URGENT - rolling over onto tummy at night

[Bkkmum]

I posted a similiar query this morning, but after speaking to a paedriatric nurse, she suggested that I take a different approach with 15 week old DS.  He wakes up 1-2 hourly during the night as he likes to sleep on his side and then falls onto his back and cannot get back because of the wedges that I use.

She suggested that I get rid of the wedges and just let him sleep how he wants.

I am a bit worried as he can now roll over onto his tummy, but cannot roll back.  Has anyone had this problem?  Should I let him roll and then maybe sleep on his tummy if this is what he wants?  He has never slept on his tummy before.  He can hold his head up quite well, but doesn't seem to understand how to then put his head to the side so that he can breathe.

Help please, as I would like to do this tonight as DH and DS#1 are away and it is a good time to let him cry for longer if necessary.

Thanks wendy

[IsaacMom]

You know your baby best and ultimately have to make the decision.  Here are a few things I have read/heard that might help:

Up to 1 year of age you should always put your baby to sleep on his back.  Most people say that once he can roll over on his own, you can let him sleep how he wants (but still put him down on his back).

I read somewhere that sleep positioners are not recommended for SIDS prevention?

My ds slept on his back or his side until about a month ago when he started rolling over during his sleep.  Now he always sleeps on his tummy and he does sleep better that way.  He is almost 6 months old now and can easily roll over from back to tummy.  He doesn't roll over from tummy to back very often. 

There will always be a first time that he will sleep on his tummy.  And as he gets older it will be harder and harder for you to keep him off his tummy.  Obviously if he is not turning his head to the side when he rolls over, this is an issue!  But he won't learn unless he keeps trying (supervised, of course!)  At first my lo would roll over while he was sleeping and would cry when he woke up.  It took him awhile of doing this to finally roll over while he was awake and fall asleep on his tummy.  Now I can't remember the last time he slept on his back.  I still check on him constantly.  And if I don't think his head is turned enough while he is sleeping I will gently adjust it.  I'm sure its completely unnecessary but it makes me feel better!

[Stacie:Emma&Josh Mom]

I've always heard that it's safe for them to sleep on their tummy once they can raise their head enough to get air if needed.  Your ds will soon enough learn to roll back over and all will be well.  Right now I'd just let him do what he wants and go in to help him when he gets stuck in a position he doesn't like (when he calls out for help, not just when you think he's stuck).  I don't think that a 4 month old will suffocate themselves...he'll either learn to put his head to the side or he'll call out for you to help him.  They have instincts to breathe and he should be fine no matter what position he ends up in.  Besides, you can't just keep rolling him back over all night.   :wink:   I'd give him the freedom and see where he lands.  Good luck!

[MyBella]

For the past week my dd (17 wks) has been busting her arms out of her swaddle and rolling herself on to her tummy at which point she can't turn herself back, wakes up, gets frustrated and starts calling for me.  I see that I have to bite the bullet and put her down unswaddled but I'm worried that I'm going to be spending the whole night rolling her back on to her back as she has not yet caught on that if she just put her head down she could actually continue sleeping on her tummy.  Any suggestions on how I can facilitate this process?  I'm just worried that this will turn into habitual night wakings - she's been a pretty good night sleeper so far and I don't want it to get messed up.

Thanks!

[IsaacMom]

My lo did this for a little while - he'd roll over in his sleep and wake up crying.    Then he would start rolling over when he was trying to go to sleep and cry because he didn't realize he could fall asleep that way!  It didn't take him long to figure it out, though.  Maybe a week?  I was trying to think of what to do to help him, but if I would try to help him lay his head down he would just cry.  So I would just turn him over on his back like he wanted until he finally figured it out on his own.  Sorry I can't offer any more advice then be patient!

[MyBella]

Was your lo swaddled at that stage?  It's good to hear that this too shall pass and it may not take that long.  I guess I just have to have faith in my little girl.

[LittleWarriorMom]

Hi ladies,
I have the opposite problem.  Our DS has been sleeping on his tummy for the past 2 months.  Reason is we tried to keep him swaddled and sleeping on his back but he wiggles out and jolts himself awake constantly.  So we started putting him down on his tummy and he would sleep much longer.
Now I'm trying to teach him to fall asleep on his own and he is doing rather well but when he stirs at night, he rolls onto his back and cries out for me.  He can roll over his right shoulder from back to tummy but not the other way.  And unfortunately, he ends up against the side where he would have to roll over his left shoulder to get back to his tummy.
I would prefer not to swaddle him at this point since he sleeps best with his hands by his face (he doesn't suck his fingers or thumb, though).
Any suggestions on how to keep him staying on his back?  We tried to get him to fall asleep on his back one night and he kept jolting his legs and arms and waking himself up for 4 hours until we went and rolled him back onto his tummy.
Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

[rachelle]

ok, first for the first few posters--
I actually "taught" kalli to roll from her tummy to her back when she was about 5 weeks old.  I would put her on her tummy (she was already holding her head up well by this age)...then I would "push" her head to the side, and show her how to throw her leg over.  After a few times of this, she was doing it herself.  Maybe you could teach your lo's this?

The other thing is to learn to swaddle your child TIGHTLY.  My dh has this amazing swaddle, and it really helped when kalli started to roll from her back to her tummy and wanting to be mobile instead of sleep.  She's 9 months old, and there are still times every once in a great while that we have to break out the big blanket and swaddle her because she won't calm down.  (BTW, a bigger blanket is necessary to do a REALLY good swaddle.  Webfoot has some wonderful ones that I use available on her website http://www.bugnbelle.com)


For LittleWarriorMom--have you tried to Aussie Swaddle?  In this swaddle, the baby's hands are swaddled up by his/her face.  Check out the link at the top of the General sleep forum!

[Isom'smom]

If LO can't be taught to roll over yet,  (my boy was a little slow on that one), I would lay him down near the side of the crib, providing you have bumpers or something else soft.  That way, when he goes to roll over, he only gets half way there.  He's either on his side against the side of the crib, or he'll keep to his tummy.  I hope I explained that so it makes sense.

[LittleWarriorMom]

Rachelle and Isom's mom,
Thanks for your posts.
Last night was the worst night in the last 3 months or so.  I think he may be teething and it's arousing him more and when he does, he rolls over to his back.  He was more awake last night than asleep.

I tried to have his arms down by his side and swaddled him.  Then I watched him.  He can still lift his behind way up in the air and roll over.  So unless I can wrap him in a way that he can't arch his back, it seems like bigger blanket won't matter.  However, I will check out the General section on different ways to swaddle since I did notice that when he is about to roll in such manner, he does bring his arms down to help arch his back.

As for your suggestion, Isom's mom, I have tried to "pin" him against the side of the crib in the direction that he rolls and putthing rolled up towel on the other side.  Still he managed to rub his back against the bumper and eventually complete his roll.

I know, this kid is stubborn.  LOL  He is so perfect in every other way except this sleeping issue.  Everyday he gets stronger and more mobile and it's getting harder and harder to keep him still so he can get a good night sleep.

This questio may not be right in this section but I was wondering, do babies get fussy during the day when they are teething or just at night when they are trying to sleep?

I'm afraid my last resort is to do PU/PD with him on his back as well.  He is getting pretty good at falling asleep on his belly without even doing PU/PD.  But I know he will cry more and have a harder time on his back.

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Just before dd popped her two bottom teeth (within a week of each other) she was waaaayyyyy worse at night than she was during the day. She's pretty grumpy in general  :lol: but we had a horrible time with nights. She was right at your lo's age too when the first tooth came.

Also dd likes to do gymnastics in her crib. She's even learned how to take undo her sleep sack and take it off!  :shock: When she started rolling to her tummy but would get stuck she would cry out for us to roll her back. It took three weeks of this I'm sorry to say, but she did get the hang of it. The sids risk, while always valid, does decrease a bit at six months and I do believe at that stage if they need you they will let you know. It just seems to require patience.

I hope that's a bit of help!

Sharon

[LittleWarriorMom]

Tonight our lo was worse.  Past week he was good about me putting him down on his tummy drowsy and he would fall asleep on his own.  But tonight every time I put him down drowsy, he would roll over and look at me and smile.  I tried to roll him back without PU since he wasn't crying and he kept rolling back and smiling like he was playing a game with me.

So I pick him up and get him drowsy and put him on his tummy...and same thing.  He would open his eyes wide and roll onto his back and smile at me or make "coo"ing sounds.

Third try, I do PU and get him drowsy and PD on his back and see if I can get him to learn to fall asleep on his own.  Still, he would wake and make all kinds of singing sound and smile.

PU/PD I read is for fussy babies to get them calm.  Well, he was all happy and having a great time even if he was tired.  So I didn't see a point and trying PU/PD.  But as soon as I'm out of his sight, he would start to cry.  When I come back, he smiles.  After 1.5 hour of this, I decided I am starving and I need to eat as well so I left him crying and figured I'll just check back with him periodically but I wanted to get my dinner.

After about 28 minutes and I had checked on him twice where both times he stopped crying when he saw me, he got really quiet.  I snuck in for a peak and he was on his tummy sound asleep.  Evidently he rolled all around his crib and finally settled down on his tummy.

I will let you all know how long he sleeps tonight.  Last night he woke up 8 times because he kept rolling over and the longest stretch of sleep was 2.5 hours.  Tonight has already been better than last night.

[Gigismom]

we are having the same problem.  i recently got rid of the wedge we had let gianna sleep in since birth.  big mistake!  she now rolls onto her tummy multiple times per night, wakes up, and cries.  i then have to get her to calm and go back to sleep.  she does not know how to roll onto her back yet from her tummy.  i tried putting her back in the wedge, but after her few weeks of freedom from it, she got used to sleeping on her side and moving around a lot, so she couldn't get comfy in it.  i don't know what to do either aside from waiting it out and hoping that she will either learn to roll to her back or fall asleep on her tummy.  she has always been a great night sleeper and i am terrified that she will begin new bad habits!

[julieb]

I just went through this about 2-3 weeks ago.  DS had been swaddled and slept in a positioner on his side.  He was breaking out of his swaddle more and more, despite bigger blankets, and rolling to his back, but not able to get back to his side (because of the positioner).  Over the course of a week, I weaned him from the positioner and swaddle (though I still wrap it loosely around him legs).  By that time, he knew how to get from his back to his side again.

Then he learned to roll completely on his tummy and would wake up crying because he was stuck.  We had about a week of this where I just had to go in and turn him back.  It was annoying, but I knew it would pass.  During the day, I gave him a TON of floor time so he could practice rolling both ways.  He quickly became proficient and started rolling in the crib.

I still put him down on his side, but I let him roll to wherever he's comfy.  This last week, he's even started to sleep on his tummy at times.  If he gets stuck or upset, I still resettle him on his side and let him take it from there.

HTH!  This should pass soon.  Give your LO lots of floor time during the day so they can learn faster. 

[Gigismom]

i have been giving gianna tons of tummy time since the rolling thing has disturbed her sleep.  last night, it paid off as she did not cry once and when i would go to check on her in the night, she was comfortably asleep on her tummy.  yay!

[mlindsey]

i'm in a similiar situation.  My 4.5 month old daughter keeps rolling over on her belly when i put her down. & she won't fall asleep on her belly.  When i turn her back on her belly, she keeps trying to pull herself back over.  Today she even seems a little afraid of her bed.  I've tried swaddling her but it doesn't work.  She just keeps working to free herself.  Today i tried using a wedge & it seemed to help.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Should i keep turning her over to her belly?  She gets alittle hysterical & i pick her up to soothe her.  Should i keep picking her up?  She was falling asleep on her own before this...occassionally she would fuss a little when put down...but generally she would be asleep in 20 minutes or less.  This process of picking her up seems start over her falling asleep process.  Any advise? 
Thanks,
Misty

[Bkkmum]

DS is now 5 months old and has been waking 1-2 hourly for the last 2 weeks as he can roll from his side (preferred sleep position) to his tummy, but cannot get back.

I have got rid of the wedges as he wriggles out of them, and if he is on his tummy, I just pat him in this position.  Sometimes he will go to sleep like this, but more often than not I have to flip him over and this will often wake him up fully and it takes ages to resettle.  I end up feeding him once during the night (other than the DF) as there is always one period where I try to resettle for over an hour and find that a small feed (3-4 oz) makes it easier to get him back to sleep.

I rock him till he gets drowsy and then put him down on his side, and he will then roll onto his tummy or back and cannot get to sleep.

Like someone else who posted earlier, he is often not upset when I roll him over, he just looks up at me smiling.  I try to leave him, but he will soon start crying once I have left the room.

I am giving him lots of tummy time during the day in the hope that he will soon learn to roll back from tummy to side or back and be able to resettle himself.  He has not slept longer than 3 hours at a time in these last two weeks so I am really hoping it will get better soon.  It does make it easier to know that others are experiencing the same thing.

[MelissaS]

Hi,
I am having the same problem as well - bub sleeps soundly on his tummy but rolls onto his back and then calls out to me to roll him back over onto his stomach. If I leave him (never longer than a couple of minutes) he will start to cry and will not resettle himself and it ends up harder for him to go back to sleep as he becomes over stimulated)
Even though it takes not even two seconds for him to fall asleep if I roll him back over straight away - this can be every one to two hours from 11 onwards - 1am, 3am, 5am then wake at 6.30 or 7am.
He used to sleep on his back when very young but would wake half hourly and when he eventually learned to sleep on his stomach he slept longer.
I am very tired, tried bumpers etc. and now bub is starting to teeth so I think this may be making it worse?
I feel a little better reading that others have the same issues its not just me on my lonesome.

[micah'smom]

melissa or kaylee,

how are your lo's? i've posted so much about my tummy sleeper who's rolling. it seems it's easier for back sleepers to get used to their tummies than tummy sleepers on their backs.

iv'e been flipping over my almost 5mo when he wakes up but it has almost been a month and i am SO tired. i am very tempted to just let him cry when he's on his back. he wakes almost every hour at night.

have your lo's finally gotten over this? what should i dO? should i pu/pd on his back? just let him cry? argh.

thanks
selena

[jjstar]

Kaylee...your situation sounds like exactly what my LO is doing. He is a tummy sleeper and will roll over to his back and just laugh at me. What did you do to overcome this?

TIA

[MelissaS]

Hello all,

I can't believe so many people have had the same problem around the 5mth mark, my bub is now 6mths. I was really starting to think it was just me with bub every hour rolling over. I was extremely sleep deprived for about 1.5 months until he finally learnt how to roll from is back to his stomach during the day.

I gave him heaps of praise and he kept doing it for the rest of the day extremely proud of himself that he could. You wouldnt believe it but the DAY he learnt how to flip himself back over - I had the best nights sleep again - back to waking only 3-4 hourly at the most.

I hate to say it but I just kept getting up every hour or so for the month until he learnt how to flip himself back again - I just couldnt deal with the crying and found he got more upset from PU/PD. Finally now its great BUT he has just learnt how to stand up in his cot - its funny at the moment when he calls out to me in the morning standing up but I am waiting for the night calls to start. Oh well here we go again.

Just have to love them

[micah'smom]

thanks for the encouragement melissa! i keep reading/hearing that the rolling thing lasts a week, a couple weeks. i thought i must be going insane since it's been a month for us! ds just flipped over back to belly today several times and had a huge grin on his face each time. right now he's slept for 2 hrs. A BIG DEAL for us!

thanks again and let us know how this next milestone goes for you..

[MyBella]

The rolling thing has been going on for a while for us as well.  At first dd could not turn herself back so I had to go in and turn her back around numerous times a night.  I started giving her lots of tummy time during the day so she'd get comfortable going back and forth.  Even after she learned that she'd still get upset when she ended up on her tummy in her crib at night and call for me to flip her over.  So I had her spend a lot of playtime in her crib rolling around.  In the interim while she was learning all that I also purchased a positioner which initially helped a great deal (not any more).  In the end, she has mastered the art of rolling around in the crib to get back to the position she's always slept in, which is on her back.  She still does not like or know how to sleep on her tummy.  But except for the occasional time that she'll get herself stuck into an odd position and call for me, I don't have to go in at night to flip her over.  There's light at the end of the tunnel -- I think every baby figures out their own solution.

[GG]

I never understood how milestones affected babies' sleep until the rolling thing happened!  *lol*  :lol:  Before that I thought, "What? Are they just so tired that they can't sleep that well?"  I'm still laughing at myself at that one!  That's a first-time mother for you!   :wink:

After reading this and a couple of other posts, I understand that "this, too, shall pass."  Julieb and Bkkmom had great suggestions about giving them lots of tummy time and floor space to practice!  I'm doing that (rather than sitting him down somewhere) as well as letting him stay on his tummy and play in the crib.  I can already see how I will have a problem when he learns to crawl.  He's revving up!!   :lol:  :lol:

A suggestion to the ladies that are sleep deprived... If you could possibly go to bed a little earlier, I'd say do it!  I'm a late sleeper and have been sleep deprived all this past week.  The one day I made it to bed at 10 PM and got an extra 1 - 1.5 hours of sleep, I felt a lot better during the day!  It takes some getting used to but it will help.