5 month old tummy sleeping

[motherriver]

Hi! So my five month old only sleeps when held and only when held upright on my chest not on my lap or in my arms. He has been this way since birth and I’ve tried everything possible to change this so he sleeps on his back and not on me all the time. Nothing works! So essentially he is sleeping on his stomach but against my chest. He cannot yet roll and i always place him on his back when trying to put him down (he screams and wakes up every time!). If I place him on his stomach during day time naps when I am with him to watch him do you think this will be ok? It’s the only way I might be able to get him to sleep without being held but don’t want to increase risk of SIDS…but if I am watching him is there a difference between on his stomach on me or on his stomach next to me?

I don’t think there has been any risk conducted into to it so no one will know the answer.

I always thought one (not only) of the main risks with tummy sleeping was not being able to turn their head so risk of going face down and not able to breathe. I think you need to use your discretion here. Nobody can say either way now safe if is or isn't but sometimes you have to weigh up how it would help your MH if you could have half an hour without a sleeping baby on you

It’s your call, I don’t think anyone can give you an accurate risk assessment. If it were me, I don’t see any advantage of staring at them napping on their tummy versus holding them so I wouldn’t do it. If you’re properly supervising the nap it wouldn’t be possible to use the time to do housework, have a nap yourself etc. and I wouldn’t see it as a huge hardship to watch TV whilst they snooze on me. I’m not you though and I appreciate you’re clearly finding it tough. Sometimes you have to use your discretion.

Thanks for the answers everyone. I understand there's no hard and fast rule or guaranteed answer just wondered if anyone else had some advice or experience with this! My reasoning was just to try and get him used to sleeping somewhere other than on me as he may then start to self soothe and then I can slowly transition him off me properly (on his back)! But I think will just carry on as I am for now as don't want to take any risks!

Hmm it's a tricky one op. Mine napped on me and tummy-napped, but I watched him like a hawk (he was v poorly at birth so I was incredibly anxious)

You can get angel mattresses (I think) and nappy clips to detect breathing. You do get false alarms but might be worth a look?

I just carried on and he out grew it himself. I enjoyed the cuddles so wasn't a big deal for me.

My granddaughter was able to turn herself over in her sleep at 5 months - from back to front - and my dd spent ages turning her back, only for her to turn within minutes!
She still sleeps on her front.

I’d like to add that she uses an alarm mattress that is very sensitive, no movement and it goes off within seconds.

@Toomanypickles thanks for your reply! Don't get me wrong I do love the cuddles too!! but I am talking 24/7 he won't go down at night or for any day time naps at all so I'm getting no sleep at all as not keen on cosleeping either . So I'm trying to find ways first to just get him to sleep off me....in the Hope I can transition him onto his back for night time...at least for a couple of hours so I can get some sleep lol! I wouldnt let him sleep on his tummy if I wasn't around or if I was trying to sleep etc as I'd worry too much. I think I'll just have to keep trying to put him down on his back and hope one day he stays!

If he is 5 month old is he getting close to rolling? Once they can roll both ways he can safely sleep on his tummy if he puts himself into that position (advice is to always put them down on their back but can leave them to find their own position once they can roll both ways). Maybe do lots of tummy time and encourage rolling during awake times then once he’s mastered it you won’t need to worry so much about watching him sleep on his tummy.

@MotherOfDragon20 thanks for this advice! I saw when they can roll it's safer but he is showing no interest in rolling! He's just over a month premature so maybe he will start showing signs soon, although he is sitting unaided so perhaps it's just lack of interest in rolling. Will commence more tummy time as you suggest see if that helps!!

Ds sleeps on his tummy and has since birth. It's the way they put him to sleep in NICU in his incubator and he shows no signs of changing that lol. He's 2 now so does roll about and often decides to sleep under his cot?

If you are concerned, I would get one of those alarms that someone mentioned above! If he's happy, you can't change it unfortunately unless you try ever so gently turning him when he's deep in sleep? It's a risky move though

My little girl was the same, wouldn't sleep unless she was on our chests. At 8 weeks old my husband woke during the night with cramp and layed her on her front and was amazed that she stayed asleep. We decides to buy a bedside cot and a baby monitor with a motion detector and nervously let her sleep on her front, it was definitely a worrie and took a while for us to relax about it but her sleep has been great since and she is now 20 months old and now sleeps in all sorts of random positions .
If you decide to give it a try its definitely worth getting a monitor, the one I had was tommee tippee closer to nature digital video, movement and sound monitor.