Putting 9 month old down to sleep on tummy?

[DaisyEM]

Hoping to get some advice of DS2’s sleep! He's 9 months now and I'm still putting him down on his back, but between going to bed and 2am-ish he will wake around every 30-40 minutes, until 2-3ish in the morning when he finally rolls onto his tummy himself and then he will sleep through after that. I've been looking at the advice online and it says to continue to put them down on their backs to sleep, however the last two nights I've tried him on his tummy and he's not woken once.

So we've gone from 6+ wakeups at the start of the night on his back, to 0 wakeups when he's on his tummy from the start of the night. He can confidently roll both ways and is almost crawling now. What I wanted to ask is whether you feel it's safe to be putting him on his tummy? The advice online says to continue to put them on their backs until they are 1, but I can't figure out what the difference is between them rolling onto their tummies themselves, and you putting them on their tummy when they can confidently roll both ways. He's obviously uncomfortable on his back, but if it's not safe to put him on his tummy then I will revert back to putting him on his back until he is 1. What does everyone think? Any advice would be much appreciated. Deviating from the safe sleep rules in anyway makes me anxious, he’s obviously put down on a firm mattress, nothing in the cot, sleep bag on.

Personally in your situation I'd put him on his tummy. But it probably won't be long until he figures out how to roll onto his front as soon as you put him down. I still put my 10 month old down on her back (just used to it, I suppose) and she immediately contorts herself into various weird and wonderful positions.

Equally, you might find that your two good nights were a coincidence and that putting him on his stomach does not improve sleep!

I think once they can roll both ways i would put him on his tummy of that is what he prefers.

@QuantumPanic @SleafordSods Thanks both! I contacted my health visitor and much to my amazement she got back to me and said it’s fine to put him down on his tummy now that he rolls confidently both ways and is rolling onto his tummy to sleep for a good chunk of the night anyway. Hopefully the better nights will continue 🤞🏼🤞🏼

It’s fine to sleep on his tummy, dont hold too much hope though, my baby’s sleep has been the worse since I went back to work at 11 months…

Back in the day, we put new born babies on their tummy to sleep and they slept very well. My babies slept on a specially treated lamb skin which they loved.

I would just put him on his belly

@Peonies12 oh don’t worry, I’m not 😅 my eldest is 4.5 and has never slept through the night, I was still up with him every 40 mins all through the night at this age. I’ve been amazed DS2 has slept though the last few nights, but I know it easily couldn’t last even if I do now pop him on his tummy!

My brother slept on a sheepskin too, and of course we were also put down on our tummies!

No problem putting them on their tummy at that age once they can roll and sit easily! I do love watching my lot with their little bums in the air sleeping peacefully!! Another thing to think about is a cuddly toy (when they turn 1) - absolutely key to my eldest’s sleep from when he was about 15 months old (I added more over time as I’d see him wake, cry out whilst his arm looked for the cuddly toy and then roll back to sleep the moment he found one).

Yes, and lots more babies died which is why the OP is concerned about it!

However, a 9 month old is very different to a newborn, and assuming this baby is healthy and developing normally and can roll and crawl fine, I'd absolutely put them to sleep on their tummy.

I’m not amazed if I’m honest

I’m not sure where you read that they can’t sleep in their tummies until 12 months but it seems a bit odd. All of the advice I’ve ever seen is that once they can roll both ways confidently then sleeping on their tummy is fine. The problem with small babies sleeping on their tummy is that they may block their own airway and be unable to move their head to cry out or move. It sounds as though your LO is developing nicely and is way past that stage.