rolling to tummy at night

[julz222]

Yesterday was a big milestone in that my 12 week LO rolled back to front. I didnt even think about it when I put him to bed in his swaddle with one arm out (we are slowly trying to wean).

Just thought I was making progress in the sleep department when last night at 3:30AM, LO was grunting and whining. I didnt go in as he wasnt crying, but the whining continued for some time. Finally went in and found LO lying on tummy with face in pool of vomit!

After cleaning it up, every time I put him down to sleep again, he rolled over.

Any advice for sleep training with an LO who wont stay put? I tried putting a rolled blanket under the side he likes to roll towards, which made shh-putt super awkward for me at night because I had to do it left handed (turned him on right side to patt back rather than right).

Also, abandoned the swaddle and dont know if he is quite ready to have both arms loose!

[julz222]

One more thing... I would be fine if LO decided now to sleep on his tummy. However, while there all he does is whine. After 45min of listening to the whine last night he did not settle. Anyone out there have a baby who got used to sleeping on their tummies???

[brummum]

I think you're right to ditch the swaddle, once they can roll it becomes unsafe as you found out! I don't have any been there done that experience but I suspect that there isn't alot you can do at this point to stop her from rolling. The only thing I can think that might help would be to make sure she gets loads of opportunity to practice rolling during the day, that way she might be less inclined to practice it at night! If you can help her learn to roll back then this might also help her find a comfortable position independently and roll back herself if she want to without your intervention. Sorry not much help! I hope others who have had similar situations will jump on and offer their experience.

[Emami]

I'm wondering if the whining and not settling had more to do with the vomit?  He could have been feeling unwell rather than protesting being on his tummy.  Is he ok today?
My DD switched to being a tummy sleeper but she was about 7 months when she did it, so older than your LO.  It was a rough night though but i think in her case it had a lot to do with her trying to crawl.  She had always slept on her back but kept flipping and just wouldn't settle, and was up on and off all night.  But that was it - the next day she slept on her tummy for naps and the next night she was fine too.  LOTS of crawling practice during the day, so  i agree with brummum to practice roliling with him.  Hope your DS can find his way to get comfy soon!

[brummum]

I got your little ones gender wrong! so sorry!

[julz222]

Thanks for your feedback. I tried him out of his swaddle and he kept waking up. Not sure how you make the decision to wean a baby off the swaddle but after watching a few naps, he didnt seem able to keep his arms from flailing during light sleep. So I put the one arm that we had out of the swaddle back in, which prevented him from rolling (needs his elbow to propel himself over) . I am sure my problem will re-surface again when we try to wean again in a few weeks

[brummum]

Sorry I thought you were saying he was able to roll when fully swaddled. If he isn't then its fine to keep swaddling. You don't 'have' to wean the swaddle if you don't want to unless they can roll over like that and then it becomes a risk so if it is helping his sleep I would just go with it until he forces your hand. We tried a couple of times to 'wean' little mans swaddle and it was a disaster until one night at about 4.5/5 months he just wouldn't be swaddled so we put him in a sleep sack and he was fine. I think he just got to the point that he was able to control his limbs enough to not cause him a problem and when we had tried before that he just wasn't ready. my view would be if it ain't broke don't try and fix it! Just my take on it.

[AMJ]

Hi there we usued a product called Zipadee-Zip when we were weaning off the swaddle. We got a size S so there is more resistance for the arms. I also sawn the arms a bit tighter to get even more resistance and eventually loosened it up. I ordered it online. Hope that helps