Baby Sleeping on Tummy....

I have 6 kids. When I had my first one, they said to always put them on their tummies. When I had my 3rd one, they said to lay them on their sides. When I had my 4th one, they said to lay them on their back...which by the way caused him to have a flat head---but he grew out of it.

The thing about all this is....DO YOU WANT TO TAKE THE CHANCE? If a baby is going to die of SIDS, there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP IT. You cannot sit by their beds and try to startle them out of it. Their heart just stops and usually can't be revived.

So, I guess my opinion is that you should just keep them on their backs until they are able to roll over on their own.

I just keep telling my kids that it is a miracle that they are all alive. :)

If he can roll over and hold his head up on his own, I'd let him sleep on his tummy if he's better that way. My daughter is 11 months and has been sleeping on her tummy for a while now...if you put her down on her back she'll wake up almost instantly.

Just a side note...my oldest son was a preemie (born almost 3 months early and weighing just over 2 pounds) and in the NICU they had all the babies tummy sleep (but they are wearing monitors that will alert the staff to any issues). We actually got to the NICU one day to find my son sleeping on his back and the nurse rushed over as soon as she saw us to assure us that she kept putting him down on his tummy and he kept rolling over. I had no issue with it and luckily once we got him home he was OK with sleeping on his back, but there has to be a reason they put them on their tummies to sleep.

R.
A) kudos for having the courage to ask a "taboo" question! good for you!
B) the major concern with tummy sleeping is its association with SIDS, of course. many infant experts say that the danger DIMINISHES (note it does not disappear completely) once the baby can push himself up. so, if your little guy is holding his head up when on his tummy and is pretty active (rolling over easily from one side to the next, lifting his head, scanning the room, etc) many people will say that tummy sleeping is okay WITH THE PROPER SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.

C)my daughter does not tummy sleep- but then again she sleeps just fine on her back. if your son is a tummy sleeper and you are at a point where you NEED to start sleeping then i would say to talk to your pediatrician about precautions and things you can do to make it as safe as possible for your son.
best of luck!

When my younger son got to be around 6/7 months he started rolling over onto his stomach. We would put him to sleep on his back but inevitably roll over. I asked his pediatrician if we should roll him back over and he said that if he continued to roll over onto his stomach there wasn't anything we could do about it and to just let him sleep like that. He's four now.

Hi there, you know you cant really control how they sleep, they get moving and they do what they want. My son is 15 months (on 7th) and he slept on his side starting at 3 days old then he wwent to his belly about 3 months old or so, I didnt worry about it. They change how they are supposed to sleep all the time. If you feel comfortable with it then go with it. You are the Mom and you know best. I know my son to this day sleeps better on is tummy.
When I lay him down it is on his back but if I go in there befor ehe wakes he is on his tummy and is sleeping sound.
Hope this helps.

all my kids slept on theur tummies

My Son is 3 months old and from the time he was born for the first week of his life he was in the Hospital nursery with Maconium. And the Nurses actually layed him on his tummy to sleep and ever since then that is the only way he will sleep now. I put him in his crib on his tummy and he will sleep for 4-6 hours like that. He isn't rolling over yet but can hold his head up and move it on his own.
I was worried about it at first, I talked to the doctors about it and they said as long as he can hold his head up and doesn't have stuffed animals and thick blankets around he will be fine.
Hope this helps..

My son slept on his tummy from the time we brought him home from the hospital. He went from sleeping less than 2 hour increments to sleeping 4 hours a night...then 6 hours by 3 weeks old, and by 6 weeks old he was sleeping 8-9 hours a night. I know they say not to put babies on their tummy's, but there are also several other risk factors for SIDS, and nothing has really ever been proven 100% to be the cause for it. Anyway...if your baby is able to turn over like that, I wouldn't be concerned...and honestly, if you're that worried about it, you could also always get the Angel Care monitor. Hope that helps!

R.,
Your baby is almost 7 months old now right? Can he roll over on his own yet? My son could roll over on his own at 4-5 months and switched to tummy sleeping on his own at that age.... Unfortunatly he still got up to nurse ever 2 hours but he slept on his tummy for a long time, I think if he can roll over on his own it's fine if "he" wants to sleep on his tummy, but as a rule I would stick to back sleeping if he doesn't..

H.

Ranae,

My son was born lifting his own head, but I abided by the advice to only put him down on his back. The problem came when he would wake up in the middle of the night, then fall right back to sleep as soon as my husband or I would lay him on our chest on his tummy. I then started laying him on his tummy. I kept the cradle right beside my bed & made sure that there were no thick blankets in his bed that could soffocate him. He did great & began sleeping through the night. Now, he thrashed around and sleeps in whatever position he wants, but still prefers to sleep on his tummy.

My biggest advice is to make sure your son can lift his head and turn it before letting him sleep on his tummy. That way, he won't get his nose smashed into anything that may affect his ability to breathe.

I had the same question when my son was younger. But my Ped told me that if he could hold his head up and roll then it would be okay, just don't put a lot of thick, heavy blankets in with him. But if he can roll over and hold his head up, see what position he is most content in. I used the foam holders that you but on each side of them for awhile because he liked to sleep on his side and then when he started to get around I saw that he would turn himself onto his tummy and seemed to be sleeping content. So when I put him down for a nap or bed I do put him on his tummy.
Hope this helps, good luck!!!

Hi R.,

When my little girl was born she liked tummy sleeping too. Usually she would fall asleep on me. What I did was, when I would check on her, turn her over on her back. She got used to it fairly quickly. She is now 13 months old and most often sleeps on her side. Like mom, like daughter because I do that too. LOL One thing I can say is, abt 9 months or so, the danger for SIDS disapates. The good news, you only have a few months left. :) As long as I had a monitor and could hear her, I didn't worry too much. I know each child is different and only you know what is best. :)

Blessings,

K

Are you putting baby down on his belly now? I think it's best not to do it yet, if he's not rolling over both ways yet. If he is rolling over, crawling or creeping, then he'll lay himself down the way he wants to sleep. We found this out when our son started crawling. He would thrash it out in his crib while we read him stories and sang him to sleep. He was like a madman, pacing (crawling) back and forth. He'd flip from his front to his back, get close to sleeping, then yell and flip to his belly again.
If your son is not rolling both ways, then he doesn't have enough control for you to put him down on his belly, since if his breathing was muffled in his sleep, he couldn't flip himself over.
That's the main concern with tummy sleeping. Since back sleeping only has been recommended, sids deaths have decreased.
If you are having trouble getting him to sleep, period, try a bedtime routine, and follow it as closely as you are able, indefinitely. That helped us. For example, bath, bottle, book, in that order, at the same time, or close to it every night, made a huge difference.
We went from 1-3 night awakenings to 0-1 in 1 week. Feeding him more during the day so that he didn't wake up hungry helped, too.
Hope this helps

When my 5 yr old was a baby.. I put her on her side.. cuz at the time i didnt know that they are suppose to be on their backs.. well anyway.. I would always wake up to my daughter on her tummy with her butt in the air.. now with my youngest daughter it scares me a bit...