Does/Did Your Baby Sleep on Their Tummy or Back?

I put my newborns on their side. I was afraid of SIDS on the tummy and asphyxiation on their back if they had spit up.

my first slept on his side or tummy. he would sleep better in a swaddle, though, so we would make sure he had at least one arm out before laying him down. we used the angelcare monitor at my mom's insistance, but once i looked into the sorry excuse for research that was the basis for recommending babies sleep on their backs, well, it didn't really much matter to me. i leave it up to the baby.
fwiw, my second baby hated the swaddle from day 1 despite my efforts to allow her to get used to it. she sleeps on her back mostly but has just began rolling over in the mornings a few minutes before she's "up for the day." this cracks me up b/c it's just like what i do! :D

Both of mine slept on their tummies. When my teenager was a baby that is what they recommended. When my 2 year old was born I put him on his back for the first few days. Then, thank God I woke up - I heard him, but he had spit up and was choking on it! It was all in his nose and throat and it scared me to death. He never slept on his back again.

I know someone whose baby died of SIDS and was on his back when it happened.

Most sleep better on their tummies. Don't worry! You're a great mother but you need your sleep. I can't sleep on my back to this day unless I am really sick and can't move!

I swaddled my son and put him on his "side" most of the time until he no longer wanted to be swaddled (which was about 2 months old). During times of extremely exhaustion, I would let him sleep on his stomach after my mother did it one afternoon. I never did it at night, only during the day when someone (i.e. my husband) was awake watching him. After that, he started sleeping through the night and on his stomach. I got up every so often to check on him since I was so paranoid about SIDS, but he's 9 months old now and there doesn't seem to be a problem. All we can do is continue to pray that we are doing the right thing.

My baby spit up alot, and the doc was concerned about putting her on her back b/c of the asperating risk. She used to spit out her nose, so he told us to put her on her side. Your post doesn't say how old your baby is. I would try laying her on her side with a rolled up recieving blanket behind her back. If she's old enough to roll over, don't worry about the blanket.

I'm not sure how old your baby is, but mine slept on their back until they rolled over on their own.

my oldest was a side sleeper by choice. my youngest choose his tummy and would always find it or choose not to sleep. i choose to let nature take it's course. he was fine and always slept great. i worried a bit more but not that much more. to this day, it holds firm. my oldest is a side sleeper. my youngest sleeps on his belly. nature has a path. LOL

My baby has NEVER been a great sleeper. And when he was first born, he too hated sleeping on his back but I made him do it anyway because I was so paranoid about SIDS. My MIL put him on his tummy once and he took the best nap ever but I still couldn't get past the SIDS fear. Good luck. I haven't had a good night sleep in a year and a half so I wish I had better advice for you. I don't, but I wanted you to know you are not alone.

I fought for weeks to get my newborn to sleep on his back. One night, we just decided to try him on his tummy and it worked! I was really nervous about it, but even now, more than 3 years later, he is a tummy sleeper

My son slept on his back until he learned to flip over at 4 months old. I was concerned about SIDS so I tried putting rolled up towels on both sides of him but he would still manage to flip over on his tummy. Then we went for his 4 month checkup and the pedi said since he had great head and neck control not to worry about making him sleep on his back all the time. I still continued to lay him down on his back for naps and bedtime but he would always flip over. He never slept w/a blanket or stuffed animal so there was no concern for suffication. It got too exhausting always trying to turn him over on his back that I finally gave up when he was 6 months old. My son still loves to sleep on his tummy to this day!

My kids always slept on their backs, but my sister in law always put her little girl on her tummy and she was fine. Just take anything plushy out of the crib and don't let her sleep with a blanket

My daughters slept on their sides. I was always too worried about them sleeping on their back or stomach. I used a product called a sleep positioner from Babies'R'Us. It is inexpensive, only $9.99, therefore if it doesn't work you haven't lost much. It is basically two curved triangles with a piece of cloth attatched to one and the other is adjustable with velcro on the bottom. You can make it as tight against your babies tummy if he/she has problems with gas or just wants to be held. It hugs your babies curves perfectly. I never had problems with my daughters rolling out of it. I just swaddled them and then positioned them in the positioner. It worked wonderfully. Anytime I attend a friends baby shower it is always in my gift basket!!! Hope this helps.

A little about me:

I am a SAHM with three wonderful children, a boy 11 yrs, and two girls 9 & 3 yrs.

My baby girl is 3 months old and mostly sleeps on her tummy. She has slept through the night since she was a little over a month old. She'll occasionally sleep on her side or back...if she fell asleep with me, but if I put her down in her bed on her tummy, she'll sleep for hours. Good luck!

Hi E.,

My little one slept on my chest for the first couple of months. She didn't like her cradle at all. Once we decided (well I did) we put her in her own crib and she has loved it since. She sleeps on her stomach all the time. She is 15 months but she has been doing this for quite some time. Hope this helps.

my first slept on her back swaddled because that was what we were told to do. After a couple months of no sleep (she only slept for about an hour at a time) My mother told me to try putting her on her tummy. She slept 6 hours. I tried sleep aids for my next two to get them to sleep on their backs. They seem to get startled and will only sleep for a few minutes at a time. After a few weeks for each they went to their tummy and sleep through the night.

Hi E.!

My 3 1/2 year old has slept on her tummy since she was about 5 weeks old. I remember my mom coming over and seeing how absolutely exhausted me and my daughter were because neither of us were sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time. So she suggested that since she had decent head and neck control, to let her try sleeping on her tummy. Of course I made her stay up and keep a very close eye on her. Ended up she slept for 5 whole hours! Thats like gold to a mother of a newborn! So she has slept on her tummy ever since then and has been fine.

I would suggest, however, if you do plan to give this a try, to make sure they have some control of their neck muscles so she/he does not get caught with her/his face in the mattress and of course do not put anything in the crib/cradle.

My son slept swaddled on his back until he was about 5 months old. After that, he was strong enough to flip himself, and he would choose to roll over on his tummy himself (we of course stopped swaddling him at this point).

I too was very worried about SIDS and was not willing to let him tummy sleep when he was a newborn. A lot of times that meant not a lot of sleep, but I knew I would not have slept well if he was on his stomach, since i would be worrying about him smothering himself.

You might want to try propping up the mattress a bit (putting something underneath one side of it), so that your baby is not laying completely flat. If it is reflux or something keeping her from sleeping, then this might help her sleep better.

Good luck!

My sons slept on their sides with one of those wedges up until they could roll over on their own. That was the recommendation when they were little. They didn't like swaddling, so that never worked with my boys.