need help from moms of tummy sleepers

[micah'smom]

hi everyone,

right now dh is holding ds who wouldn't fall asleep for his morning nap. i'm at my wit's end!

ds is 4.5mo and just learned to roll from tummy to back by kicking himself over. he only does it when trying to fall asleep/sleeping. at first i rolled him back to his tummy and he would squirm a bit and sleep.

it's been about 3 weeks though and he refuses to stay on his tummy now! but he'll scream once he's on his back. he used to nap really well but now we're lucky if we get  2X 45min naps a day after battling him in the crib.

i've been trying to wait it out, but he's getting more flustered. so am i!

what's been your experience? should i try to do pu/pd? he refuses to stay on his belly now. should i do pu/pd to train back-sleeping? he used to suck his fingers to calm down but now he's so mobile his arms are always flailing.

i'm even tempted to do cio. which i DON't want to resort to. please help!

selena

[~BeckyD~]

don't have any advice for this as ds only 8 weeks but will be keeping an eye on this one for replies as mine is a tummy sleeper so could be dealing with this problem in a couple of months! good luck!
Becky :wink:

[Aarismom]

What's his daily schedule like?

Perhaps try a paci for soothing until he gets use to sleeping on one side or another again (or even on his side)? He may not like it, or it may serve to calm him down a little bit.

Is he overtired or not tired enough? If you haven't already, I'd push him to stay up a full 2 hours (moving to a 4 hour EASY), starting wind down at the 1:45 min mark. That may make him tired enough to cooperate a little more.  I just moved my 4 month old to a 4 hour EASY, as she started doing the 45 min nap thing. It seems to be working.

Hope you get through this soon, I know how frustrating short/no naps can be!!

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[micah'smom]

becky, hope you never have to deal with this! ds used to be swaddled and a side-sleeper but i moved him to his tummy b.c he had so much gas.

sonya, his awake time is exactly that - 1hr45min, so that he falls asleep by the 2hr mark. these days our wind-down is so long he's asleep by the 2hr15min mark or more. i do use a paci, sometimes it works, sometimes not. he does seem to like side-sleeping the best right now, but he twitches at 45min and wakes up. feels like i have a newborn all over again! have you had this problem with your lo? (cute pic btw!)

we went to our local right start and put him in an exersaucer. he loved it. maybe his legs just need more exercise so he doesn't flip over as much in bed???

[Liam and Shane's Mommy]

My 3 1/2 mos. old is a tummy sleeper too.  He's only flipped himself a few times but if he made it a regular habit I planned to use one of those rolls you use when they're newborns.  I wonder if its too small now, hmmm?  Its the same thing they use to stop them from rolling from back to tummy

[Erin M]

Have you tried swaddling with his arms bent up so he can suck his fingers?  If the flailing arms are a problem, that might help.

[micah'smom]

oh i'm so glad for the replies!

liam and shane's mom, i think those roll things are too small for ds. he's really strong - almost 16 lbs - and i'm sure he'll roll right over those

erin M - funny thing is that ds uses his legs to roll, not his arms. and he broke out of his swaddle months ago (even out of the miracle blanket!)

do you have any other ideas? i just spent 40 mins trying to pat-shh (more like press-down-on-thighs-shh). i got so tired that if he flipped over i just let him cry and fuss for about 5-10 mins, then picked him up and put him back on his tummy. i had to do this 3 times before he fell asleep. i'm almost tempted to let him cio a little b.c i'm losing my patience, and that's something i don't want to resort to!

selena