Tummy sleeping help
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=31083
Printed Date: 29 August 2025 at 5:29pm
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Topic: Tummy sleeping help
Posted By: Katep
Subject: Tummy sleeping help
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 11:05am
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DD is 6 months next week and over the last couple of weeks she keeps flipping over to her tummy when she sleeps (probably for 75% of her sleeps). I often wake a ckeck on her in the night and when she is on her tummy I often flip her over with no problems. During the day I dont bother flipping her as I can check on her regularly. I feel safe as he face in to the side and she is a big stong girl.
Hovever, I have just been in to check on her and her face is down (I had a small heart attack). I can hear and see her breathing fine but it worries me that in a deep sleep she would suffocate. Do You think I need to worry? or at this age, regardless of her position should she be able to move her self or wake herself if stuggling? I try to tuck her in tightly, obviously I only get it right 25% of the time. I am aware of safety sleeps, but I am not keep on strapping her down, I really dont think that will go down well with her. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
Mum to the Gorgeous Leah! 7 months |
Replies:
Posted By: weegee
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 11:13am
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Some babies just prefer to tummy sleep. JJ is another one - started doing it as soon as he could, even when we used a Safe-T-Sleep. I left him because I figured he could get himself out of trouble. Having said that, he's a much lighter sleeper than it sounds like Leah is (if I flipped him over he would wake up!) so that might be something to factor in.
I don't know whether they would necessarily wake themselves at 6 months - it's not out of the danger zone for SIDS entirely yet (although 90% of SIDS cases occur before 6 months). If you want to encourage her to stay on her back for longer you could try something like a http://www.babyuniverse.co.nz/product/safer-sleeper/ - sleep wedge ...? Or if you're going to worry regardless, leave her to it but invest in an angelcare monitor...? ------------- 
Mum to JJ, 4 July 2008 & Addie, 28 July 2010 |
Posted By: NewPhoenix
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 11:36am
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Posted By: NewPhoenix
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 11:38am
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Posted By: weegee
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 11:49am
ETA: and  !  -------------
Mum to JJ, 4 July 2008 & Addie, 28 July 2010 |
Posted By: fattykat
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 12:09pm
| We were using the wedge shown in the link up until a month ago. I found Lily was wriggling around in it so much that it wasn't worth using any longer. Some times she would even be asleep on top on the thing. I think as she got heavier the foam only supported her not held her IYKWIM. |
Posted By: jessm
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 12:28pm
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My girl has been a tummy sleeper from a few mths old. She would cry & cry, & as soon as I flipped her to her tummy she'd drop off to sleep. I too would sometimes come in & find her face down, but never had a problem. It just seemed to be what she felt like. Even now, when she has finally learnt to sleep on her back, she only does so very rarely (I put her in her cot awake & she lies down how she likes now).
She too was (is) a strong wee thing. I'm not saying that it will def be okay, but if you are okay with it but worry that 'its not the done thing' (like I was), then know that there are other babies that sleep on their tummy. I suppose they, just like us, have their preferences for sleeping! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: jessm
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 12:32pm
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The biggest thing I found with tummy sleeping was that once she started to crawl, she moved a heap in her sleep - so I was often going in & moving her into a better sleeping position (rather than head mushed up against bars, etc). Took her a few months to get over that stage, apparently it takes them a while for their brains to differentiate between moving while awake & moving in their dreams / while asleep? ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Gardengirl
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 1:42pm
| Kate, I know that she has the same sleeping bag as Jack and he has started to thoroughly explore his cot just lately. It was suggested to me the other day that the long part of the sleeping bag get tucked in tight at the end of the cot, so maybe try that? Tuck it in and then tuck her in with her blanket as well. I'm not trying it as he tends at the moment to only move around as he's waking or already woken, so calls out to me when he gets stuck in a corner and I don't mind him waking me, but if I thought he was sleeping face down I'd definitely give it a go. |
Posted By: HippyMama
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 1:43pm
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DD2 has only just started rolling over in her sleep in the last couple of days, and I decided I couldn't be arsed using a safety sleep (even though we have one), so in the interests of safety if she is going to tummy sleep we have ditched her wrap and just have a lightweight sleeping bag now.
With DD1 she probably started doing the same thing at the same time, but we went from wrapping her to wrap AND safety sleep, then ditched the wrap and kept the safety sleep, then had a 'fixed' sleeping bag (attached to a band that went around the mattress like a safety sleep)... but she got stuck in that so eventually I gave up and just let her move around as she pleased - it didn't seem to make a big difference to her sleeps. ------------- Mama to two earth walkers & two angels. Remember, you are not managing an inconvenience; You are raising a human being. ~ Kittie Franz Next Slingbabies! Meet - Friday 4th May !! |
Posted By: RinTinTin
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 2:05pm
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I have slept Mac on his tummy for the last 3 weeks (he's only 6 weeks old) or so with no problems. We chose to do this because on his back we had to wrap him (which he hated) and then would try to esape his wrap and end up shuffling himself aorund the bed and then under his blankets. On his tummy his startle reflex doesn't bother him, so no need to wrap him and I also feel that tummy sleeping is far more natural than sleeping on your back. I am quite confident in saying he would move his own head if he were having trouble breathing, but my own conscience won't allow me to leave him face down.
In your situation I would say your DD is quite safe on her tummy and she is probably aware enough to move her own head if she is having difficulty breathing. If she is putting herself on her tummy it's probably because she'smore comfortable there and therefore having a more restful sleep which is far better for her. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Katep
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 2:07pm
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Thanks for the replies and ideas.
She is in a gogo bag, so tonight I am going to tuck that in and see if I can somehow tuch her in even tighter with her blanket. We dont have any sort of monitor as her room is right next to ours and I wake at any small noise she makes (even in her sleep), hence why I wake up and check her lots in the night. I am wondering how a monitor will help? I assume it is because I can hear her breathing on them....but if she is to stop breathing during the night....surely I wont wake to that? ------------- http://lilypie.com">
Mum to the Gorgeous Leah! 7 months |
Posted By: clover
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 2:11pm
| A sound and montion montior will alert you with an alarm if she stops breathing, I think that is what they were suggesting |
Posted By: Katep
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 2:13pm
Oh thanks summerlamb....maybe i should have looked it up!  Duh...sound and MOTION monitor!------------- http://lilypie.com">
Mum to the Gorgeous Leah! 7 months |
Posted By: HoneybunsMa
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 2:19pm
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I have let DD sleep on her tummy for the longest time much to plunkets horror. I have an angel care monitor which is the motion detector and love it. Sometimes though I admit I forget to turn it back on in the middle of the night if I have pulled her out of bed for some reason but she's always been fine. I too have walked in to find DD face down which didn't bother us the first couple of times as her arms were by her head, but then one day we saw her lying facedown with her arms down by her side like she was passed out or something, that's when we decided we needed the angel care monitor. As soon as we put her down on her tummy to sleep she went 7hrs consistently. Now at 6mths she moves so damn much its not funny when she's trying to settle to sleep. She rolls on to her back and screams as she hates being on her back lol ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: Mamma2N
Date Posted: 21 January 2010 at 2:27pm
Also have a tummy sleeper here. Funnily enough my Mum told me that Plunkets recommendations back when we were little was to tummy sleep us all from birth  Apparently we were all pretty crappy sleepers though
I would personally feel more comfortable with DD on her back, but short of sitting next to her cot all night and flipping her, there isn't alot I can do. I'm not too keen on strapping her down and i doubt she'd cooperate either! I haven't got a monitor at all, although if funds allow they sound like a great option 
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