Rolling in night and can't get back to sleep - what should I do?

[Nood]

Hi

My 7mo has always been a brilliant tummy sleeper - getting 11.5 hrs a night - wonderful.  He has been able to roll for a while now though and the past few nights (and naps) has been rolling on to his back and getting upset and not able to go back to sleep.  I have been going in and flipping him back on to tummy, and he immediately goes up on his knees and rolls again.  So I have been staying with him and doing PUPD or just with hand on back til he goes to sleep. 

What I don't want to do is get into bad habits, as he was brilliant at putting himself to sleep before.

So......question is, how do I proceed from here?  My gut feeling is that he needs to learn to go to sleep on his back but how do I do that?!  I don't want to let him CIO but then if I keep helping him to go sleep, he'll never learn.

Is there anyone our there who has been through the same thing and got some useful advice?

Thanks! Nicky

[Tweakster]

Hi there we went through it and in the end we had to leave him to learn it on his own.  Finn was a tummy sleeper from about 3 mths of age and learned to roll very early on.  The first few times we did do the rollover but it got tedious so we started putting him back on his back to sleep again (seems weird but it worked) and he seemed to learn faster. He did better getting to sleep at bedtime on his back and then if he rolled he seemed to sort it out faster.

Don't have much else to offer I'm afraid, it's very developmental and they do move on rather quickly :-)

Hang in there!!!

[Nood]

Thanks Wendy!

It's when you're in these phases that you can't see the end isn't it!

Charlie has never gone to sleep on his back so doesn't know how to.  My feel on it is that I leave him to it, but last night he got in such a state.  Maybe we should do rolling from front to back and back again during the day!

[Tweakster]

Yes for sure practice in the day helps, you can even practice in his cot - throw some toys in there for interest and have some cot play time.

And yes, the phases do seem to last forever when you are smack dab in the middle :-)

[empowered mama]

Yes, I know exactly how you feel as we went through this last month with our LO.  I was so afraid of becoming a prop by helping him, but in the end he figured it out.  I really never thought he would get it, doubtful as I am, but they do learn.  Practicing does help, but it may take a little time to get through this phase. 

One other thing that helped us was removing the sleep positioners so he would be more likely to get back to his tummy.  There was no way he was going anywhere with those things in there!

HTH and GL!

[Nood]

Empowered Mama, so good to know that people have made it through and come out the other side!

What did you do in the mean time?  Just leave him to it or assist with getting back to sleep?  My husband is going to sleep in the spare room tonight as I am experimenting with leaving Charlie to sort himself out and it could be noisy!

[empowered mama]

Well I continued to roll him back almost every time until I decided to take the sleep positioners out.  Once I did that, he seemed to figure it out much more quickly and I would try to let him go for a few minutes to see if he could get it.  If he got really worked up, I would go in and help him back.  I received a lot of suggestions to let him go for a few minutes (which is hard in a 1BR apt!), and he really did get it eventually.

I know it seems like it will be forever, but it will be here and gone before you know it.  Hang in there!

[Nood]

Thanks for the tips.  I had some sleep positioners in as well (rolled up towels!) to try and stop him rolling in the night, but we have removed them as I thought they might be the reason he can't roll back.  Last night he didn't wake up at all so there was no rolling!  Well, as far as I know...maybe he did it all by himself while I was asleep!

[Tweakster]

Hi there, we also tried to lock him into place and it made things worse.  We got rid of everything in there and just held our breath until the phase was over lol.

You'd be surprised how much mileage these kiddos get around the crib at night - Finn was doing 'the clock' positioning from around 3 or 4 mths.  Went into crib one way and woke up the other way entirely.

[Nood]

Ok, so update on last night.  We were OK til 430am and then he woke up, rolled on to back and then led there chatting and whining for about 15 mins, he then started to get wound up and wasn't going back on to front, so I thought I would step in.  1 hour later and still no luck.  I ahve tried PUPD, Shhh Pat, the lot and he will not calm down.  I have also tried leaving him.  So I cave in and BF him, attempt to put back in cot and no - upset again.  I then put his 'light show rainforest on' which sends him to sleep for his naps, and he eventually fell asleep on his own 15 later.  For 10 mins (645am).

I am wondering what my plan of action should be for tonight. Maybe I left him too long initially (15 mins) and should go in earlier.  I am thinking maybe put him back on front and put rainforest on...

I can't be up from 430am again!!  Ahhh!

Any thoughts?

[empowered mama]

So sorry you had a rough night - things were a little rocky in our house too 

I found myself in those situations a few times, and I chose to help him back to his tummy before he got wound up and wouldn't go back down.  I discovered for us, that if it were in the early hours of the morning that he was more likely to be unable to settle himself if he got worked up.  So I just kept rolling him at the times where I thought it would be most helpful, and eventually he did get it. 

Go with your gut.  I personally don't think helping him out here and there is going to harm his ability to roll back (I thought for sure I would be rolling him back til he was 2!  It will happen eventually, I promise!)

Hope you have a better night - hugs -