Should I be worried?

[teedeedee]

DD will be 5 months old in a week. The past 2 nights when I put her down to sleep (at bedtime and after waking in the middle of the night) she flips immediately onto her side. I put her back on her back and she wakes up and fusses. I keep going until she falls asleep on her back. But this morning DH said she was on her tummy! This seriously freaks me out.

I've been terrified about SIDS ever since my MIL visited when DD was a few weeks old and told me about all the babies she knew who died of SIDS. I really do love my MIL and we get along famously, but I don't know what she was thinking!

But anyway, now I'm not really sleeping, instead I keep worrying about DD and going to check on her. She rolls from her back to her tummy ok during the day, but not so much from her tummy to her back. And she hates tummy time during the day, so we do minimal amounts of it...just enough to get her a little daily.

So, should I be worried or am I just an overprotective new momma??
TD

[sariana]

If she is turning on her own, there is nothing you can do anyway, so don't worry. Continue to put her down on her back, but if she wants to roll, she will. My DD started to flip at around the same age.

You may want to increase tummy time, just to give her more practice flipping the other way, and to put your mind at ease.

[tnrnchick74]

Also by now she can turn her head side to side by herself pretty well, right? She's going to turn herself into a variety of positions from now on, especially when she sleeps. Nothing you can do about it, and now is when the SIDS risk starts dropping. Yeah, you are worrying about nothing (or at least nothing you can control since she's moving on her own), so jsut relax and get some sleep. Easier said than done, I know! I drove myself insane from about 2 months + when my son REFUSED to sleep in ANY position except on his tummy. I gave up and let him sleep. Researchers don't exactly know what causes SIDS - they have some good theories and ideas, but they do not know 100%.

[JTsMom]

I'll throw another "don't worry" onto the pile. Seriously, I wouldn't worry about this for one minute for all of the reasons already stated.

[brittone2]

You can only control so much. If she's becoming increasingly mobile, you can't really do much about her flipping over.

I'd just make sure I was reducing the other areas of concern for SIDS. No exposure to 2nd hand smoke, firm enough mattress, make sure the room isn't too hot, no major loose bedding, etc. There was also some new study saying running a fan (not ideal this time of the year, but something to consider) may reduce the risk of SIDS.

[mommylamb]

DS was flipping over at that age too. He's a true stomach sleeper now. Don't worry.

[shawnandangel]

My newborn started being able to flip onto her side and became a side-sleeper at 2 weeks. The dr. said there was nothing I could do about it and like the previous posters have already said, just reduce SIDS risks elsewhere.

I also read about the fan study and she has the ceiling fan on medium in any room she sleeps in now.

[scrooks]

My DD did the same thing. After a couple of nights of worrying and flipping her over every hour I gave up. My husband thought I was nuts for even trying. She is 15 months old now and still sleeps happily on her tummy!