Worried... Baby on tummy, face down in mattress!

[pebblejones]

My DS (almost 5 months) discovered how to roll over onto his tummy yesterday. He can't roll back over and hasn't figured out that he can put his head to one side. I have just discovered him asleep on his belly, face down into the mattress, not crying but struggling a little to lift his head up. I turned him over and he didn't even wake up.
Now I'm worried and can't sleep in case he does it in the middle if the night and I don't notice. What can I do? I've googled and found things I could buy, but that's no good tonight, I've seen something about towels but am worried about putting towels in the cot because from past experience he's likely to burrow into then.
Anyone have any advice?

Bump!

how about putting him on his tummy with his head turned to the side? if he can't get his head up then maybe he wont be able to turn it into the mattress either?

I hadn't thought of that, that might be worth a go! I'll try.

Try not to worry. DD slept on her tummy from word go, she refused to sleep on her back. If its going to cause you to lose sleep then buy one of those pager type devices that you can clip on the nappy. It vibrates then sounds an alarm if baby stops breathing.

my ds started sleeping on his tummy as soon as he could roll and still does but i did worry at the start. but there was nothing i could do, i would turn him and 2 minutes later he rolled again.

Can you put him on his side maybe?

If you put a towel under the mattress (to tilt it very slightly) then he shouldn't be able to roll back.
If that doesn't work try rolled up towels secured with a nappy pin and under the sheet

Sympathies, it's a difficult few weeks. It'll be no time before he can roll all the way over and you won't have to think about it, honestly (DS was traversing the room by rolling at 6mo)

I used to put DS on his back every night- he got into the the most ridiculous positions! Easier said than done (yes I have got up hourly to check him at one point) but he will be OK honest! You sound like a very caring Mum but try and chill a bit. So long as he has a proper mattress/bedding he will be fine. Wait til he is shouting 'Muuuum! I need a drink/wee/toenail cutting because it will come sooner than you think!

Thank you all for your reassurance. Putting him on his side didn't work, it just made it easier for him to turn over. We managed sleep in the end, but this morning he did it again twice. It's going to worry me until he figures out how not to end up face down! What's worse is that he didn't even cry for help! :(

Hope you find an anti-rolling device in the shops today!

In case you don't and have to resort to diy; I had one of these, here's a description in case you've not seen one in RL. It was two large soft cylinders (with mesh at each end to stop stuff getting stuck inside) attached full length to each other with strong only slightly stretch fabric which had a wide velcro strip so you could adjust width to fit.

Yes you can also buy them. I don't remember now what they're called but can look it up. It's like two soft wedges linked by a piece of fabric. You place baby between the wedges to sleep and they won't be able to roll over. We used it for DS1 and it worked brilliantly.

sleep positioner

hth