3-month-old sleeping on front: is this ok?

[scampadoodle]

DS2 has been able to roll over for a few weeks now & now that he is in a bigger cot he automatically rolls onto his front to sleep.I've tried putting a rolled-up blanket beside him but he just pushes it away. Is it okay for him to sleep on his front? I learned recently that 2 to 4 months is peak for cot death so am a bit concerned.

dd started rolling onto her front when she was about 5 months and hv said that so long as she was strong enough to roll over that was ok. don't know about three months though as that does seem to be a bit young. the problem is though how do you keep him on his back. unless oyu try a gro bag. sorry i'm not much use but if this gets bumped maybe someone else will see it

I was told by health visitors that it was fine as long as they can turn over and I would agree with scampadoodle that 3 months is a bit early. However a good friend has two kids who always slept on their fronts - and really if that's the only way they'll sleep, what can you do except perhaps place him on his back before you go to bed. Ive used gro bags since about 3 months but Im not sure that that would stop him rolling - although I would thoroughly recommend them for getting them to sleep. It might help.

When my 3 were babies the midwife told me to wrap them and put them down on their sides. We put a rolled up blanket on either side and they stayed put.

This was before the more recent advice about putting them on their backs.

Theres a thing in blooming marvellous, php and jojmamabebe catouloges that keep baby on their backs. one is called a sleep positioner that has 2 inbuilt cusions either side and the other is a head and body support that molds to the shape of the baby and keeps them on their back

DS rolled onto his front early, and I was forever going into his room to roll him back - really worried about cot death. After about 4 nights I saw the HV who said that as long as I put him to sleep on his back, if he rolled over, then this was fine as long as he put himself there. Now at 9 mths in a grobag and still rolls straight onto his tummy.

Thanks Oooggs. (& everyone). I thought it was early for him to do it but couldn't remember. He's got his 2nd jabs on Tuesday, so I'll ask the HV then. He's already in a sort of gro-bag (goes to his waist) & it makes no difference whatsoever! Wee scamp.

if you're worried, try a tip from my antenatal teacher, and put child to sleep on a lambskin. even if they end up face down, they can breathe as there is air in the wool tufts. DS1 only ever slept on his front and cried all the time if on his back. so we went with it.

grobags are great but IMO don't stop a rolling child from turning over

As I understand it, once a child can roll themselves it's OK, you just shouldn't put a child to sleep on their front. You do have a very early roller, but I can't see what you can do about it, even if you wanted to.

Message withdrawn

It's a funny old world, scampadoodle. When mine were babies I would go to all sorts of lengths to stop them rolling onto their backs, as current theory then was that babies were safest sleeping on their tummies! Like some of the other mums here, I found it was a losing battle; if a baby wants to roll over it generally will. Just make sure the sheet is tightly fitted so it won't crumple up under him if he wriggles around. Talking to the HV is a good idea. It helps to have a professional telling you something is OK; gives you confidence.

u could use a SAFE T SLEEP thingy. You can order it from here:

Safe-T-Sleep

Suitable until 3 yrs, it keeps your baby from rolling about but his arms and legs are free to move.

For what its worth, my dd, now 7 mths, has been sleeping on her front since about 4 weeks old cos she had really bad colic and sleeping that way sort of soothed her tummy and made it easier for her to sleep.i was a bit paranoid at first tho, and spent most nights wide-eyed, and zombified trying to ensure she didn't smother to death at night!
MIL also insisted on putting her to bed on her front, saying she'd brought up 5 kids that way and all of them turned out more clever (I would take that with several massive pinches of salt!!)

but dd's head has always been quite strong-ish and she's always been able to move her head/neck around and adjust herself during sleep, so I learnt to relax after she passed the 3mth mark.

she's an early crawler -started just before 5th month and now starting to cruise.Might be due to all that time spent on her tummy.

just wanted to add, i am NOt recommending putting babies to sleep on their front. honestly, if i could change things, my dd wouldn't be.i was only happy to do so cos she was prone to puking due to the colic and i figured better to let her sleep facing down and let puke trickle out rather than her sleeping on her back and choking on her own vomit!