Stomach sleeper!

Executive Member Joined: May 22 2008 Posts: 289

My 4 month old recently decided that she will no longer stay on her back at all. Occasionally, I can stimulate her enough for a minute or so and she'll stay on her back, but if she's by herself on the floor or in her crib for a second, then she immediately rolls over to her tummy (and doesn't know how to roll to back). This leads to many issues.

Firstly, I'm not a fan of her sleeping on her tummy due to the increase chances of SIDS, but there's obviously nothing I can do about that. My main issue is whether or not I should ever let her cry while she's on her tummy. With my other baby, I used to let him cry in his crib for up to 5 minutes at this age when I knew that he was exhausted and needed to sleep (I don't want to get into a debate about letting babies cry - it worked for us). But now with this baby, I see that when she cries while on her tummy, her mouth goes right into the mattress and her cry is muffled. This makes me paranoid of suffocation. But she doesn't nurse to sleep (she's a very burpy and gassy baby and she has never nursed to sleep other than in the middle of the night), so how am I supposed to get her to nap? Before she started this rolling over schtick, the 5 minute cry rule worked for her. But now I'm all out of ideas! If I put her in her crib before she starts to get tired, she'll be happy, roll on to her tummy, hang out there for a bit and then start to cry.

Not only that, but in the middle of the night when she wakes up hungry, I can hardly hear her muffled cry. I realize that a monitor may help, but even so, I'm a deep sleeper and she doesn't cry so loudly in the first place, so when she cries right into the mattress, it's a very quiet cry and I'm scared I'll miss it!

Any helpful tips or ideas?

Gold Member Joined: Dec 16 2008 Posts: 1126

dd started turning over at two weeks, and wouldnt stay on her back. I expressed the sids concern, and her dr said once the child can turn over, its okay to let them sleep that way.

Executive Member Joined: May 22 2008 Posts: 289

Right, I realize that I have no choice in the matter because she rolls over and stays there and that's just how it is. But I'm just so worried about letting her cry when she's on her tummy. When she sleeps, her head is turned so that she's on her cheek. But when she cries, her face is straight down on the mattress. This makes me paranoid.

Gold Member Joined: Oct 10 2010 Posts: 1580