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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

does anyone put their newborns to sleep on their front?

70 replies

quokka · 27/02/2006 11:50

My 4 week DS seems so much happier on his front, and falls asleep straight away. When I turn him over or settle him in his cot to sleep on his back he wakes or cries. Just wanted to see if anyone ignores the warnings of front sleeping? My DS has very good head control already and seems to be very strong, does this make a difference?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

gomez · 27/02/2006 14:58

Well Kittyfish you are right we all do what is best for us and DD2 slept on her front from around 3 weeks - she slept wonderfully as opposed to constant crying and waking up. She is now 20 months and still sleeps on her front with her bum stuck up in the air. Please don't be disturbed by my choice it was well informed and considered at the time and in no way negates any of the advice available to others.

kittyfish · 27/02/2006 15:06

The trouble with everyone here saying they put their child on its front to sleep and it was fine etc is that we won't get the opposing view of the parent who put their child on its front to sleep and it wasn't fine at all. I think it is dangerous to suggest that front-sleeping is anything other than a last resort.

alibubbles · 27/02/2006 19:13

I know two people who have had cot deaths, and both babies slept on their backs.

OldieMum · 27/02/2006 19:19

Even if we all knew people who have slept on their fronts and have been fine, or who have put their babies to sleep on their fronts, it's incorrect and extremely unwise to generalise from the experience of a small number of people. What the research shows is that, if you look across large numbers of people, then the risks of cot death are significantly higher for children who are put to sleep on their fronts. You have to decide whether you are prepared to run this risk. If you are, fine, but you can't use just your personal experience to make a judgement about this - that's the point of doing research on large numbers of cases.

Milliways · 27/02/2006 19:23

When DD was born, we were told NOT to put her on her back!- she mainly slept on her side & is now 15. When DS was born, the Back to Sleep campaign was in force & I was horrified at all the babies who had been routinely put on their fronts, under advice.

At least we had a 4.5 year gap. Pity the confused mums with 2 year gap when advice is completely reversed.

hunkermunker · 27/02/2006 19:26

Sunnyside, there have been posts on here (scaremongery ones) from someone involved with those mattresses. SIDS website in this country says it's all arse iirc (I'm paraphrasing).

Pruni · 27/02/2006 19:28

Hasn't the number of cot deaths gone down by some amazing figure, like two-thirds, since the advice changed? That speaks volumes imo. "I was put to sleep on my front and I'm still alive" is a nutty response...

OldieMum · 27/02/2006 19:37

Thanks, Pruni. I thought I'd stumbled into some parallel universe for a moment.

hunkermunker · 27/02/2006 19:42

Yes, Pruni, cot death dropped by 75%

\link{http://www.sids.org.uk/fsid/facts.htm\See here}

Pruni · 27/02/2006 19:47

There's also - somewhere - a study that compares cot death in white America and the black communities in the States where sleeping on the front is commonplace. The reduction in deaths only applies to the former, apparently.

One of the most anger-inducing things I had to deal with as a new mother was someone very close to me who would not believe in any figures (75% speaks for itself, ffs) and expressed her strong feeling that I was being a jumpy mother. I am still angry at her...(judging by the adrenaline reaction I have just had - blimey)

hunkermunker · 27/02/2006 19:52

Oh, that's so ANNOYING, isn't it, Pruni!

nulnulcat · 27/02/2006 19:53

dd had really bad reflux and would only sleep on her front so has been sleeping like that since she was 2 weeks old the first 2 weeks involved me sleeping sitting up in bed with her asleep lying on her tummy on my chest, couldnt carry on like this so put her down on her tummy she had a gro bag and she is 2 now and still sleeps on her front with her bum in the air didnt tell the health visitors what i was doing

kittyfish · 27/02/2006 19:58

Thank goodness some sense on this thread at last. Of course we still have cases of sids as Allibubbles experience has shown and there are many factors involved in sids including, smoking, overheating, smothering etc and no-one has a definitive answer to why sids happens. But as the link shows (thanks Hunker) putting a baby on its back to sleep has reduced sids by 75% - a huge percentage - and I for one would rather take all night settling my baby then run the risk of putting her on her front to sleep.

sunnyside · 27/02/2006 20:02

Cheers Hunker, someone mentioned said nutter on another thread when I was asking if anyone knew more! I guess that's it then. It's incerdibly worrying though when you read the research as it does sound very convincing. Good to hear about the lack of antimony in GB mattresses.

Just for info the reason for my questions was that I was a bit suss cos I couldn't find any independent research only the stuff done by the blokie now selling mattress wrappers!

dejags · 27/02/2006 20:23

in answer to the OP - yes it does make a difference, the advice is very clearly backed up by hard statistical evidence.

Having said that - a good way round it, is to let your baby sleep on his front if you can sit next to him and then once deeply asleep just turn him over.

I found swaddling a godsend - I also used rolled up towels on either side of DS2 when he was really tiny to increase the feeling of security I was sure he was missing when sleeping on his back.

nutcracker · 27/02/2006 20:23

My Dd2 was an awful sleeper but there was no way I could have gnoe against the advice to put her to sleep on her back. I wouldn't have slept for worrying then.

She used to occasionally nap in her pram on her front but then i would hover over her every 2 seconds.

nutcracker · 27/02/2006 20:24

I also found swaddling did help a bit with dd2 and was a life saver with Ds.

Bugsy2 · 27/02/2006 20:25

quokka, I agonised over this. DS had awful colic. He screamed every evening for 5 or 6 hours and woke every 1.5/2 hrs during the night. I noticed that during the day when I put him to sleep on his tummy while I was in the room watching him, he went down almost immediately and slept really well.
When he was 8 weeks old, I consulted my GP and health visitor and both of them said that while they couldn't recommend putting a baby to sleep on their back, they thought that my DS was very low risk. He was born full-term, was a strong, healthy baby with good head control, had never suffered from sleep apnea, no one in the house smoked, he slept in a room at the correct temperature etc etc. So all the other possible risks were reduced.

On that basis I put him to sleep on his tummy and I can honestly say that the first few nights I probably slept even less than I had done when he wouldn't settle because I was so terrified he would die. However, it made a huge difference to him, he slept better, was more settled and contented during the day and it made a small difference to the colicky screaming.
He is 6 now and still goes to sleep on his tummy! Wish you luck with whatever you decide. I would definitely consult your GP & HV though.

dejags · 27/02/2006 20:25

I still have some of DH's not so old aunties questioning why on earth my DS's were both put to sleep on their backs. It seems that 15 years ago the advice was very much to the contrary i.e. if you put them to sleep on their backs they could choke if they vomited in their sleep... wtf?

They think I am barmy and I have given up trying to explain about current research

Enid · 27/02/2006 20:27

dd1 had so much bruising on the back of her head after the birth it just seemed cruel not to let her sleep on her front. She slept brilliantly on her front.

dd2 rolled over very early and slept on her front from about 3 months.

Ragtaggle · 27/02/2006 20:53

Can I just ask a question? According to that link, the incidence of cot deaths have gone down since 1991 when a big campaign was put in place to educate people about the risk factors. Does anyone know to what extent this is about telling people about ALL the risk factors - ie: smoking,overheating etc and what is down to telling people to sleep their babies on their backs? I was talking to a doctor recently who said that overheating and smoking were as big risk factors as putting babies to sleep on their backs. She felt that babies who slept on their fronts were only at particular risk if the other two factors were in place. She said that she felt the sleeping on their back thing was overemphasised as socio-economic factors played a far greater part in cot deaths. She is someone I know and wasn't offering the advice professionally but I wondered if anyone knows if there are statistics to back this up?

Cutsie1 · 27/02/2006 21:03

Yes there are warnings & dangers I agree but these little people are just that...little people and they also have preferences when it comes to sleeping...my DS was an extremely bad sleeper and I would be up every single night every single hour driving me to insanity...the problem was that he just simply wanted to sleep on his front. So after 4 months of sleepless nights (as I was afraid due to warnings) I gave in and have never looked back..he slept through straight away. The decision is yours of course and please do not ignore the warnings but there are still measures you can take to make it safe.

Xxx Jess xxX

Bugsy2 · 27/02/2006 21:16

Ragtaggle, I think SIDS is a very complicated issue and nobody actually knows exactly what causes it. From what I can gather, research has helped to show what factors put babies at more risk and I think several studies have proven that babies in lower social economic groups are at higher risk. However, putting babies to sleep on their back did appear to make a very significant difference in overall statistics, but whether this was coupled with the fact that people were suddenly much more aware of all the other associated risks too, is probably impossible to tell.
As both my GP & HV said to me at the time, when I was sweating over what to do with ds, it is worth remembering that it is a tiny percentage of full-term, healthy babies who actually die of SIDS.

dreamteamgirl · 27/02/2006 22:20

The thing is I would NEVER tell someone else to go ahead and put their baby to sleep on their front.

BUT, at only 5 days old, and still in the hospital, the midwifes put DS down to sleep on his front, and he SLEPT.

Although he was a tiny wee scrap, he was a strong little bugger, and a fighter. He could lift and turn his head by 24 hours, and was only ever happy sleeping on his front.

I tried over and over and over, as did the midwives, to get him to sleep on his back, but he never slept longer than 20 mins n his back, even when I tried turning him after he was asleep.

As I say, I would never tell anyone else to do it, but in answer to the OPs original question. Yes I did ignore the warnings and go ahead, and yes I did feel that the fact that he could lift and turn his head made me feel better about it.

egocentriczebra · 28/02/2006 02:23

My babies were side sleepers, we all got the most sleep that way. Sometimes there's a trade-off involved for saving your sanity. DD and DS1 turned into tummy sleepers by the time they were 1, DS2 is a confirmed on-back sleepr.

I can't sleep on my tummy or back, so side-sleeping just makes sense to me.

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