Back Sleeper - rolls over and can't get back to sleep

[tania78]

My 6 month old has always been a back sleeper.  She's been rolling from back to tummy since about 4 months old, but just in the last couple of weeks she isn't sleeping very well. She used to have at least one hour naps and go down no problem and bedtime was easy too.  Now, her naps are less than an hour and it's harder to put her down.  She turns over on her tummy and then she can't turn on her back again.  Same thing for bedtime...going down is not a problem, but she ends up waking up about 2-3 times because she's turned over on her tummy and can't get back on her back. Then she's screaming hysterically and the only way I can calm her down is by feeding her. 

I'm at my wits end and not sure what to do!! HELP!

[Tweakster]

Hi there, Finn went through this, it's just developmental I'm afraid.  In the beginning we went in and rolled him back, but really they just have to figure it out on their own.

Is there a possibility that her routine needs tweaking?  Sometimes when naps shorten and developmental things happen at the same time we forget to look at the routine.  If you post we can take a look.

I would caution you against feeding her if she's not really hungry because she may start to form that sleep association and then it's a whole new can of worms.  Have you tried shush/pat or PU/PD for settling?

[tania78]

Well today she was back into her regular routine.  Last night she only woke up once to feed at 2:30 and went right back to sleep until 7am.  She's still on 3 naps and have been pretty much an hour each today. This is what her regular day looks like:
Wake up between 7am -7:30am BF
Activity until about 9-9:30am then sleep
Wake up about 10-10:30am (sometimes she sleeps 1.5 - 2 hours so everything gets pushed)
BF after waking up
Activity until about 12-12:30am then sleep
Wake up about 1-1:30am (again sometimes she sleeps 1.5 - 2 hours so everything gets pushed)
BF after waking up
Activity until about 3:30am then sleep
Wake up about 4:30am (usually only sleeps about an hour here)
BF after waking up
Activity until about 7-7:30pm - start bath, BF, then she's usually asleep by 8pm.

I find that her bedtime varies some nights.  Depending what time she wakes up from her last nap. If she wakes up by 4pm then bath starts at 7pm, if she wakes up by 4:30 or later, then we start at 7:30pm.  Her last nap can also vary in time - anywhere between 3:30 and 4:30 going to sleep, that's why her bedtime varies.  I've always had a problem making her last nap & bedtime more consistent, but we've never started her bath later than 7:30pm.

Oh, and we also started solids this week - rice cereal. I'm giving it to her at lunchtime. She's not liking it too much so far...hopefully it will get better.