3 month old rolling over at night, waking him up. What to do?

[maylips]

No flames here please, but DS is a belly sleeper....

So he's already rolling front to back and that wakes him up at night. Then he cries, I have to get him, feed him, and he's back asleep, only to have the same scenario happen again about 3 hours later.

Is there a way to break this? He doesn't really need the feeding - he was going 7 hours before he learned this new trick so I know he can last longer without eating. That just seems the easiest way to get him back to sleep.

Any suggestions?

[catpagmo]

Hmmm, no real suggestions. Just wanted to say that the same thing happened with my DS at about the same age, or a bit later. I think the only thing you can do is wait for him to learn how to roll back over. Or, until he gets used to sleeping either on his belly or his back.

This, too, shall pass. :)

[wellyes]

I think a lot of kids change their sleeping habits around 3 months. Maybe if you swaddled him? If he accepts swaddling it may keep him still.

The other thing is, if you're nursing or you're the one who usually feeds him, have your DH (if you have one) go be the one to soothe him back to sleep. The baby probably has very close associations of comfort/food from you, less so than with daddy, so perhaps they can come up with a quicker go-back-to-sleep ritual. I know with DD if she wakes at night & I go to put her back to sleep it takes 15 minutes. If DH goes, he basically gives her a quick pat and she lies down and goes to sleep.

[lchang25000]

This same thing happened to DS and I would have to get up as many as 8 times a night to roll him over to his back/side since he would start whining everytime he rolled onto his tummy. Sometimes he would wake up every hour doing this, but would go right back to sleep after I turned him over. This went on for 2-3 weeks and boy was I glad when he could roll over from his tummy to back by himself!!

[HannaAddict]

He might be going through a growth spurt too and need to eat at this time. Just because he slept longer between feedings doesn't mean it stays that way, they are always changing and sometimes the changes aren't great for our sleep! Mine went through growth spurts about then and sleep changes. My second child who was our wonder sleeper, started waking more and needing to nurse and be comforted around this time period. Hang in there, I would meet his needs and just keep telling yourself that this too shall pass, he is a tiny infant and has lots of development and growing going on right now. I know how hard sleep deprivation is though, hope you can catch some cat naps.

[vonfirmath]

Wait a week or so and he'll learn how to turn both ways and you'll be fine :)

[kijip]

He might be going through a growth spurt too and need to eat at this time. Just because he slept longer between feedings doesn't mean it stays that way, they are always changing and sometimes the changes aren't great for our sleep! Mine went through growth spurts about then and sleep changes. My second child who was our wonder sleeper, started waking more and needing to nurse and be comforted around this time period. Hang in there, I would meet his needs and just keep telling yourself that this too shall pass, he is a tiny infant and has lots of development and growing going on right now. I know how hard sleep deprivation is though, hope you can catch some cat naps.

:yeahthat:

[happymom]

I dont have any solutions for the rolling problem, but I just wanted to add that if you keep feeding him to get him back to sleep, he will probably get used to being fed at night and will wake up to eat even once he figures out how to roll back over! So if you really dont think he's hungry, I would definitely take PP's advice and send DH in! Good luck...I know how hard it is to be sleep deprived!

[catsnkid]

DS took about a month to learn to roll the other way, but he started flipping at the same age and continued to sleep that way. I always put him down on his back and he rolls right over now. My previous ped said to just leave him if he does that when he is sleeping but they insist on flipping him back at daycare.

He is probably hungry when he wakes.

[HannaAddict]

I dont have any solutions for the rolling problem, but I just wanted to add that if you keep feeding him to get him back to sleep, he will probably get used to being fed at night and will wake up to eat even once he figures out how to roll back over! So if you really dont think he's hungry, I would definitely take PP's advice and send DH in! Good luck...I know how hard it is to be sleep deprived!

He's only three months old, he is an infant. He isn't leaning bad habits, he is letting his mom know his needs. At three months of age, our ped and everything I've read says to feed on demand, even if in the middle of the night. Hard, but having an infant is hard work!

[Nooknookmom]

DD1 did this as she was a tummy sleeper too. It stopped at 4-5 months when she figured out how to roll back over.

Oh, and then she started waking up b/c her binky would pop out and she didn't know how to put it back in, geez.