Fuzz Is Asleep On His Tummy-Should I Flip Him Over?
Can you see him on his tummy?
Here is Fuzz asleep right now. It’s dark, so hopefully you can see that he’s in this stomach-sleeping position.
About an hour ago, I checked on him and he was on his tummy. He rolled into this position by himself. He can currently roll from back to tummy, but not the other way around.
I suffered the dilemma of whether or not I should flip him, after trying to shove a pacifier in his mouth failed. I finally decided to flip him, thinking this would at least give me peace of mind, even if he did wake up.
He didn’t wake up, but then started making some noises and flipped back onto his tummy. Then he moved his head from side to side and complained a little, trying to figure out how he could breathe best. I know he’s having some snotty breathing issues due to the teething (or perhaps due to the cold his two-year-old brother has given him), too. This concerns me about leaving him in this position.
He’s right outside the room where I’m sleeping in a pack-n-play, since there’s no room for him in my bed here.
So if I flip him again, he’ll probably just flip back, right? If I don’t flip him, will I not sleep because I’m so freaked out? We don’t have our breathing monitor here in New York. I need that Magic sleep suitcase thing!! What should I do?? I need to get some rest!!
I don’t know if I can stay on the computer too much longer to check for responses, but please leave your comments because I’m sure if I’m up all night tonight with this problem, I’ll want to have some opinions for tomorrow night, when this happens again!! Thanks!!
My pedi said once they could flip to their tummy, the SIDS risk was low enough not to worry about flipping him back over.
Oh, thanks so much for your advice, El and Esther!
Suffice it to say that I got *very* little sleep last night. Of course, this morning, he was happily lying on the floor and blam- he rolled from tummy to back like he’d been doing it for years! Oh Well! At least I can put that worry to rest (at least this aspect of this particular worry)!
Naomi, I hope you actually got some sleep last night! I don’t have any good advice for this, except that I head the same thing as “El”: that once they can flip over, the SIDS risk is low. That said, it would definitely freak me out too….
I’m sorry I didn’t see this last night because I would have said…don’t flip him! If he got himself there, he’s fine in that position. Once they do it themselves, they’re good.
Ever since my son was born, we put him down to nap on his belly and on his back for bed time. He is now 13 months old and sleeping almost full time on his belly. If the baby can roll over, then I would leave a sleeping baby be.
My baby also recently started rolling over to sleep on his tummy too! I worried too but I’ve also been told that at his age the SIDS risk is lower. Plus, if he liked it and slept better (which he does, amazingly) I let him!
My LO could roll from tummy to back since 1 week old – I’m sure Fuzz can if he *really* wants to! Everything I’ve read/seen says once they can flip themselves onto tummy they are fine, just always put them down first on back each night.
Thanks all! Yes, this morning he showed me that he can roll back to his back from his belly, so…Phew!!
if he can roll over, just leave him alone. our 3.5 month old daughter MUCH prefers her tummy for sleeping and will put herself like that. so we let her. and sometimes, since she flips easily in both directions, we’ll start her on her tummy because it’s her clear preference (she sleeps a lot better in that position, in fact, and sleeps loooong like that). she’s also our 3rd kid so we’re not really freaked out by it. honestly, though, if this was our first? probably a different story!! i plan on ‘fessing up to her pediatrician at her 4-month check just to see what he has to say about it. but, again, my understanding is as the commenters above shared – once baby can flip himself, he’s good to go.
I’m so sorry I wasn’t on last night, my advice echoes everyone else’s!
My sons doing the same thing!and i had the same reaction!
does it matter if they are in a sleep sack or if the legs are swaddled? mine gets mad if she is on her tummy but always flips herself that way and then she hollers until I turn her back…should i let her cry it out?
My twins are 6 months old..they both roll over and sleep on their tummies. At first they would get mad but all I did was made sure that they had breathing room and was not smothering themselves, if they could breath I let them cry it out..now they sleep fine.