worried about sleeping on front

[chicca]

DS (9 months)currently sleeps in bed with us. He's started rolling over onto his front and actually seems to sleep better on his front than his back.

However, I am obviously concerned about the whole sleeping on your tummy issue in relation to cot death.

At what age do the risks lessen?

The other worry that I have is that although he can roll over onto his back he doesn't seem to be able to roll back again and his stuck in the tummy position - which is surely more dangerous still.

Any thoughts??

[chicca]

bump

[mears]

Chicca - at 9 months your baby can easily lift his head. Make sure that he is not overheated. Some babies do like to be on their tummies - my first 2 slept like that from birth. The risks are much less at 9 months. Remember the risk is minute and I would try not to worry too much about it. He obviously prefers it.

[elliedragon]

Hi Chicca. Sorry to say this but I would be more worried about him sleeping in bed with you than him on his tummy at 9 months. I thought one of the problems of cot death was overheating and they recommend them not to sleep with you due to this. Can he roll onto his side when he tries to move or is he just face down on the mattress?

[mears]

\link{http://www.babyfriendly.org.uk/parents/sharingbed.asp|safe bedsharing leaflet}

[elliesmoomoo]

i think at 9 months it isnt a problem for him to sleep in your bed or sleep on his front if you and him are happy with it

[mears]

safe bedsharing leaflet

[chicca]

Didn't really want to start a thread on co-sleeping (there are plenty already). In fact what DS does could happen in the bed or indeed a cot.
Thanks for the link - I will continue to adhere to the advice.

Even if DS was in a cot I can't imagine how you would prevent a baby from rolling over at his age?

[QueenEagle]

Once they are able to roll over by themselves there's nothing you can do to stop them. At his age I wouldn't be too concerned.

My ds1 took part in a cot death reasearch when he was born. He was wired up each night to a little black box which recorded his core temp (tiny probe in his bottom), skin temp (probe attached to shin) and room temp. I still have the printout of the graph this produced. The researchers were working on the theory that some babies have a faulty internal thermostat and cot death was the result of not being able to regulate their own temperature. At a certain age babies acquired a rhythm which enabled them to do this and effectively eliminating the risk of cot death from then on. My ds acquired his rhythm at 7 weeks.

We don't know the results of all the babies tested at that time (11 yrs ago) or if research theories have changed since then.