Baby's sleep position stresses me out!

[jessmke]

Sorry in advance for yet another post about my baby's sleep!

My daughter has had a hard time sleeping on her back from day 1. Eventually we figured out that if we put her down on her tummy she would fall asleep very quickly, then we could roll her onto her back and she would stay asleep. A couple of weeks ago she figured out how to roll both back to front, and front to back. We always put her down on her back to sleep, but she will instantly roll to her stomach and fall asleep. Now the last couple of nights she has started sleeping with her forehead on her hands and her face pressed directly down into the mattress! I can live with her sleeping on her stomach, but pressing her face into the mattress is just a bit too much for me! The pacifier is in her mouth so her nose isn't completely compressed, but she still can't get very good air flow in that position. We have been having some sleep problems and I wanted to make sure she got a good sleep last night so I allowed her to sleep this way, but I stayed awake most of the night making sure she didn't suffocate! I have tried moving her head to the side once she is asleep, but she immediately puts her face back down into the mattress. How do I stop her from doing this?!?

She has been getting very frustrated with her pacifier falling out of her mouth at night, so I wonder if this is her way of making sure it stays in her mouth.

 

[Rainstorm]

I have been having the same problem lately. I asked the doc and he said to roll her over if I wake up and see her sleeping like that... but she's almost five months old, so I guess I feel less uncomfortable now cos she can roll... :S

 

[Spudtastic]

Have you tried a safe-t-sleep? It's like a big velcro wrap that goes around the cot mattes with a velcro baby wrap attached. I kept dd1 in it for a couple of months to keep.her on her back. Then one night she turned in it so I figured she was big enough to not need to not need it. We used it from 5 or 6 months to 8 months and it meant I could sleep again.

 

[Spudtastic]

https://www.safetsleep.com/

 

[jessmke]

Have you tried a safe-t-sleep? It's like a big velcro wrap that goes around the cot mattes with a velcro baby wrap attached. I kept dd1 in it for a couple of months to keep.her on her back. Then one night she turned in it so I figured she was big enough to not need to not need it. We used it from 5 or 6 months to 8 months and it meant I could sleep again.

I haven't tried that product specifically, but I have a tried a sleep positioner to keep her on her back and she loses her marbles! She just hates sleeping on her back. She will happily lay on her back during the day to play with her activity centre, but try to put her on her back to sleep and she throws a tantrum!

 

[mewolkens]

One (pretty expensive) solution would be the safe sleep cribs. It's essentially suspended mesh so baby can sleep face down but still breathe right through. I haven't bought one because it's $400 and my LO is too small to roll, but I have a friend who swears by hers.

 

[Bunanie]

What about a breathing monitor? We bought one when DD was about 2 months and haven't looked back!
We bought an angelcare with two movment sensor pads under the mattress. So essentially when no movement is detected for 10secs, the monitor will give out a warning beep, when nothing is detected after 30secs, it will blare an alarm. We only had a few false alarms when DD was sleeping in the corner or when I didn't put the sensor pads back properly after changing sheets
Honestly it saved me from waking up in the middle of the night to make sure she's still breathing!! Now that she's older, it also deterred her from getting out of bed as wll lol