Tummy Sleeper - Rolling over onto his back at night and freaking out

[briguy7676]

Hi There,
Ever since my twins started to roll over onto their bellies on their own in the middle of the night, the doctor said it was okay to put them down to sleep that way.   Great, they love sleeping on their bellies... BUT.  My boy (5 mos.) will roll over onto his back 2-3 times a night and will scream and scream until i come in and roll him back over..  I then need to pat his but for anywhere between 5 and 45 min for him to get back down.  any suggestions?


Thank you in advance!

[Martini~]

Hello Briguy and welcome on BW forum!

Let me start from short comment on "Ferberizing". This forum and its participants do not support any form of CC or CIO, no matter what age or occasion as like Tracy, we believe that letting your baby cry may break this unique bond of trust you have with her. The only form of "letting your baby cry" is when she is doing so called mantra cry which helps her self sooth. However your reaction depends on the type of a cry not the time. If you would like to hear more about methods other than CC or CIO which can help your child becoming an independent sleeper, please go through FAQ questions on sleep forums. There is plenty of useful info there!

Regarding tummy sleeping, that's quite common at some stage that kiddos roll over on their tummies but cannot go back to back and cry at night to roll them over. This is usually only a stage and pass away quickly when they get used to sleeping on tummy.

It is however specific that you need sometimes up to 45min to sooth your baby after tummy roll-over. I would say that he may have problems in general with settling. Could you please let us know some more about his normal settling scenery? What have you done until recently and what are you doing now?

[briguy7676]

Hi, thank you.. and I understand the position on CIO.   

I think you may have misunderstood my issue.   My son loves to sleep on his belly.   Since has been rolling over, we put him to sleep on his belly and he sleeps great.   It is when he rolls over onto his back, that he starts to scream.   Please know that I NEVER let him cry at this point and I come to him as soon as I can.  I roll him over onto his belly, shush and pat his tush until he calms.   then when I think he's asleep, I stop, wait and he will usually start to roll over onto  his back again.   sometimes this will last 5 minutes, sometimes 45...   last night he did this at 2am and I was up with him until 4 am and finally decided to feed him... (his usual feeding time is 5am).  This was an extreme case.

[Martini~]

Sorry, definitely misunderstood:).

So can he roll over from back to tummy but he is not doing it at night?

If he cannot roll this way, I would offer him plenty of practice during A time and he should soon start to roll to his back. If he can roll, I would try to trick him:) does he have a specific side he usually roll to his back? If yes, you may try to put him close to cot side so to stop him from rolling on that side. What do you think?

[PuppyLuf]

I posted about this a while back and had the exact same problem with my tummy sleeper at 5 months.  We practiced and practiced during A time, but it took a while (like a month) of him doing this and my flipping him back over before he could do it on his own in his sleep.  I tucked a light blanket tightly around his back and that usually helped until about 2am.  Then I'd go flip him, retuck him, and he'd last till 6 or so.  It was exhausting.

Also something to think about: it's easier for them to flip back over if they are not wearing a super-huge night diaper, especially if they are cloth-diapered.  My boy was so leaky I had to double diaper him, but eventually, I started putting him in size SIX diapers (he usually wore 3s during the day) and that made it easier for him to flip himself back over.  My daycare provider says cloth diaper children in her  care generally have a harder time rolling over, especially when sleeping.

Good luck.  It's a frustrating phase.