4.5 month old rolling onto tummy and waking up constantly all night

[laurawesty]

My son is 4.5 months and obsessed with rolling onto his tummy all day (and night) long. I no longer swaddle him due to fear of suffocation and he is constantly hitting himself in the face, making it challenging for him to fall asleep. However, once asleep, he has a few hours of peaceful sleep before the rolling starts. Then he rolls and screams until we flip him over, but even as we are turning him over, he is fighting and straining against us to roll again. This happens every 30 mins or so for a few hours multiple times a night. I am fine with him sleeping on his stomach (unconventional, but I've discussed it with his pediatrician), but only if he stops screaming! Advice??

Side notes: he is on a 3.5 hour easy, takes two long naps and a catnap, and used to be an incredible sleeper!

[Layla]

Hi there and welcome,

I used this product http://www.safetsleep.com/ with all 3 girls until they learned how to roll both ways. I also used a gro-bag, which can limit movement/their ability to roll over a little longer. If you're not comfortable with that, it's a matter of resettling him at night/when he wakes but rather than flipping him over, try and resettle him in whatever position he's in so that he gets used to sleeping on his tummy as well. With all new skills they learn, they want to practice  them in their sleep...the novelty will wear off (just yucky having to deal with it in the middle of the night!).

I would also offer lots and lots of A time practicing rolling both ways and you could maybe incorporate that activity (rolling in the cot) just before he is going down for a nap/bedtime.

At 4.5months, he may also be ready for more A time and needing to transition to 4hr EASY. It may just be a matter of him needing more A and less daytime sleep as he may also be mucking around when he should be taking a nap/going to bed for the night because he isn't tired enough!

At 4.5months, some babies are starting to head into the 3-2 nap territory All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months and my dd3 started the 3-2 transition at 5 months! If you could post your routine, it may be a matter of tweaking some things

[danaadell]

My son did this too--it took a couple weeks for him to "get over" his new skill.

[laurawesty]

Thank you for the responses. I have heard of the safetsleep and might need to invest in one for my next baby. I have him in a grobag. Of course I posted last night and he was better. Ha! That always happens. I resettled him a few times without flipping him and he did okay. Today I had him nap on his stomach for one nap (he doesn't roll as much during daytime sleep), and he slept after a few minutes of fussing. Yay! Looks like the worst might be over.

As for his schedule, we are going to transition to 4 hour EASY soon, but he is very small for his age and has reflux, so he needs to put on some more weight first. Soon!

Thanks again!

[Layla]

No worries, I hope the worst is over... let us know how you go