5 month old sleeping on side

[balloonable]

My daughter is almost 5 months and loves to sleep on her side. She can't yet roll over either way and I worry because when wriggling around awake she buries her face into the surface.
I've read multiple sources saying if a baby rolls to their side in the night you should put them on their back. I do this but she just rolls straight back onto her side and it goes on forever.
Does anyone have experience of this please?

Youre not alone.
DD learnt to roll onto her side and sleep from about 4.5months.
She wasnt able to roll either way completely so I was paranoid all night but because she couldnt make a full turn she got onto her side and would just flop on to her back again when she wriggled.

However, she has now learnt to roll back to front. As soon as I put her down to sleep she automatically rolls straight onto her side and will be comfy. During the night she will be restless and end up on her front and get stuck. She literally lays face down with her face smooshed into the mattress.
I end up rolling her back god knows how many times during the night. She just cant seem to get off of her front!
I did read one resource which said side sleeping is really common and babies should be rolled back if the parent is awake and notices it.
DD makes enough noises when she is stuck that i wake and move her.
Im sure your daughter will master the art of rolling soon and youll feel happier with her sleeping.
Lots of practice rolling during the day will help. I found that DD was more comfortable learning to roll on my bed. Maybe try that? Move the duvet etc first so you just have a flat surface.

Thank you, that's really helpful.
We tried rolling over and she managed one roll!

It's so stressful and we aren't getting enough sleep as we are always flipping her back over to her back going to be a rough few weeks/months!

This advice always changes

My babies slept on their backs, and I wedged rolled up towels around them to put them on their sides (which as the advice 20 yrs ago 🤯

My baby did this and because she was in a Next2Me, i slept with my hand by her tummy so that if she rolled onto her front, I would feel it and wake up. I think at 5 months you are probably fine, mine was quite a bit younger. She should cry out if she gets stuck I should think.

Both of mine were tummy sleepers from birth, never bothered me, slept next to me and still sleep on their tummies nowadays. Whatever works is OK.

Mine did this pretty much from birth - however much we put him down on his back in the next to me, he would always end up on his side right in the corner with his face up against the mesh so it really looked as though he couldn’t possibly be able to breathe! It was very concerning but there was nothing we could do to stop him - if we rolled him back he would just roll onto his side again straight away 😂

The midwife told us to just make sure we were putting him down in the right position but not to stay up all night rolling him back - he couldn’t roll onto his tummy which was the main thing and the sides of the next to me are mesh for that very reason, so they are breathable!

The most tricky point for us was when he learnt to roll onto his front but was not yet able to roll back onto his back. He was in a sleeping bag by then which makes it harder for them to roll and luckily that stage only lasted a few days!

He is now 1 and insists on sleeping on his tummy with his face right in the mattress - looks super uncomfortable to me!