# Cosleeping baby wants to tummy sleep



## libbylou

We part time cosleep
LO starts out the night in her crib and tends to sleep 3-5 hours for her first stretch of sleep and then comes to bed with us for the rest of the night
She tummy sleeps in her crib which I have no problem with because she is very mobile, very strong and has great head control...plus we have an Angelcare monitor in her crib

She's always slept on her back or side when in bed with us, but last night at 4am she started rolling around and I thought she had decided to play as she rolled to her front...but then she put her head down and went to sleep!!! I rolled her back over and she fought me like crazy to get back to her tummy but I ended up settling her on her back by getting her to nurse.
She spent the next 3.5 hours trying to get back onto her tummy to sleep everytime she woke and everytime I would fight her to get her on her back or side again.
I'm not sure if it's because she's congested (she's had a cold for the past week) and finds it easier to breathe on her tummy or if she's just decided that she wants to tummy sleep in our bed too

I am NOT ok with her tummy sleeping in our bed. For one thing our bed is partly memory foam and as such is not considered a "firm" sleeping surface and I don't want her sleeping with her face in it. I'd much rather have her on her back with clear airspace around her face.
I'm also worried that when she's on her tummy she is unable to use her arms or legs to defend herself against rogue pillows and blankets. We only have the pillows under our heads and our blanket isn't super heavy and is always pulled down and tucked around my waist so the chances of it getting around her head are slim but I still worry.
She also moves very quickly when on her tummy and I'm worried that she'll end up hurting herself before I can even wake up

Anyone else have their LO decide to tummy sleep in the parents bed? How did you get LO to continue back/side sleeping? Or did you just accept that LO would be ok tummy sleeping?
I'm really stressed out that this is the end of our bedsharing experience until she is bigger which makes me really sad and since she is still a crap sleeper I'll end up waking up to settle her every two hours all night if she's not in bed with us :(


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## lozzy21

I just accepted that once she was old enough to turn on her tummy she was old enough to turn if she was unable to breath.


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## minties

It didn't even occur to me to worry about it to be honest. By the time he started sleeping on his front, he could cruise and sit unaided (7 months) so I wasn't worried about it. I felt that he was pretty mobile and would be ok.


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## Reno

My LO sleeps on his tummy in our bed. We have a memory foam mattress. I just make sure there are no pillows (i just put my pillow on the floor) and keep the duvet away!


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## Rachel_C

We replaced our memory foam mattress with a firm sprung one, before LO started tummy sleeping. She does sleep on her tummy now and has done for a while, it never occurred to me to worry about that! 

When they're on their back, if a blanket covers their face they can bat it away, but when they're on their front it won't actually press against their face anyway I don't think. It'd be more like a tent with the blanket over the back of their head! So they should still get plenty of air - I don't think you'd have the blanket so high that it would cover all the way over the head and fill any air gaps in the 'tent' anyway, would you? I'd just keep your pillow and covers away.


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## libbylou

Well I let her tummy sleep in bed last night, she woke up at 5am and decided to get on her tummy and I was too tired to fight her. 
The blankets aren't so much of an issue because we keep them tucked down low enough, but once she got on her tummy she pushed herself to the head of the bed where our pillows are (we each have one pillow under our heads). We have a king bed so lots of room but I was still worried about pillows in her face so I kept trying to pull her down lower and she kept pushing herself back up to the top of the bed :wacko:


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## Rachel_C

Can you just use a thin pillow and fold in it half so it's only just big enough for your head or use a smaller cushion/pillow instead? I always sleep so that my face is at the edge of the pillow and any extra is behind me, away from LO's side, so even if she pulls herself up to pillow height, there's no pillow in front of me/above her anyway.


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## octosquishy

I don't co-sleep, but I will give my opinion.

I see your LO is 7 months old, way old enough to sleep on her belly and not suffocate. My LO has been sleeping on his belly since 2 days old, on our memory foam mattress (sometimes he just sleeps on the bed during the day) or in his crib. They know when they need to turn their head.
As for the suffocating from the blankets, if your baby is very mobile, she will be able to crawl up and out of the blankets, as long as it's not wrapped around her head, and she will be fighting it regardless, so her kicking and crawling will wake you up.

I am 100% for tummy sleeping if it's the way they sleep the best.


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## Sproglet

My LO is a determined tummy sleeper, I first found her on her tummy aged 3 1/2 weeks! I have a memory foam mattress too. She always has her head turned to the side, and has enough neck strength to turn to face the other side if she wants. No matter how many times I put her back in the night, she's on her tummy again when I wake. 

My pillow is memory foam, so quite big and firm and there's no way she could accidentally get her head on it, and if the pillow was to end up on top of her it wouldn't sag over her nose just sort of perch on top of her.

As for blankets, I wrap up well and we have just a 1 tog quilt, which I tuck in at the bottom of the bed, again even if it were to end up on top of her it is light enough to form a tent rather then cover her face. 

Finally, I feel happier LO tummy sleeping next to me than if she was in her Moses basket. I hope that I am in tune enough to wake if something were to happen. After all I wake before Robyn cries for feeding.


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## libbylou

Thanks for the replies ladies :) I feel a lot more comfortable now after seeing your responses, I tend to get overanxious about this stuff sometimes!

Our pillows are quite firm so she wouldn't be able to get up on them without me noticing and if for some reason she was able to jam her head under them without me noticing it likely wouldn't suffocate her

She is very strong and mobile for her age too so I know I'm worrying somewhat unnecessarily 

I guess the upside of her deciding to tummy sleep is that she's not permanently attached to my boob all night. 
The downside is that she rolls on her tummy and crawls around until she's comfy, then once she wakes to nurse (like every hour :wacko:) she cries because there isn't a boob in her face so I have to wake up and move her around where before she would just latch and hardly even wake me


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## Rachel_C

libbylou said:


> I guess the upside of her deciding to tummy sleep is that she's not permanently attached to my boob all night.

Just you wait until she's older and more determined - my LO tries to stretch my nipple so that she can sleep on her tummy while latched. Ouch doesn't cover it!


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