sleep on her tummy. Make sure the crib is empty (no blankets, pillows or large stuffed animals) and that she can't burrow under the bumper pads. If her neck control is good enough for her to turn her head, she will be ok. My kids both hated sleeping on their backs and would roll to their tummies as often as they could. They are now 10 and 7 yrs old.
Sleeping on the tummy is not recommended because of it's correlation with SIDS. If she is able to lift her head and there are no bumpers or toys in the crib, i would say she is okay to sleep on her stomach. With sleeping on the tummy in young babies, the worry is that they aren't strong enough to lift their head up and end up not being able to breathe. Or they get stuck against a bumper and are not able to move her head or herself away from it. She seems okay to sleep on her tummy. Just check on her.
