Not Sure What to Do - El Paso,TX

does it wake her up? If she's sleeping fine, even if she's rolling over, just leave her to it. Chances of SIDS from tummy sleeping go way down after they're able to roll over on their own.

Let her sleep comfortably. Requiring a baby to sleep on his or her back is a recent requirement coming from the though that this will stop SID. How a child sleeps doesn't seem to be the problem as SID was rarely an issue 50+ years ago. You might ask, "What is different?"

Don't worry about it, if she can do it on her own then she is okay. She probably has some head control too, can lift her head up and turn her head from side to side while on her belly? If she can do all that, then don't worry, besides she will learn to roll back to her back pretty soon. The no sleeping on their belly is for babies who can't move yet.

As long as the rolling over is not caused by her being supported on pillows; she is fine. If she is just in a regular crib and does not have pillows under her or behind her or is not sleeping with an older person (Our increase body weight when we move can cause the babies to roll; SHE IS FINE!
Actually I do hope if she is 5 1/2 months old that she is rolling independently both ways. Once they are able to roll independently they are not at the same type of risk that we talk about. She then has good head control and is able to reposition herself without a problem. Just keep her bed free of extra bedding "Dress the baby and not the bed" and keep pillows and toys out of the bed. Then you relax and get some sleep yourself. The only time I worry about typically developing 5 1/2 month olds is if the parents have stuff in the crib or a parent smokes. Second hand smoke increases the chance. If neither of these are the case; RELAX stop watching and waking her and get some much needed sleep yourself.... Enjoy her it goes by way to quick and in 8 weeks she will be crawling.... Then you are going to wish for that sleep.... Good Luck!

This is normal and okay. I really don't believe the bs about "back to sleep". Most babies sleep easier on their tummies. I understand that there is a very loose connection supposedly to crib death. But it really doesn't prove out scientifically no matter what they say. Statistics can be manipulated to say just about anything. Most babies like to sleep on their tummy, so it stands to reason that many babies dying of crib death were on their tummy. Now that so many are on their backs, they still die from unknown causes and often they are going to be on their backs when it happens. What if they throw up and gag in it because they are on their back?

The whole point of crib death is that they don't know why the child died. The minute they pin point an actual cause, like the child suffocated, it's not crib death anymore. The doctors of today are scareing mothers away from allowing their children to be comfortable and a lot of babies are not crawling and or rolling over when they normally would because they don't get enough time on their tummy. A lot of kids have very unsightly flat heads too.

People have placed their sleeping infants on their tummy for thousands of years. I've been accused of not caring because I say this. But if it's worrisome to you, then you can put one of those monitors under the mattress that monitors the babies breathing and sounds an alarm if they stop breathing.

I bought one of these monitors for my grandson so that he could be comfortable. Then it turned out he really liked sleeping on his back or side more than his tummy. But the moment he could roll over on his own, he chose his tummy. Let your baby be and relax a little....just a little. It's great to prevent things like constantly looking for choke hazards in the beds and keeping everything clean, flat, and not putting large blankets in there.

Another thing to keep in mind, your baby is almost to the stage where this threat is diminishing fast.

my ped. told me if my son was big enough to roll over he was plenty big enough to sleep on his tummy. plus he wouldn't sleep any other way. so it was fine. :) imo it does more harm than good trying to force them to stay on their back at this age - she's too big to be swaddled and forced to sleep in a certain position. she should be free to wiggle at will! it's all part of muscle development and learning how to work her own body.

Can she roll from tummy to back? She probably can because that's actually easier for many babies. Anyway, as long as she can roll over on her own, she's fine to sleep how she ends up.

If you're still swaddling her though, you'll need to stop or wrap her with hands and arms free so she can push her face out of the matress if she needs to.

If you really want her on her back, you can buy a positioner (basically foam wedges that go on either side of her connected by fabric in the middle) so she won't be able to turn.

Either way, keep putting her to sleep on her back, but my advice is to let her move around in her sleep if that's comfortable to her.

HTH
T.

i agree, you want to get a sleep positioner to try and keep her in place. I know its rough, but the chances of SIDS are drastically increased by them sleeping on their stomach.

i know the frustrations, my son was the same way. he was just more comfortable on his stomach. generally i was able to at least get him on his side from his stomach, and that helped. i also purchased one of the heart monitors that records their heart beating through the mattress and an alarm would sound if it could not detect it. that was mainly for my own peace of mind.

If you are truely concerned, put a call in to your pediatrician or his nurse. If your daughter is able to lift her head up and reposition herself, I don't think it is of the greatest concern. However, studies may have changed since I had a babe.

No. If she is rolling over on her own, her risk of SIDS is minimal.

There are pillows that are designed to keep your baby napping in a certain position. It's a foam wedge that has a cut-out for the body.

If she can roll herself I wouldn't worry bc she can also lift her head up. I say once they can roll on their own, it isn't a worry. Just my opinion!! You can always talk it over with your dr if you are concerned.

I've read and have been told that once they are able to roll themselves over like that, then it is okay for them to sleep that way if they choose to. I had a similar situation last night. My son has slept on his tummy numerous times but I've been putting him on his back to sleep the past couple of months. He is 7 months old. Last night he flipped onto his tummy and it looked from the video monitor as if his face was buried on the matress. I went in his room and he was okay but I flipped him, he woke up, and flipped himself back over. I guess sometimes they just want to sleep on their tummies, but as long as they do it themselves, it is perfectly fine.

Lots of people are so scared about SIDS (which is a legitimate issue, no doubt), but I think there is so much fear we let every little thing get to us. My younger son (now 7 mos) has always slept on his belly with his feet tucked under his little booty- it's the ONLY way he would sleep. He had rolled himself over in the billy bed at the hospital at 3 days old and whenever we'd turn him back to his belly, he'd just flip himself back over. By the 3rd of 4th time, he started yelling at us.I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself! Now that he's rolling over on his own, he often sleeps on his side or his tummy. Even when he falls asleep on his back, he'll wake up a few minutes later & roll over. He's starting to crawl now & already trying to pull himself up to standing, and will if he uses our hands for help.
When we initially asked our pedi about it, she was concerned, but at his 2wk appt he was already holding his head up & is very strong. We were just very careful to be sure his sheets fit snugly & there was nothing in his crib he could suffocate on (which seems to be most of the concerns I've read about SIDS, and I did quite a bit of research). He slept in our room, lots of the time on me since we were bf. By 1 month, he was holding his head up from on his belly, and the pedi said he should be fine, though she made a comment that it was "off the record" that she'd told us that.
The initial response from the doc was that once he's rolling himself over it's not an issue any more bc he would instinctively roll back over if he was having trouble breathing.
My older son was very sick as a little guy & didn't even have tummy time really until about 6mos old since all we'd heard from everyone was how horribly dangerous it is for babies to be on their bellies, especially when they have respiratory or tummy problems (he had both). Then he just threw a fit all the time when we tried. Of course, then people couldn't believe we'd waited so long! We were 1st time parents- what did we know? He finally started rolling over on his own at about 9 mos, and still sleeps on his back all the time (he's now 5).
For me with both boys, it has been following my instincts on what was best for each baby. With #3 on the way, we'll see how she does.

If she's strong enough to hold her head up and roll over, she can sleep however she wants. When you and I were babies, moms were told to only let their kids sleep on their tummies... trends change, let her sleep.

When my daughter started rolling over on her own, I left her alone to be comfortable. Just make sure there are no loose blankets, stuffed animals, or bumper in her crib. I always left the fan on and humidifier going; it made me feel better. If you're really worried, they make monitors that beep if baby stops breathing. I've never used one, but I've heard of them.