Four Month Old Rolls on to Tummy While Sleeping

It's o.k. if her rolls on his tummy on his own. You can just wake up in the middle of the night to see if he's still breathing. As long as you don't leave pillows or stuffed animals on his crib, everything will be fine.

When my little sister was a baby (about 11 years ago) they wanted the baby to sleep on their tummies. They were worried about SIDS. They thought they would spit up and end up inhaling it. A few years after that, a new study was done, by Dr. Jim Sprott, OBE, a New Zealand scientist and chemist. It was decided that it was bad for babies to be on their tummys because it caused them to re breath the same air and they wouldn't get the allotted amount of oxygen. again, a risk for SIDS. The only problem with that study is they only did it in New Zealand, a country where it gets very cold and most homes don't have central heating, so babies often sleep on animal fur. The fur is what would trap the exhaled air. When you get right down to it, professional opinion as to what position the baby should sleep in keeps changing over the years as they get more information. In the end, it's best to try and do what the latest studies show, but take that advice with a gran of salt. If your baby doesn't want sleep in that position use your best judgement. It sounds like your baby wants to sleep on her tummy, so just keep an eye on her! Who knows! they may decide in a few years that tummy sleeping is again, the best way to go! Good luck, J.!

My son did the same thing. I did a lot of reading on it, and found out that if the kid can roll himself onto his stomach while sleeping, he can hold his head up well enough to move it to the side while sleeping if his breathing happens to be obstructed. Make sure that there is nothing loose in his crib save for a small snuggly. I was scared too, but now my son is almost a year old (Aug 13) and he won't sleep anyway but on his stomach (only it seems to easily crawl in his sleep!). So I would just leave be but check in often if you feel uncomfortable, since it never hurts to watch your baby sleep sometimes :) Good Luck!

Hi J.,

My friends mother is an OBGYN and she hears all the latest when it comes to SIDS and new research. She said they just found out that there is something that is missing in the brain of infants that had SIDS. She said that of course keeping the babies on their backs to sleep is a safe way to prevent suffocation, but that if a baby was to have SIDS it would be decided at birth no matter how hard you try to prevent it. I know it sounds so weird because we haven't heard too much on this, but I'm only saying what she told me because I wasd terrified when my daughter did the same thing your lil one is doing. My pediatrician said it is okay if she rolls herself over because that shows that she can move herself away if she does start to have breathing problems.

Hi J., My youngest Son, who is now almost sixteen (16) months old, was a lot like your Baby. I bought a device at Walmart that you lay the Baby down and there are two like pillows (barriers) on each side and this prevents the Baby from flipping to his side or to the tummy. I apologize J., I do not know remember what it is called, but you can find it at Walmart, K-mart, Target, etc., in the Baby section, where they have the safety items for Baby. It is also a very inexpensive item. I hope this helps, because it really helped my Baby, from rolling around and kept him nice and snug at night. Have A Nice Day.

I let mine be. My six-month old son started rolling over onto his tummy about a month ago and I figured if he was strong enough to roll himself, he's strong enough to move his head if necessary. The risk of SIDS is much higher for tummy-sleepers when they can't move their heads from side-to-side. I would just make sure there isn't anything in his crib that would pose a risk
(toys, heavy quilts, etc.) and let him sleep!

My daughter would do the same thing, and her pediatrician assured me that if she could roll to her tummy, then she could roll back. I wsa extremely concerned about SIDS and she said that if they are rolling on to there tummy to sleep on their own then they were not at risk. You may want to discuss it with you Pediatrician just to be sure!

Your baby is old enough that SIDS shouldn't be a big issue. Unlike my oldest two, my youngest rolls over as soon as she's put down, whether awake or sleeping. We peek in on her occasionally, but I don't turn her over. Some kids are just more comfortable that way, from the other moms I've discussed this with. So don't you lose sleep over it!

I put both my kids on their tummies from the start. My husband totally freaked with the oldest - spent the night at her crib side watching her sleep. I think they sleep better on their tummies as that is the position in utero.

When your baby can roll over on their own, the worry over SIDS is greatly reduced. If he rolls onto and off of his tummy while awake, he can do it during the night. So, I'd let him sleep. When babies figure out how to roll, they do it all the time - including in their sleep.

My kids rolled, and other than checking on them, I let them decide how they were comfortable. But, if you're not disturbing his sleep and it makes you feel better, do what you've got to do!! (The rolling is TOTALLY normal!!)

When my son decided to start sleeping on his tummy, I just let him. He slept MUCH better which translated to ME sleeping much better. If you still have any concerns after all of your responses - check on him every once in a while or maybe get a monitor where you can hear his breathing. Then you don't have to get out of bed to "check on him". But don't stress. SIDS is greatly reduced with age & with rolling over & lifting there heads. Oh & if he uses a pacifier - that reduced his risk also!