help with sleep positions please!

9 replies

kateyfer · 30/07/2010 05:24

my 6mo DD has slept through the night since she was 10 weeks, but for the last couple of months has absolutely refused to go down on her back. she will happily sleep on side or front, but if she inadvertently rolls over onto her back during naps or nighttime sleep, she will wake up in seconds screaming the place down.

I've just ordered one of those sleep positioner thingies you can use with newborns, so am desperately hoping that will work, but would love to hear any suggestions for either getting her to sleep happily on her back again, or tricks for keeping her on her side?

on a seperate note, would love some advice on getting her to self-settle as well....

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Seona1973 · 30/07/2010 08:10

after 6 months you can let them find their own sleeping position so if she goes onto her side or back then just leave her be.

Original poster

kateyfer · 31/07/2010 16:30

I'm not sure I made myself very clear in my first post. I'm not trying to force her to sleep on her back - my problem is that she will happily sleep on her front or side, but will then roll over in the night onto her back and wake up screaming. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to make her more comfortable so that she didn't wake herself up screaming...

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fhutts · 31/07/2010 19:06

Hasn't those sleep posistioner things got two buffers though? I would make sure that the posistioner is one which has removable side pillows as this way you can remove them and take one away (the side which she likes to sleep on) and move the other close behind her back so that if she tries to roll back onto her back, the pillow is gently behind her to cushion her and prevent her from going flat on her back. Does this make sense? My posistioner was a little matress type thing, with two cylinder pillows velcroed onto the matress. I used it to make the transistion from Moses Basket into cot but I think it may help your problem also. Failing that what about a rolled up cellualar blanket?

Suzihaha · 31/07/2010 23:09

I just used a rolled up blanket to keep DS1 on his side as he would wake as soon as he went onto his back. Once he was rolling well he'd always work his way back to his tummy. In the interim, a rolled up blanket/towel etc to keep them on their side was a lifesaver.

Igglybuff · 01/08/2010 07:21

What kind of scream is it? Does she sound uncomfortable - if sound asleep being on her back she shouldn't mind?

I only ask as my DS would do this but it was because he had to burp and he couldn't if on his back so I used to have to pick up and wind (he'd normally wake up 45 mins after going to sleep). Then he'd be fine the rest of the night.

Igglybuff · 01/08/2010 07:25

Oh self settling - now she's found her favourite position, you can start putting her down on her front drowsy and either see if she'll drift off (you might be surprised if she's relaxed enough!) or gently pat her bum to send her to dreamland. I took the latter approach and gradually did less patting. Sometimes if I stepped away from the cot out of sight and left him to it, he'd settle faster. If he isn't overtired/ill/teething, I can put DS down after a feed and he'll drift off after a bit of shuffling about. It took a couple of weeks or so. However now it doesn't work much (he's 10 months) but that's because he's teething!

Thandeka · 01/08/2010 08:23

I used a sleep positioner with DD from birth but it does say as soon as they can roll you need to stop using it, so we stopped using it around 4.5months. My 6month DD loves rolling onto her tummy but then can't roll back and starts screaming. I am sometimes using the sleep positioner for her when settling her in her cot so if I leave her she won't roll over but then take it out after the first feed of the night as she will go straight back to sleep then.

Original poster

kateyfer · 03/08/2010 19:44

thanks everyone for responses. I have tried pillows/blankets rolled up which works for part of the night until she wriggles out of position. Her scream when she lands on her back is very shrill and loud and she just will not settle at all until picked up, cuddled back to sleep and put back on her side.

on the self-settling, if i put her down sleepy (on side or front) and gently pat her bum she just smiles at me and thinks it's a game and wkes herself right back up! the only way to get her to sleep at the moment is by cradling her in my arms - she won't even settle on my DH b ut will scream and scream inconsolably until eventually I'll take her.

so far we have tried:

me not being in the room, but she just screams and searches frantically for me
my DH wearing one of my tops so it smells of me and then cuddles her (this sometimes works)
me wearing one of DH's tops (as above)
not giving in and allowing her to scream. she just escalates the screaming until she vomits or can't breathe for sobbing

I really need to nip this in the bud sooner rather than later so any tips on tried and tested methods would be great!

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PotPourri · 03/08/2010 19:47

can she roll back over by herself from her tummy? If so, I really wouldnt worry. All of mine have slept on their tummies from the day they could roll. I only worried during the short time between rolling onto their tummy and learning to roll back again ( a couple of weeks) - they were all about 6 mths btw

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