What to do with baby rolling in the night

[Toni34]

Hello there, This is the first post I have ever done on this !

I have been having awful nights with my six and a half month old because she keeps on rolling and moving in the night and I don't know what to do. She used to have some sleep positioners but at 6 months she learnt how to get out of them and roll about.

Currently she rolls onto her stomach where she seems to prefer to sleep but she also shuffles up the bed or to one side of the bed. Sometimes she has no covers on her or she squashed against the side of the cot. I dont' know whether I ought to put her to sleep on her front wheres shes comfy or to carry on putting her on her back (even though she instantly rolls over).
I usually don't worry about her night as she's always been a robust baby but I cant stop thinking that she going to suffocate on her bed bumpers but if I take them away I think shes going to bang her head off the cot!!
I hate the thought of her getting stuck somewhere uncomfy or just getting out of all the covers and being cold. I took the baby sleeping bag away because she was getting so tangled up in it. She now has covers firmly tucked in the sides of the cot.

what should I do, what are other peoples experiences with this? Help!

If you'reawake turn her, but as she can now roll over she should be OK- this is the part where you can let them find their own sleep position.

You should take bumpers away now, actually they're not stunning anyway..... small babies can get caught up in them, older ones pull them down. She is extremely unlikely to hurt herself banging her head on the cot.

covers can be replaced and it iswarming up but maybe she just needs a different grobag or similar? sizing can vary

Leave her.

Having said that, I don't think bumpers are recommended, for safety reasons.

Have you tried a grobag instead of covers? That will solve the getting cold issue.

In term of her rolling onto her tummy, I'd leave her. The official SIDs advise is that once they can roll, let them find their own sleeping position. Both my girls have slept on their fronts once they were old enough to roll.

With regard to the bumpers, personally I would remove them (although I've never had them so am probably biased!) The SIDs advise is that they shouldn't be used for babies under the age of 1. The head bumping doesn't seem to bother them TBH. DD2 sleeps with her head against the bars of the cot always.

Finally if you do want to keep her tucked in, you could try tucking her blankets in, then rolling up a small towel and stuffing it down between the bars of the cot and the blanket on both sides IYSWIM. This keeps them tucked in really tight and unable to move about! I used to do this with DD1 but it only worked until about 8 months or so.

There are these which apparently pad the bars without restricting airflow. Personally,I would imagine they are still too squidgy and pipe lagging would probably serve the same purpose, albeit less attractively.

What I've always heard is that once they are old enough to roll, they are old enough to move themselves if they get under the covers or anything, so there is no need to worry about them not being on their back after that point. Also you say she is over 6 months, so she is past the risky age for cot death.

If you're worried about her getting tangled in the bumpers, you could take them out - she may bump her head a few times but is unlikely to bump it hard and she will learn quickly enough how to avoid it. You will need to remove them eventually anyway so she can't use them to climb out when she gets a bit bigger!

As for covers, again she may well be old enough to pull them back over or wriggle under them if they slip off a bit, but worst case if she gets cold I'm sure she will let you know, so no point worrying about it till it happens!

It all sounds quite normal for her age, our DS seemed to enjoy getting himself into the most weird positions at night (he particularly likes lying side-on across his cot!), so don't worry about it and just make sure to have a peek sometimes so you can giggle at the funny positions she's got into!

what on earth are you all worried about. Of course they have to start moving around at some stage, so what if their covers come off. They will soon let you know if they are cold. They often get their legs caught in the bars of the cot. Those of you that are worried about this are over parenting. You need a night out!!

Thank you for all you reassuring words. I will stop worrying. To be honest I'm normally a very relaxed parent all the worry started after I read an article in the guardian newspaper about a woman whose baby died from SIDS at 18 months. Im sure this must be very unusual once i read this thing I couldn't forget it (which id never seen it now)!

I will not stress tonight let her find her natural position and chill a bit!
thanks
toni

When my LO started to roll over in the night he always went the same way, so I started putting him down on his back further over to the other side, that way he wasn't wedged right into the bars when he rolled.