Rolling Over and Cruising in Bed

[stuckingermany]

Hello.... My LOL is 8 months old and is usually a textbook baby (see our routine below). He usually goes to sleep on his back and sleeps very well at both naps & during the night. However, in the past few weeks he has become more active and is almost ready to crawl. He scoots around on his bottom and can also pull himself along with his arms in a crawling postion (just no leg action yet).  But now I have two problems:

(1) Now when I lay him in the bed for his nap he is rolling over on to his stomach and ends up crying because he can't get back over (I assume...). I have to go in a shhh-pat and lay him down again on his back. We go through this 3-5 times and then he falls asleep on his back. If he does falls asleep on his stomach he only sleeps 45 mins and wakes up screaming and will not re-settle!

(2) At night he typically is so exhausted that he falls asleep on his back while I am zipping up his sleeping bag. He will usually stay there until 5 or 5:30 am. However, at 5/5:30 he rolls to his stomach and ends up screaming again after about 15 minutes. He used to sleep until 6 or 6:30 and talk to himself and play until I got him at 6:45 or 7.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I want him to learn to roll back over or feel comfortable sleeping on his stomach. Will this just pass in time or should I do something. I feel like I am currently rescuing him too much. However, he is really scared/frustrated when he gets stuck on his stomach???

Our Typical Routine:
6 or 6:30  Wake
6:45-7      Out of Bed
7:30         Bottel
8:30         Breakfast
9-10:30    Nap
11:30       Bottel
12:30       Lunch
1:30-3:00 Nap
4:00        Bottel/Snack
6:00        Dinner
7:00        Bath
7:30       Bottel/Bed

[Colin Macs Mom]

Your routine looks great, good job.    I think that your having developmental wakings here - although at 8 months I would think that your lo could roll back the other way. Does he do that during the day? Roll both ways I mean. Is the sleeping bag interfering with his ability to move around as he wishes?

Make sure that you are providing him lots of time during the day to practice crawling and rolling and what not. If he gets lots of that in during the day he won't be as keen to do it in the crib at night - at least hopefully!

[stuckingermany]

Thanks for the feedback. I figured it was all of the activity. I just don't know what to do about it???

He actually does spend a lot of time during the day on the floor, however he has never been able to roll back over on to his back after rolling to his stomach. He is a big boy, 24 pounds, and has been a little slow when it comes to movement milestones. He did not sit up unassisted until 7 months and did not roll over initially until 5 months. Do you think I should follow-up with the doctor on this???
Thanks

[Kimberly®]

My LO just went through this a couple weeks ago. We had exactly the same issues. For us she just stopped. Give him a few minutes (unless he's screaming of course) on his tummy when he rolls over so he gets more used to it. My DD has now become a tummy sleeper. It takes some time but once he figures out how to turn back over I think you'll find that he'll resettle. To help him with the rolling back over maybe stop using the sleeping bag. I agree it may be making it harder to roll over.

your routine looks great and your doing a really great job with him.
I know its not what you wanted, but just be patient with him. When he rolls over just put him back down on his back. Eventually he'll settle back down. Once they learn to crawl fully though then the real fun begins. You'll find him in the weirdest places and positions   

As for developmentally, he's right on track I wouldn't worry to much about him. Many LO's don't start crawling until much later. Also keep in mind boys tend to develop a little slower then girls. As hard as it is try not to watch or listen to other moms. They can sometimes make you feel inadequate, wether intentionally or not.

Kimberly

[sadiebean]

My babe (12mos) is doing the same thing right now -- he's got some slight gross motor delays due to low muscle tone, and has just recently learned to get into the sitting position on his own. I used to lay him down and snuggle him on his side w/2 rolled towels on either side...It was finally all working beautifully!

And.... now he immediately gets into sitting, and starts squawking. He doesn't like being on his back, and isn't crazy about being on his belly as he can't roll from belly to back.

To make it more nervewracking -- his new prefered position is to nuzzle up to his bumper, half on his side, half on his belly, almost face down, face practically buried! Of course we're worried he'll suffocate... not sure if that's laughable or real.

I really hope he starts to love being on his belly OR learns to roll! We were up from 10:30-11:30pm and then 1:30-3:30am w/him screaming b/c he was so tired and couldn't get comfortable. 

The fun just keeps coming... 
It's a really good thing they are so cute.

[stuckingermany]

Thank you for all of your feedback and words of advice and support. My little guy has slept the whole night on this stomach the last two nights (7:45 pm to 6:45 am). He actually seems to be sleeping deeper on his stomach than on his back. I guess he is finally comfortable on his stomach. Looking back, it has taken about 10 days for this process to occur.

He still can't roll from his stomach to his back, but we will work on that during the day. I will also remove the sleeping bag in the future, if needed. Thanks again for all of your suggestions!!!!!!!!

[Kimberly®]

I'm glade that things have worked out so well for you

[sadiebean]

Stuckingermany -- Did you little one scream and scream before getting used to being on his tummy??

My husband and I are despairing... once Luca starts sitting himself up, and getting "uncomfortable" he screams like a banshee, and will not be calmed. We must take him out of room and sit w/him. It has taken 3-4hrs the past few nights to get him to sleep! Finally he just passes out. A few times he's woken in the middle of the night and screamed for 1-2 hrs for the same reason!!

Sometimes I just think something is wrong w/him, he screams so much... he's 12mos old, am I being unreasonable??

It is heartening that another baby who can't roll yet from belly to back is finally not frustratedsleeping that way. I guess I'm hoping that his screaming is not entirely abnormal; and that we start to see some success.

(You solve one sleep problem and think you have it made, another one crops up... it is unreal.)