Hi. I am wondering if anyone has any advice that they can offer up regarding my daughter rolling over in her sleep. I have been using one of those roll-over-preventors since she was a newborn. She is currently 3.5 months. She has been able to roll over from her back to her stomach for quite some time. However, she has not figured out how to get from her stomach back onto her back. She does pretty good with tummy time, and can lift her head for a bit before getting tired. For the past month or so she has been sleeping on her side, so I have helped her and I place her on her side in the roll-over-preventor. Her belly fits up nicely against the inside of it and she cannot roll onto her belly. I have been worried about her rolling onto her belly and smothering her face if I do not use the preventor... not knowing to turn her head in a groggy sleep. This worries me so much. If I pull the roll-over-preventor from her crib... How will I know that she is safe? Should I place her on her side, in which case I know she'll instantly wind up on her belly... or should I place her on her back? What should I put in her crib with her to keep her warm? I have been swaddling her in a blanket up to her chest and under her arms within the roll-over-preventor... Now what should I do? I also made her crib smaller by making barriers because she was one of those babies that needs to feel snuggled in a smaller space. She did not sleep well in the crib until we added the barriers. Now, if I remove the roll-over-preventor I will also have to remove the barriers because she I will worry that she'll get tangled up in them if she's able to move around. Any advice? Pppplease Help!
Thank you to everyone that took the time to give me a very thoughtful response. Kate is doing well, but I am still stressing out about it. I pulled everything from her crib, and for the past two nights she has slept in warm footy pajamas. No blankets, no barriers, no roll-over-preventor... I did leave in the bumper. My mother an mother-in-law talked me out of pulling that. She cannot get tangled underneath or behind it because we have it wedged, but I know there is still the concern for her breathing up against it. Despite all of this, I am still freaking out. She has slept a little better as I had hoped, but unfortunately her preferred sleeping position is face down. And, I mean face down... she doesn't even turn her head a little. For the past two nights I have placed her on her back, after which she promptly puts herself on her side. On the monitor I watch her go to her belly in seconds or just a few moments after going to her side. I of course have gone in there to put her back on her back or side, only to have her go right back to the belly. Anyway, throughout the night AND for the past two mornings I have turned on the TV monitor or gone in to find her face down in her crib, and even face down on her hands, leaving a hand print on her face. This still worries me and my husband and I are now argueing over it. He wants me to calm down, leave her alone, and just let her do her thing. But, I am still freaking out about it. Is she going to be o.k.? Any extra advice would be great.
I would use a blanket sleeper instead of a blanket. Take away everything else, also no crib bumpers. Put her to sleep on her back, if she rolls over she will move her head to the side.
Mom of two, Grandma of two!
All of my children were full term and met their milestones slightly early or right on time. They also all slept on their bellys starting at 3 months. I don't know if the barriers you are talking about is a crib bumper, but those are dangerous after the baby can move.
As far as keeping warm, the PJ's with the feet work great. And when it gets cooler they make fleece PJ's also.
Let her nap during the day on her stomach to see how she does on her own. This will let you keep an eye on her unlike at night. If she can move her head in her sleep she should be fine to take the protector away at night. Make sure the bumpers are tied down tight each night. My son would like to lay against them but not tangle in them. I agree with the sag sleepers, there nice, along with footie sleepers. She likes to be snug just like my son and I had to break down and cover him up at night by the time he was 4 months old. I would only cover him up to is diaper and that worked for him.
Hello R.,
I have the Angel Soft Movement monitor. It detects your baby's movement. So for example, if she were to roll over onto her tummy & not be able to breathe, it would set off an alarm. We call it the "SIDS monitor" in our house. It gives us piece of mind. We got ours at BRU for $100. But I think Walmart sells it for $75 or $80. And I will tell you, it is well worth every penny!!!
Hope this helps!
H.
This sounds very familiar to my baby. She learned to roll over from her back to her tummy before she turned 3 months old. We also swaddled her at night, until she learned to roll over with the swaddle blanket on. We decided to stop swaddling her and start just putting warm footed pj's on her. I too was scared for her at first. I would go check on her at night and if she was on her tummy, I would roll her back to her back. I asked her pediatrician about it and he said there isn't really anything you can do. Those wedges aren't safe for them when they can roll over, because they could get wedged up on them and not get off. And really having anything in the crib isn't safe, especially for babies like ours that can move around in there. It took me a while to get use to her sleeping on her tummy, but she was fine. I would have a conversation with your pediatrician and hopefully they will give you some reassurance too.
R., why not just keep using the roll-over preventer so you don't worry about it? Are you under pressure from someone to stop using it?
Do you have a history of crib death in your family? Ask the pediatrician at what age it would be safe for her to sleep on her stomach so that you will know when it's OK to stop using the roll-over preventer. Crib death usually only happens to newborns; after a certain age, your baby should be safe in any position she sleeps in. I don't know what that age is, though. The doctor should know.
The crib barriers, if they are secured to the crib sides properly, won't hurt the baby. In fact, you need them so that she does not bang her head again the wood and maybe hurt herself. It also prevents her from getting her arms or legs caught between the wooden bars. If you're worried about them coming loose, why not sew a few extra ties onto them so that you can make them extra-secure by tying the barriers to more crib slats?
As far as warmth is concerned, #1, make sure there isn't a draft on her from a fan or the air conditioner. #2, you can put her in warm pajamas that have feet, and she should be fine. If you're in Florida, then you only have to worry about kids being too cold a couple of nights each year -- unless you keep your airconditioner way too cold!
Try to relax a little bit. If you are terrified and insecure, your baby will pick up on it and feel that way, too. Motherhood is meant to be enjoyed, by you and that little miracle in the crib.
Peace,
Syl
Once they are roling over on their own, they usually "know" to turn their head when they are on their bellies. I know she is your first child and it is okay for everyone to say not to worry, but she really will be okay. Hew body will know what to do to keep herself safe naturally without you having to help her. You will, however, need to remove the barriers from her crib. They are a suffocation hazard.
Hi R., at 3.5 months if she is rolling easily over to her tummy on her own she is obviously comfortable in that position, and is old enough that she should be okay to be allowed to sleep on her tummy. I had a somewhat similar situation, my 5 month old kept rolling onto his tummy, however unlike yours, he didn't like it and I"d have to go flip him over all the time! But I asked around, including my pediatrician, and everyone said that it was now okay that they sleep on their belly, that they actually prefer that and sleep better. So I think you're okay to remove the positioner entirely so she can sleep on her belly if she wants, sounds like she'd love it. If you do, I would definitely recommend removing the blanket. You could get one of those Halo sleepsacks, they sell at Babies R Us, it's like a nightgown/blanket for an additional layer if you need. You could try removing all the barriers and see how it goes, she may surprise you and be okay with it at this point. If that doesn't work, maybe try a bumper, just remove it when she's 5/6 months or could possibly climb onto it. Hope this helps! Good luck.
I can’t tell you not to worry, because we all do it, so I understand where you are coming from. At this point if she can roll there is no stopping her. Just be sure to clear out the crib of toys and stuffed animals and she'll be fine. At about 2.5 months my son had already began this and I was worried sick. I would sit in the living room with the camera baby monitor and watch him roll all around his crib. I too removed the bumpers, but then went out and got the breathable bumpers because it wasn’t long before he was sticking his arms and feet out of the crib, and of course I was worried about him getting stuck, but the breathable bumpers solved all those worries. When our son was still falling asleep in the sleep positioner we would just remove it once he was out of it, usually before we went to bed. I hope this helps!!!
Just remove everything from her crib--blanket, bumpers, etc. Have her sleep in long tight-fitting PJs. Then if she rolls over on her tummy, she'll be fine. If she's strong enough to roll on her tummy, she strong enough to move her head up or to the side for a breathe. Ask your pediatrician for some reassurance, I'm sure they'll agree.
If she's doing fine with the roll-over preventor, I would just leave it in until her neck is stronger.
I feel your pain about the nit being able to roll back over thing, though. One of my twins just figured out how to roll over onto his tummy and can't get back over, so there have been a lot of morning lately that I get woken up by his screeching, which he does when he gets frustrated or angry, because he'll roll into his tummy and not be able to get back over.
This is the advice I got from my (excellent) pediatrician: Always place your baby to sleep on her back, but if she is able to roll over, let her. Nothing you can do about that. Dress her in warm PJ's if it is cold in the house, but don't give her a blanket, pillow, stuffed animal or anything else in the crib.
Hi there....I know there are mixed review regarding the roll-over preventors however, my daughter who is now almost 13 had one and I used it religiously. My daughter had a low resting heart rate and would at times stop breathing and after her being in the NICU she came home with a heart monitor that was attached to her night and day for about 6 months. I used that roll over preventor until she was probably 6 or 7 months. Hard for me to remember it was so long ago. If I had another baby (I'm too old now! ha!) I would still use one and feel comfortable using it. You never mentioned why you want to not use the roll over so I'm assuming its the mixed reviews. Good luck...do what you feel in your heart is the right thing for you. Remember long ago our parents didn't have any of this new stuff and we turned out ok.
Just as many of the previous posters said, if she can roll over, she is okay, I wouldn't worry about it. My first born kept doing the same thing, he would roll onto his tummy, we would roll him back on to his back and a few minutes later we would find him on his tummy again. We eventually gave up and let him sleep on his tummy.
I would get rid of the positioner, if you do a web search, I believe there is a lot of controversy over the use of a positioner in that it really may not be safe for the child.
In the end, if she can roll over, then she has enough head control to turn her head while she is on her tummy to breath well.
Put her in a sleep sack so that you don't have to worry about her kicking her blankets off during the night. Also, remove the barriers & roll-over preventor you have in there. If she can turn her head & hold it up during the day, she can do this at night, too. If she rolls on her tummy, she'll turn her head to the side. My son went thru this stage, as well. I would put him to sleep on his back & he would roll to his tummy in his sleep. Eventually he figured out how to roll the other way & now he never stays in one place while he sleeps!
Hello R.,
My daughter started to roll over at a very young age as well so I just took everything out of her crib except the bumpers because she rolled so much that she would bang her head sometimes on the crib rails. It has worked out great and she is 15 months now. Also, as far as being warm is concerned, I still do not put blankets in her crib for fear of something happening. We have it cool in the house at night so I put the jammies on her that have the feetsies will long sleeves because she was wearing short but woke up too often from her arms being cold. It will all work out. Good Luck!
M.
Hi R.. I am Kim and I have a 4 year old son. I remember my apprehension when my son was your daughters age an he too learned how to roll over. I was also using a sleep wedge pillow that has the two sides that prevent the baby from rolling over. The APA does not recommend the use of these sleep devices but as a nurse and a mom I think that is just one piece of advice that I do not agree with... thatsleep positioner gave me piece of mind. On that note when Collin was able to roll over my pediatrician recommended removing this device so he would NOT smother since he could actually smother in the material. I hope this helps, I sill did not sleep well for a long time after I stopped using the positioner, good luck!
If she is able to move around that much you need to pull everything out of the crib. You can always look into getting on of the pads that goes under the mattress that monitors breathing so that you can sleep a bit easier at night. There are a couple of different brands that I looked at on Amazon.com. Based on the reviews there was one brand that was better than the other but I can't remember which one was which now but the info was in the reviews. As far as her staying warm, I think that's another thing we worry about too much also. We keep our house fairly cool at night and I put socks on my little one(about the same age as your daughter) and then put her in footed pj's. If she's cold she'll wake you up at night. But you can also get on of the baby sleep bags but then you'd need to put her in pretty thin jammies or long sleeved onsies so she doesn't get too hot as that can be cause for concern as well. It's always something for us poor moms to worry about!
You shouldn't worry so much about her rolling over to her belly. Just let her sleep how she is most comfortable. I currently have three children ages 22 months, 3, 6 1/2 and am pregnant with my forth. I never used a roll over preventor, infact I placed all three of them to sleep on their bellies and they slept just fine that way since they were born. With my last daughter my pediatrician recommended that I put her to sleep on her belly because she was very conjested the first few months and would choke on her mucus if put to sleep on her back. I never had any fear or problems with any of them sleeping face down, they would simply turn their heads from side to side to adjust during the night.
Hi R., I had this same concern w/my 1st son. I would put him to sleep w/a preventor and he was fine on his side. Of course he never slept through the night. The 1st time he slept through the night I ran in the room in the morning and found him on his tummy. I happened to have a Dr.'s appt for him that day, his pediatrician said if he's strong enough to roll over on his belly then he's strong enough to get himself out of trouble. I still put him to bed w/the preventor but he always woke up on his tummy. About the barriers, def. remove them. Huge danger!
To cover her, they sell these blankets that have arm holes in them and they zip up the front, lifesavers!!! The blankets are sold at babies r us and target. I forget the name of them but you'll find them in the baby section or you can ask a worker they'll know what your talking about. This way the baby cant get tangled in the blanket but you know she's still warm. Buy more than 1 just in case of diaper accidents. And always put your precious Angel to sleep on her back. Keep building her strength w/tummy time and trust God! Good luck!
If your daughter can lift her head and turn it from side to side when she's on her stomach then she'll be fine if she rolls over at night. When I realized that our son was rolling over at night I actually went to Wal Mart at two in the morning to get a positioner. After using it one night I returned it and (at my doctors advice) I let him roll over and he actually preferred to sleep on his stomach. I know that it's nerve racking but hang in there. Put her to sleep on her back. Also, if she's now moving and rolling about in her crib don't put the blanket on her anymore. That's a saftey issue. The bumpers are fine to leave in the crib but if it makes you feel better One Step Ahead magazine sells breathable bumpers that will prevent her from getting her hands and legs stuck outside of the crib but will also allow her more breathing room if she does indeed roll over in the bumber. She'll be fine!
You are not going to stop her from rolling over. So make it safer for until she really can move back and forth and scoot. Take everything out of the crib, the roll over preventers, blankets, toys. Dress her appropriately for the temperature and let her do her thing. :)
