Baby tummy sleeping

[spanannie]

8 week old DD seems to sleep much better on her tummy. She's able to soothe herself to sleep on her tummy, but not at all, when sleeping on her back. I've been letting her sleep on her tummy for naps, but have been nervous to let her sleep that way at night. Is this really as risky as they say it is? I know that forever people were told to have their children stomach sleep. I'm just hoping to get input/opinions from others. I think life will be much easier if she sleeps on her tummy, but her safety comes before that.

[EllasMum]

I know a couple who are both nurses. They had a baby who was a *very* poor sleeper. They had put him down on his back religiously. Being nurses, they understood the risks of tummy sleeping, so followed the prevailing advice and put their little guy on his back. He would maybe sleep an hour a time and then just cry and cry when left on his back. Finally, out of desperation and having tried *everything* else they could think of, they put the baby on his tummy, and it was like night and day. He was immediately calmer, and slept for 3-4 hours at a time. They were very careful about it - firm mattress, no blankets etc in the crib, both are non-smokers, etc etc etc. Although it does go against the prevailing advice out there, it can be done carefully. This couple recognized the possible risks but analyzed their situation and decided it was worth the small risk to have a child who was actually rested.

I think as long as you are careful about the tummy sleeping, it can be done with little risk (note that there is still a small risk, but you can do everything you can to minimize).

Good luck!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I was stickler against it w/ ds1 but I did it with ds2 only if he was in bed with us. I tried my best to minimize all the other SIDS' risks by keeping big beeding out of our beds and such. Plus, he was full term, no smokers, breastfed...all the boxes were checked on that front. My dh hated that I did it but it really worked. You can always buy an Angel Care monitor for peace of mind.

Beth

[JBaxter]

I have had 3 tummy sleepers. All slept very well in a bed ( in my room) from very early. They were healthy strong babies. We are non smokers and we ALL needed sleep. 4 to 6 hr stretches on the tummy 1 hr on the back/side. No brainer for us. If they were in bed with me they were back/side sleepers but they were usually bfing so it was not an issue.

[spanannie]

I know my DS was a tummy sleeper, too, but can't remember how early I put him down for the night that way. I know he was taking tummy naps early on. I can't remember about DD1!

Lauren is a good sleeper, but has a lot of trouble falling asleep when I lay her on her back. It takes try after try until I can get her asleep. This happens in the middle of the night feeding, too, so I can spend an 1hr just trying to put her down. In my experience with napping her on her tummy, I can put her to sleep awake and she'll suck her little hand and fall asleep. I am hoping she would do the same after her night feeding. Thanks for the reassurance. I'm worried about tonight, but I'm sure all will be fine. I just want everyone to get a good night's sleep! It's extra-important (as you know) when you have 2 older kids!


I have had 3 tummy sleepers. All slept very well in a bed ( in my room) from very early. They were healthy strong babies. We are non smokers and we ALL needed sleep. 4 to 6 hr stretches on the tummy 1 hr on the back/side. No brainer for us. If they were in bed with me they were back/side sleepers but they were usually bfing so it was not an issue.

[ThreeofUs]

Us, too. DS could sleep for maybe 20 minutes on his back. Maybe. If all the stars were aligned correctly. When I put him on his tummy for "tummy time", he would immediately go to sleep. He was exhausted. We were exhausted - he could only sleep on us.

Finally, we put him on his tummy and he slept at night. This resulted in us co-sleeping because I was SO scared of leaving him that way. But it worked.

Again, a strong, healthy baby with absolutely no risk factors for SIDS - and by 4 months, the risk of SIDS is a lot lower. Honestly, though, if I had known he needed to be a tummy sleeper, I would have put him on his belly earlier. Poor little one, he was so tired....

[MommyAllison]

We coslept with DD, but she would only sleep on her side or tummy. Like everyone else, we had no other risk factors, and she had excellent head/trunk control very early on so we went with it. DS doesn't mind sleeping on his back, but as soon as he started rolling over, he ended up sleeping on his tummy a lot. I always feel better about it after they can roll over. :)

[ellies mom]

With my first, I kept her on her back. Between the two I took a Human Developement class and the textbook had a section on SIDS. There are many more risk factors than we normally hear about. So with my second, I have a lot more confidence putting her on her stomach to sleep. I really only leave her on her stomach during the day. At night we co-sleep so if she is asleep when I go to bed I bring her to bed with me rather than waiting until she wakes on her own. Once she gets rolling over down, I'll start waiting until she wakes up before getting her.