6 Week Old Only Sleeps Well on Her Tummy - What to Do?!?!

Let her sleep on her tummy. I had one that would go to sleep on her back and another one who would only sleep good on her tummy. If she is able to roll over, then go for it. Especially as it gives you, her, and the rest of the family better rest so you are able to be a better mommy.

Try a wedge. They make them with slings- It's the next best thing. My son had GERD really really bad- Just let me know if you want any other suggestions
L

The pendulum swings back and forth on this one. By the time we're grandparenting, the med advice will probably be to have them all sleep on their tummys. My grandparents gen had their babies sleep on their backs, my parents had babies on their tummies, we're told backs.

Here's the thing:

Tummy sleeper: risk of SIDS / suffocation
Back sleeper: risk of aspiration (suffocating on their own vomit), aspiration pneumonia (pneumonia caused by stomach acid/ vomit in the lungs).

No matter what we do there's a risk. But whatever works, works. I even know docs who put every baby that's a "spitter" on their tummies, but I also know docs that don't.

Here are the old school tips for tummy sleepers:

- Firm mattress (so her face won't get burried and suffocate or CO2 poisoning)
- No pillows
- No blankets
- No stuffed toys
- No mum & dad's bed/couches/etc
(essentially, nothing to shove her face into...which means sleep appropriate pjs)

I've known several babies that have slept on their tummies and been just fine (myself included). One thing to look at is the other risk factors for SIDS: do you breastfeed? If so, that reduces the risk. Do you smoke? If not, that reduces the risk. Take a look and, if there are no other risk factors, let your baby get a good night's sleep. :)

Let her sleep on her tummy, My little niece was like that, from day one she slept on belly!

L., Honey-- your baby is telling you loud and clear that she needs to be on her tummy to sleep. I KNOW all the statistics --- and I'd encourage you to try letting her sleep ( yes, on her tummy) for 30 minutes - and then switching her to her back-- if that doesn't work-- discuss making her an exception ( to the ''back to sleep'') rule with your doctor.
And know that we all do that difficult thing- of knowing that what we decide will be important- but life is not something we can knit or crochet-- it is a miracle- and you can only do your best.

Blessings, J.- aka- Old Mom

It's ok. I have 3 kiddos who are all tummy sleepers. I kept them on their backs until they were able to roll and they would all roll onto their tummies and sleep well.

Just make sure where she sleeps is safe. No pillows or blankets and they recommend no bumpers on the crib now..or a breathable bumper. Make sure her pjs a tight fitting and warm enough so she doesn't need a blanket.

She will be ok..

BTW they just call it SIDS when they don't know why the baby died. Usually when it comes to tummy sleeping, it's because there are other things close to the child and they end up getting smothered. My kids don't sleep with anything near them until they are over a year old..

The advice on tummy sleeping is great especially the mention of SIDS risks. One more thing I wanted to add is chemical exposure. If using a regular mattress, you will want it sealed in plastic to avoid chemical vapor fumes from effecting breathing, do not keep crib over heating vent or by a window in direct sunlight. Or, you may want to invest in an organic mattress so you do not have to worry about that. With the chemicals required for fire retardents SIDS deaths rose as well as the newer "Back to Sleep" campaign.

If you co-sleep, I wouldn't worry as long as the mattress is firm and you keep surrounding pillows and blankets away from her face. Your breathing, heartbeat and natural instincts will cause both of your to snuggle toward each other, reach for each other in your sleep. Your breathing and heartbeat will keep your baby's heart beating regularly and encourage a deep breath in cases of your baby holding it's breath or stopping breathing at night. Co-sleeping doesn't have to be in the same bed, they can be in a bed next to you too if that feels safer!

L.,

I know exactly how you feel. We held our daughter all day and night until she was 7 weeks old, because she wouldn't sleep on her back. Finally we gave in and she slept in her crib from then on, on her tummy. I'm a total worrier myself, and it was hard to let go and let her sleep on her tummy. What helps the most is the monitor that we have. It's called an angelcare monitor and it comes with a pad that goes under the mattress and detects the movement of breathing. It sounds crazy, but it really does work. Obviously nothing is perfect, but it did give us some piece of mind. Our daughter is now 16 months, and still sleeping on her tummy.
If you can't find the monitor online, shoot me an email, and I'll look up the full name of it. We got it at Babies R Us, so it shouldn't be hard to find.
Good luck.
K.

My daughter preferred her tummy unless she was swaddled - and swaddled correctly. There is a huge difference between wrapping a baby in blankets, and proper swaddling. She is still young enough to want that sensation of being snug in the womb, and will be until 4 months old or so. Dr. Karp's Happiest Baby book or DVD is a great resource, although most pediatric nurses and doulas will happily show you as well. There is a specific reflex (left over from our monkey days when we were supposed to hang on to a tree branch) that makes sleeping babies startle and wake themselves up when they are on their back - this is the reason they prefer stomach or swaddling.

At 5 months, my daughter developed severe GERD (acid reflux) and then has to sleep sitting up...but she still preferred to be tightly wrapped!

Good luck!

K.

Alright, I read all the responses and only Audrey Z almost mentioned the alternative explanation (and there is one) for SIDS ...

so, first, statistically, the number one risk factor is anyone smoking around the baby (ruins their lungs, so any little problem would be expected to be a big problem). As I recall, the second biggest risk factor was being a boy ...

Anyhow. The alternative explanation for SIDS, which I thought was shockingly logical when I finally found it, is this:

Baby drools or spits up on the mattress.
A specific organism (as I recall a fungus) gets growing (presumably even if you wash the sheets this keeps on in the mattress).
This fungus excretes a chemical that reacts with the flammability chemicals in mattresses, to form a potent neurotoxin *that is heavier than air* ... so it stays within 1/4 or even 1/8 inch of the mattress ...
And babies on their backs, their nose is too high to breathe it in, but babies on their tummies, their nose is right there in it. It's something ridiculously scary, like a paralytic neurotoxin : P ...

anyhow, that was like ten years ago, in a highly alternative newsletter, but it claimed New Zealand started requiring mattresses to be sealed somehow and dropped their SIDS rate enormously ... here, I Googled SIDS "New Zealand" mattresses, one typical search return was
http://www.cure-guide.com/Natural_Health_Newsletter/Baby_...

...

anyhow.

watching my babies, it was pretty obvious that they "start" (startle) because their natural (monkey-type) instinct expects mommy to be Right There ... it is only if they don't encounter resistance they wake up/get scared. I mostly let my kids sleep right up against me (I held them when they were quite small in the crook of my arm while we slept, so their head was elevated, preventing all fluid from leaking up into their ears ... not a SINGLE ear infection in the FOUR of them, which TOTALLY rocked ... I was a kid with lots of ear infections ... ), but I also let them sleep on their tummies sometimes if I was desperate for sleep (until I read the New Zealand/fungi explanation, and then I figured I was good to go because we were on a non-chemicalized futon). I also figured out that if you put a good firm weight across their tummies (and especially their arms!), like a good medium-weight pillow, they would start, and the pillow would push back, and that was enough to fake "mommy's here--I'm safe". Of course, since I co-slept, the pillow trick was what I used when they were napping while I was awake, and as soon as they were strong enough to move the pillow, I stopped (smothering and all that).

The other thing about tummy-sleep, that I forget who told me but it was about my pregnant body, is that someone pointed out that we are bipedal and vertical, but our entire innards are still literally hanging from our backbone ... and it is easier for everything if we let them hang and don't set the weight of them sqaushing their own blood supply (this was during a conversation about causes of fetal distress and fetal oxygen lack during labor--because the uterine blood vessels are being mashed and constricted when women are on their backs ... besides that it hurts like the dickens to be on your back of course ;) sigh ... ! ). Once I was watching for it, all of my babies breathed SO much more easily when they were on their tummies ... also it is important when they get congested, to let the mucous drain out instead of back into the head and chest ...

anyhow. As far as I was concerned, I had found the explanations for breathing problems and SIDS and startle-waking, and after baby one (who essentially I couldn't get to sleep unless she was snuggled against me, and I hadn't figured out these tricks yet) I didn't have too much trouble getting babies to sleep reasonably (given that at 6 weeks they wake several times a night for diapers and feeding) ...

Hope something here helps ... sorry I'm a few days late.

--K. :)

A few things might help your daughter sleep more soundly. A loud whooshing sound will help trigger her "relaxation response," according to Dr. Karp in The Happiest Baby on the Block. You can get this sound from a vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, or white noise machine. If you can carry her in a sling during her daytime naps, the rocking and jiggling will make her feel at home.

The good doctor also recommends snug swaddling, though it would seem to me that would be likely to aggravate stomach pressure/reflux.

In his early months, my grandboy was a poor back sleeper too. I used to swing/jiggle him until he was asleep, humming loudly, then lean into his crib, still jiggling and humming, lay him partly down, and gradually sneak out from under his body and head, slowly reducing the jiggling but continuing humming until he seemed well settled. It often worked, but I would give the sheets a chance to warm a bit. I think a fast temperature change can wake a baby.

I find it hard to believe that she completely rolled over when she was 5 days old - babies do not have the muscles to do that (on purpose) until they are near 4 months...but, nonetheless, she should not be put to sleep on her stomach...have you tried to put her to sleep in her carseat, so she is more propped up, and gets used to sleeping on her back? The people who tell you that it's okay to let her sleep on her stomach are not experts, they are just people who have had a positive experience with it...it is possible that if you make the decision to let her sleep that way, even if it is more comfortable, that you won't have a positive experience, which would be a tragedy. I would discuss this with your doctor, see if there is medication for the baby ,or something you can do differently when feeding to cut down on the reflux.

I have a 21 month old and a 12 week old, both I let sleep on their tummies. I think it's a natural snuggly position for babies and no wonder they all fall right to sleep! Being on their backs they are wide open and the startle reflex wakes them up constantly...as long as your baby can turn her head easily on her own to keep her nose out of the mattress that is important. I check on my 12 month old constantly and have no other "sids risk" factors to be aware of. Just make sure you don't dress her too warm or put too many blankets on top of her. They have a harder time "cooling off "their organs when they tummy sleep. My little one also worms her way down under the covers so I only have a quilt that is stiff and does not lay flat on her it is warm enough but she can not get her nose into it if she squiggles down too far. Go with your instinct and you can never blame yourself for anything when you are doing what you think your baby needs. Mommy instincts are the best!

First off let her sleep on her tummy, just make sure the bedding is firm and not soft and fluffy. Second, if she has a burp to get rid of after being laid down then whoever burped her didn't get them all out of her. Babies cannot handle air until they are like 9 months old. If that means you stop feeding after every ounce to get the burp then you do it. They will keep eating happily because they don't know and then when you do get the burp you get all of the food too and then they are hungry more often. I was burping my kids after about two ounces at that age.

I am not going to say one way or the other, but if you look back they used to say that you should put them on their tummies because they could chock on their spit up if they sleep on their backs. 90% of what they tell us to never do with our babies today our parents did all the time with us, and we are all still alive. Can she lift her head off the mattress and turn it from side to side on her own?

My son was like this as well. I let him sleep on my chest for the first 4 months or so. After that he slept fine on his back and wanted more space anyway. I do co-sleep, so he was already in bed with me. However, he did sleep easily away from my body after just a few months. Dr. Sears says the only safe way to allow a baby to sleep on their tummies is to be on your chest. The night time snuggles are wonderful and pass way to quickly. Good luck!

The recommendation from our pediatrician was to always put ours to sleep on her back and then if she rolled over onto her tummy it was okay to leave her that way. Any position they can get themselves into is okay. Even though it seems to help her though, please always put her down on her back to start. One thing that worked for my oldest was to:

get her to sleep however we could in our arms
turn her so she was horizontal
turn her so she was on her back

We would make each move and then give her a little while, maybe 5 minutes, before we would try to move her again. It didn't always work the first try, but it did work and it's safer than putting them down on their tummy.

Three out of four of my kids I let sleep on their belly. They slept better, and I too tried everything to keep them from sleeping on their belly and nothing worked. They slep much better. My fourth has a different daddy (first timer and read aaeverything) and would panic if she was on her tummy. So I had many sleepless months. She wanted to sleep on her belly, poor thing. She is now 2 and I find her constantly sleeping on her belly. You had mentioned her gas and reflux isnt as bad than if she is on her back, I think its because on thier belly they can pull their legs up which helps with gas.
I know the whole SIDS thing scares us all, but there are many factors that they are now discovering. Hust keep the toys and blankets out and make sure she doesnt get to hot. My kids would sleep in footsy pjs without a blanket, unless it was really cold then a light one.

L.,

My daughter was born in 2005 and I noticed that she too would only sleep on her tummy. As long as her face is to the side and her nose is not in the mattress she should be fine to put on her tummy. I know doctor's do not reccomend it but doctor's don't reccomend that mommies don't get any sleep at all either. When my daughter was 6 weeks old I let her sleep on her tummy and she did just fine and was sleeping through the night at 2 months old. Even at the age of almost 4 she still sleeps on her tummy.
Just thought I would share my experience with you so that maybe it could possibly help you out too.

R.

I don't blame you for worrying, she sounds very strong! I'm a total freak about SIDS. Talk to your pediatrician, or contact First Candle.

Both of my kids had the reflux and would wake within about 5 minutes of being put down because of it.

After struggling with the reflux with my daughter and finally getting her to a naturopath and putting her on probiotics, she finally outgrew the problem. She was 2 when her reflux was finally under control, even though we tried the prescription meds.

With my son, he had problems from day one. It didn't help that he shot out within an hour and a half from the time my water broke with no contractions. He didn't have time for the fluid to clear his system with his speed arrival.

At 2 weeks old, the naturopath put him on Bifidus and there was a great improvement. Oh, I also had to express some milk first before feeding him to slow my let down. He was getting it too fast and it would create lovely sugary gas bubbles in his tummy.

We did raise one end of the crib for both kids and that helped a bit. We also swaddles using the Russian style of swaddling which holds much better, but you need bigger blankets than most of the receiving ones here in the states. Old Navy sometimes has the bigger blankets that will work.

I recommend putting your little one on probiotics. I had to finger feed it to my little guy, but he liked the taste apparently. It can be put on your nipple, a bottle nipple or just your finger dipped many times until the dose is taken. If you're worried about starting a probiotic, try to go to a naturopath for help.

Good luck,
D.

I went through this with my daughter, she had reflux issues. My doctor said, "it is ""recommended"" that babies sleep on their back, however, no sleep isnt doing her any good. If they only way she can sleep is on her tummy then you have to do what is best." I think that was the best advise I had ever received. That doctor was always so compassionite. There are the NORMS that should be followed, however not every child fits the norm. Do what is best for your little on, if that means sleeping on her tummy, I say do it...Best of luck.

L.,

All of my 3 kids preferred to sleep on their stomachs. I tried and tried to get them to sleep on their backs. I too was afraid of SIDS. But when I put them on their backs, often times they would have a sudden reflex whether from a dream or whatever and jerk awake from sleep. When they slept on their bellies, it was like they had a since of security. I would notice no more of the sudden jerking reflexes that would wake them. This is a hard one. I just finally relented and would check on them many times a night to make sure their noses weren't pressed into the mattress.Good luck!

If you do decide to let her sleep on her tummy, make sure there aren't any loose blankets/stuffed animals/pillows near her, and keep a fan going in her room to circulate the air. I read a recent study showing that SIDS could be nearly eliminated if there was a fan in the room.

L.:
My child is also 6wks old & loves to sleep on her belly. I say, do what you gotta do girl. Babies are also human so I feel they know what they like as well. Just keep an eye on her. My child also has a reflex problem. I would recommend going to see her pediatrician & have them prescribe something for it. Our doc gave is prevacid for baby & she is so much better. I swear, it was like night & day. Just make sure there is NOTHING around her face that she can get her little face caught on. If you do that, I am sure she will be fine. Our little girl is... :) Good luck!

My Daughter was like that when she was born unhappy unless she went to sleep on her belly. it scared me aswell cause of them sleeping with there face down in the bed. but she was fine she knew that she had to keep her face left or right at night. try it out sit down and watch her for a hour or so and see how she dose. thats what i did and sometimes i would wake up and check up on her and she would be competly fine. good luck L. i hope everything works out for you and the little one on her sleeping ways

Becca

Id she sleeps well on her tummy then let her. just make sure the sheet is pulled tight and there an no loose blankets she can get near her face. I have 5 children and all of them were tummy sleepers. she will be fine.