My 5 month old sleeps so much better on his tummy; its a difference of 1 4-hour stretch then up every 1-2 hours on his back; or 2 almost 5 hour stretches on his tummy. (so only one wake-up overnight vs 3 or 4!)
I'm super nervous about letting him sleep this way (he rolls belly to back, but not back to belly)... curious as to how others feel.
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If he can roll from belly to back and has good head control I would be ok with it!
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DD slept on her belly. My family all put their babies on their bellies. I never thought anything of it.
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I don't put him down on his belly, but he rolls to it.
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I always put him down on his back. Once he was strong enough to roll over on his own I let him, but I've never intentionally put him down on his stomach (at 2.5 he's normally a belly sleeper...)
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I just usually plopped her on her back and eventually she started rolling and sleeping on her belly. I voted yes but only when she could roll but I guess I never really placed her on her belly.
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Um, no, I wouldn't.
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No. If he rolls onto his stomach, fine. But the association with SIDS is so staggering, I wouldn't do it.
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She rolled back to belly first. So, she started rolling and getting stuck, then rolling and liking it. She is still a belly sleeper and after she was rolling easily both ways I did put her down on her belly. I can't remember when that was. I think I'd be ok with it if she could roll belly to back though.
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Nope. I never put him down that way. My Ped told me if he got there by himself that was fine tho.
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I didn't, because I was super paranoid of SIDS. Even now, she's a toddler and I put her down on her back, and she rolls to her side, which is how she likes to sleep.
But my sister put both of her kids down to sleep on the tummies, and they are fine--I just didn't want to risk it.
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I never did. Back is best is drilled into my head. But once they rolled if they got like that so be it. I didn't go move them. But both of mine are back or side sleepers.
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I always put him down on his back. Now he always rolls to his tummy to sleep.
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@bunnylove08: I also slept on my belly as did my siblings and we all survived.
@FaithFertility: E has always been very strong; but he'll still face-plant sometimes while he sleeps so that doesn't help my nervousness.
@LBee: @lovehoneybee: @2littlepumpkins: Can't wait till he rolls to his belly on his own so I can feel less anxious about it!
@jedeve: @Anagram: SIDS is so scary, I know the odds are slim but it's enough to freak me out! -
I always put my DD down on her back. Once she could roll to her tummy by herself she often slept on her tummy. I'll do the same with J.
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K was already napping on her tummy very early on and would also do her 1st stretch on her tummy once she can turn her head. It was the only way she would sleep for a while and after observing for a few nights that she either doesn't move, or can easily turn her head, I was fine with it (esp she def was not STTN anyway so you're talking max 2-3 hrs that I wasn't watching her on the monitor).
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@josina: I know what you mean is that once of what if factor.....I still hate G sleeping on her side when she does sometime it is soo close to side of pnp thankfully it is mesh...
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@bunnylove08: Really, you didn't hear anything at all about how much safer it is for babies to sleep on their backs??
@josina: Lots of babies do fine sleeping on their tummies. But the ones that don't do fine die. I would've only let DS sleep on his tummy while supervised because I wouldn't want to be in that small percentage. But he hated being on his stomach and we swaddled anyways, so we never did it.
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I put him on his back and just let him immediately roll over to his belly.
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When DS was baby baby, putting him down on his belly equated to a sign to him for sleepy time and he'd fall asleep in no time, and stayed asleep. Of course, once he went back to daycare, that trick went out the window. Boo!
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I'm really surprised at how many folks are ok with infants sleeping on their tummy. Once they can roll, there's not much to do about it, but before then, babies should really be put to sleep on their backs.
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No - I've never put either of my babies on their tummies to sleep. Always put them down on their backs. Once they can roll to their tummy on their own, I'd let them sleep that way, but not before.
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I always put her to sleep on her back. if she rolled there, so be it. Many babies have died over the years, and the data clearly shows that this reduces SIDS risk
Lots of babies do survive. Lots haven't.
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No, because of SIDS. And I'm rule follower. That being said, my LO learned how to roll back to belly before she learned how to roll belly to back. So she'd roll onto her belly and get stuck. I asked our ped if I should flip her over when she rolled onto her belly at night since she COULDN'T roll herself back over... and she said no. She said if she could roll to her belly she had enough head control and was fine.
Good news for you is... your LO is 5 months, so he'll be rolling both ways any time now and then the decision will be out of your hands
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@ShootingStar: this is how I feel. It's pretty binary - they survive, or don't. It's not like "oh my mom let me watch TV and I turned out okay!"
I had a cousin die of SIDS while bed sharing, and my dad had to investigate a SIDS death on Christmas morning when I was a kid. So I'm sure I'm more paranoid than some. I know its tough when you just want a little bit of extra sleep. But for me, the extra worry meant I wouldn't have slept any better anyway.
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@ShootingStar: @FaithFertility: Exactly. I def. don't want to be the what if, or the mom of the one baby that doesn't do fine.
A friends BIL's MIL had a 4 month old die of SIDS at her daycare b/c he was tummy sleeping during the day. SOOO scary.
*I read this article about how SIDS could be related to an ear abnormality; hoping this leads to an eventual test and/or cure!! http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/seattle-researchers-groundbreaking-work-detect-pre/nj3Z9/ -
@josina: I wanted to expand on my comment a little.
I completely, 100% understand the desire to put him on his stomach. My son could sleep so much better on me (he would lay on his stomach). Probably for the whole day if I would let him. And it was sooo tempting. BUT, as others have said, it just wasn't worth it. I knew he would eventually discover tummy sleeping and the risk vastly outweighed my desire for sleep. I'm not trying to sound preachy, on the contrary, I wanted to stop and acknowledge the temptation and tell you that I've been there too. I had to make a conscious decision that I was willing to give up that sleep - and in the fog, that's really hard. It's your personal decision - do the research and go from there. YOU have to make the decision and buy into it 100%... because when he's up the 700th time at 3 AM you need to know in your heart of hearts that you don't want to turn that baby on his stomach just so you can have some friggin' rest.
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@lovehoneybee: I did exactly the same thing -- always put her down on her back but let her do her own thing from there once she could roll over.
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@josina: Have you tried the Magic Merlin Suit? That changed our life! We figured out that he slept so well on our chests because he still had some moro in him.
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@ShootingStar: Yes i heard it was safer for babies to sleep on their back, but DD had very bad colic and sleeping on her stomach helped. She survived and will be 3 in September.
we also co slept with her too.. I like to live life on the edge.
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DS started sleeping on his belly once he could roll well and he's never been a back-sleeper since!
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@LBee: I let him tummy sleep last night, and I don't think I'll do it again; in the end, while he slept great, I still didn't sleep well because I was too worried about it, constantly up to check on him anyways.
I was looking at the merlin suit or zippadee zip but wondering if it would be worth it since he'll probably be rolling back to belly on his own soon anyways... -
Not with DD1 - she was always put down on her back and even when she could roll onto her tummy, I was still super freaked out!
Now DD2 on the other hand....well, we'll just say I was much more relaxed. She had amazing head control from a very early age, and after a couple of weeks of absolute crap sleep, I decided to try putting her on her belly for a daytime nap. She slept brilliantly and was so much more settled, and I was fairly comfortable with her ability to move her head, so I went with it. She slept in a PNP right next to my side of the bed, less than two feet from me, so I could check on her easily throughout the night.
I know it's not for everyone, and I would never have dreamed of doing it with my first as I was such a rule follower, but this time around, I just truly felt as though it wasn't that big of a deal.
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No I knew someone whose LO died of SIDS so I was paranoid.
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No, she looses her mind when she's on her belly to begin with.
She's starting to roll though (back to belly, cant go belly to back) so I'm waiting to see if she ends up there on her own.
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I never put her down on her belly, but if she rolled over I didn't go in and flip her.
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I never intentionally did because of SIDS risk but once she could roll herself there and back I let her stay!
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When DS started rolling from back to belly, I just started putting him down on his belly because he would fuss and thrash until he got there, and like yours, he slept much better that way. DH was flipping him back onto his back for a while until our ped told him we didn't need to do that.
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I laid him on his side before he could roll. He started belly sleeping by two months when he rolled.
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