Rolling at 3 days old? Safety

[MissTwister]

My little daughter is 3 days old and we've got her sleeping in a Snuzpod bedside crib. However, every time i put her on her back about 30 seconds later she's rolled completely over on to her side.

Firstly, is this normal and safe at such a young age?

Secondly, her face seems to be smooshed against the side - this is scary as it is safe!?

[PlumFairy2014]

I've never known such a small baby roll! Does she ever roll herself back?

Is there anything causing even the slightest tilt to the mattress?

[SavoyCabbage]

I would get a spirit level and make sure the crib is flat.

Maybe enrol her in circus school! My dd hadn't rolled over when she had her eight month check!

[NickyEds]

Make sure it's flat. I've never heard of such a tiny baby rolling.

[FATEdestiny]

Make sure she is sleeping perfectly flat, don't raise one end of the cot/crib. Also make sure there is nothing in her cot and no raised surfaces.

There was an article recently about a baby who slipped down a tilted mattress, onto the lowered side of a bedside crib. Because baby was unable to lift head, the baby died from asphyxiation.

Always put baby to sleep on her back.

[Alibabsandthe40Musketeers]

DS2 used to do this, turn himself onto his side as soon as we put him to sleep.

After a stressful few days, we decided to go with his preference. We put a small rolled towel to his back and tummy and put him down to sleep on his side. It sort of helped, for about a month until he could roll onto his tummy despite the towels.
After that we gave up, and just let him sleep on his front. He could push himself up on his arms with no problem from about 24 hours old so he wasn't going to get stuck on his front.

[foolonthehill]

2 of my 4 rolled from a week...from back to side......they hated being on their back and would scream, lift legs up and roll (always to the right...they both turned out to be left handed...don't know if that is relevant).

health visitor told me to roll towels up to form a low barrier around them to prevent but they just screamed. in the end I decided to have a low blanket roll next to their front so they couldn't roll right over and let them sleep on their side. they both slept in my room which made me fee

by the time they were 10 weeks both were sitting unsupported, rolling across the floor over and over and I gave up worrying (except about all the furniture/wires etc that could cause damage).

My third co slept and I don't think she rolled

my fourth just didn't sleep....hated being put down and ended up in a hammock...which might be an option if you want to stop rolling

i think 10% of babies roll by 1 month old...but I don;t know which way (b to f or f to b)

do check the crib is flat though....or the floor!

[Alibabsandthe40Musketeers]

Don't use a hammock if they can roll - DS2 was rolling in a hammock, and would be stuck with his face against the edge. It was netting, so no danger of suffocating, but it freaked us so much that we bought him a small sized cot so that he could still be right next to our bed but sleeping on a completely flat surface.

[MissTwister]

We went and bought a spirit level. It is flat! She obviously just likes to roll, I thought it was bizarre too especially as she was premature so should be behind I would think.....I assume she won't be able to get on her front for ages, it's just her side

[chumbler]

my DD did too, we used a rolled up blanket down the side.she only rolled one way onto her side, I think maybe she prefers that one side maybe because of tricky birth being pulled out a certain way? she stopped doing it after a week or so, she still prefers one side though!

[butterry]

Does she turn her head only to one side too? My daughter did this and would roll onto her side very early. It was because the muscles were tighter on one side of her neck, from growing in the womb in a certain position for so long without much space. This meant the muscles were tense enough to allow her to roll. I took her for cranial osteopathy and it made such a difference straight away.

[skankingpiglet]

My DD was a frank breech and her feet were often up in the air or up by her head in the early days. She would use the weight of her legs being up to roll on to her side. Thankfully she grew out of it when her legs straightened out (and then didn't roll again until she was 6 1/2 months old) but for those few weeks we did like PPs and tucked a rolled up towel against her back. You might be lucky and your DD will grow out of it too

[lentilpot]

If she always rolls one way, could you make it so that the side she rolled into was the mesh side of the snuzpod?

I don't think the snuzpod is too much of a suffocation risk on its own - we had one and I think I remember putting my mouth up against one wall and breathing through it to check! I would be super vigilant about bedding though and not having anything loose in there (use a grobag or just clothes in this heat).

[applecore0317]

My DD is coming up to six weeks old and rolled onto her side from day two. Some are able to do it...

It worried me, so I bought a sleepyhead, which she sleeps in every night and it keeps her on her back. My friend had the same with her little boy, but just embraced it and let him sleep on his side.

[Ilovecrapcrafts]

My baby is quite a lot older (3months) but is also doing this. She is rolling right to the non mesh side of the snuzpod. She doesn't have any room to roll onto her tummy, she can only roll back onto her back. Could someone let me know the dangers of this and purpose of the rolled up towel as that has always sounded a bit dangerous to me to - but I am eager to make sure she's safe and minimise risk

[GingerDoodle]

Mine did this but stopped after a few days and never rolled again until after a year!

[Roseybee10]

Dd2 rolled onto her side from a few days old but she was fine.

[MatriarchalDreams]

If she was prem is she just still quite curled up?! My DD wasn't prem but was quite little and naturally curled up into a sort of foetal position on her side for the first couple of weeks I think, as she got a bit older, bigger and slightly less sleepy (about 10-14 days) she started to straighten out when on her back, the massive reusable nappies she went into at two weeks helped too!

[BlackbirdOnTheWire]

Mine did this. She had torticollis (from the sounds of it, so did Butterry's DC).

If you're BFing and one side is noticeably more uncomfortable than the other, or if your DD can't seem to turn her head as far in one direction than the other, get a professional opinion. Basically every time my DD tried turning her head to the left, her entire body followed. Never to the other side. Plenty of things you can do if this is the problem but get a proper diagnosis if it rings bells.

[YouMakeMyDreams]

Dd did this too but not on purpose. It seemed that that as her legs were always in the air at the time it pulled her onto her side. I would always roll her back though because she wasn't able to get herself out of that position.
She did actually stop doing it when she spent less time curled up newborn frog style and straightened out a bit.

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

One of mines rolled that early too! The midwife didn't believe me, until he did it while she was there. I got lots of faces and was told it was because he was so small, is your little one small?

[lougle]

DD1 did on day two. Legs in the air then slammed to the side, pulling her body around. Hated back sleeping so we let her sleep on her side (with rolled blanket to ensure safety).

[JellyMould]

Mine could roll onto her side at a few days old, then lost the skill till about 8 months.

[splendide]

Mine did this as a newborn - he was just very light and his twitchy limbs would sometimes flip him over. I don't think there was intention behind it. He stopped about 4 weeks then did it properly at about 5 months.

[MissTwister]

Thanks for all the responses - she's quite small - was 36 weeks and born at 6lbs 5oz and dropped an ounce or two. Hopefully she'll grow out of it soon.

Am considering a sleepyhead though to keep her in place - does anyone have any experience with one?

Also on the rolled towel front, I might be being stupid but are there any links to videos/ pics of this as I don't quite understand!

[comeagainforbigfudge]

My wee one kept trying to get on her side but has now put the beef on and can't but if you worried you could roll up 2 towels into a big long sausages then use it to create a "nest". A kind of oval shape then a sheet over it all. Baby goes in the the depression bit.

Hth