Baby rolling over

[Starlive22]

So my baby has just discovered rolling over!! The only problem is she is only 14 weeks and can roll from back to tummy but not from tummy to back.

All the safer sleep advice states that if baby can roll both ways then it's fine to leave her to sleep and find her own position. The only problem is she is nowhere near being able to roll onto her back again yet so I'm worried about her flipping over in her sleep to her belly.

NHS guidelines state that babies will probably be able to do this at around 5-6 months, after peak time for SIDS (2-4 months) but obviously that isn't the case for me.

Can anyone offer any advice? I'm stressed about going to sleep and I'm beginning to wear myself out.

Baby does lots of tummy time, but she's just not strong enough to roll back yet and I'm a bit worried

You can either get one of those baby sleep cushions that are shaped to keep baby on their back while sleeping or you can let it go and just turn her over when you notice. Advise used to be that babies were put on their front to sleep so it probably won't do any harm it's just not the current best position. As soon as mine could turn she slept on her front, and is now 2 and still does. Just make sure there's no thick blankets under her or cot bumpers she could put her face into.

My DD rolled early and was exactly the same. She was in a sleepyhead anyway so no danger of her rolling.
Does she tend to only roll one way? My DD did so if I had to put her in a Moses basket of the pram I’d put her closer to the side so she couldn’t roll easily.
Chances are that if she can roll she is a strong baby and has good head control and therefore should be able to get comfortable on her front and keep her airway open. Maybe speak to your health visitor for some advice?

Sleepyhead! You can often get them cheap(er) on Facebook marketplace

Gosh no, I've got nothing in cot other than the baby, and a fitted sheet. Guess I'm just panicking, all that talk of tummy sleeping babies and SIDS drilled in by the midwife has put me on edge.

I'm sure it won't be long before she turns back over but until then I don't feel like I'll settle.

I'll check the sleepyhead out now!

Would the sleepyhead not be classed as a suffocation risk? Sorry if I'm being stupid here, but I thought the advice was to have nothing in the cot with LO even positioners/bumpers?

I could be wrong here but MW made a big thing of it as I'd put a tiny teddy at top of the cot and when she did the home visit she was pretty direct in what she was saying!

I wouldn't buy a sleepyhead now

They are expensive and the main benefit from them is when the babies are tiny

My HV and GP said that when they can turn onto their front, they've got enough head and neck strength to move their head to a position where they can breathe properly

DS was exactly the same - could flip onto his front from 4 months and would then get stuck and cross, or fall asleep
It only lasted a couple of weeks before he worked out how to turn back, but he is definitely a front sleeper now

If you can turn them, do it, but don't worry if they flip themselves back again, and don't wake yourself up in the night to check/turn them

Thanks @tenbob
I had read that it normally happens the other way around so was a bit surprised to see her on her front! Hopefully it won't be long.

Good to hear another baby did the same!!

My son has been turning on his side since he was a couple of days old and HV said as long as you place them on their backs it's fine if they roll themselves. Also not to use anything to try and stop it as they'll still try anyway and could cause more harm. Also if they roll in sleep sleepyheads big no no!

They pretty much all get stuck on their fronts for a while. If she's the strength to roll she'll have head control for you not to worry (hard though I know!).

Firm, flat mattress with nothing else in the cot and she'll be fine.

Ah thanks both! I have kept cot bare with just the firm flat mattress and fitted sheet. I'd be too worried anything else could be suffocation risk.

Just a bit worried I guess. She does have some good head control but it's as if when she rolls over she just buries her face in the mattress and it sends the fear of god into me. I know she can move her head but for some reason she doesn't seem to do it unless I prop her up!

So just as an update on this, i mentioned it to Health Visitor while at the clinic. She basically freaked out and advised that back is best and that she shouldn't be sleeping on her front. I asked her what I should do and she just said don't let baby sleep on front.

Needless to say this freak out has me all spooked again. I don't think I'll sleep well tonight (not that I have since she started rolling over).

Was hoping for a bit of reassurance from her but feel even worse

Don't worry, your HV is obliged to parrot the party line, rather than giving you information relevant to your situation

Plenty of others, including the Lullaby Trust, say otherwise
https://www.lullabytrust.org.uk/forums/topic/rolling-advice/

"Continue to put her down to sleep on her back for every nap and sleep and if she then turns over as long as her airway is clear she can be left to sleep in that position.If her face is turned down you can gently tilt her head to the side until she learns to do this for herself.
During the day give her plenty of supervised ‘tummy time’ to develop her neck muscles and so she can learn to roll both ways"

Get an angel care mat for under the mattress for peace of mind and just continue to put baby to bed on their back. My DH was mega paranoid about this too and having this let him sleep easy. The alarm went off once and I've never seen him leap out of bed so fast in my life! Baby had just rolled off the censored area thankfully!

She seemed so alarmed, I assumed it was something she's come across before loads of times but it was like I'd put her on the spot and then basically told me to move her back which of course is fine to do in the day...not so easy when I'm asleep of course.

Just so so paranoid about SIDS like I'm sure lots of FTM!

@musicalmama I've actually got an angel care mat myself. Know exactly what you mean about the alarm striking fear of god into you!

What I'm worried about though is that she will cover her nose and I can't see that the mat would ease my fears with that. I wish I could get one that went off when she flipped over but sadly don't think one exists!!