Has anyone changed their baby from sleeping on the front to the back?

[laughingeyes2013]

My baby is almost 6 months now.

He was born premature and had awful reflux, so the only way we could settle him was to lie him face down. We invested in an apnea monitor to help make this as safe as possible.

His reflux has resolved now and he's not mobile around the cot yet, so I have concerns about continuing placing him on his front when there is no longer a medical reason to do this.

However, my husband disagrees with the idea that we begin to change to sleeping him on his back, partly because he wants an easy life (baby is accustomed to sleeping on the front and won't settle easily on his back) and partly because he disagrees that it's not safe, because "we've got away with it so far".

He simply won't see my argument that just because we've been lucky this far doesn't guarantee it will continue, and I don't want to take the risk just for DH's convenience.

So I am trying to see if anyone has any experience with changing sleep positions with their babies? What I don't need is a discussion about the pros and cons regarding sleeping on the front or back. I KNOW the risks, and I have no need to take these risks any longer.

Any tips would be gratefully received.

from 6 months you can let them find their own sleep position. It was around that age that both dd and ds started sleeping on their tummy with their bums in the air. I wouldn't worry about trying to change things now

He's not able to turn over by himself yet, does that count? I wasn't sure if you mean that he can turn his head independently left to right (which he has been able to do for many months).

The other factor apart from safety, is that we are seeing going to stop using the carrycot during the day. This means that he has no option but to sleep on his back in either the pushchair or car seat when out and about. Up until now we've always taken the carrycot with us because of his reflux (even the car seat was painful for him because it compressed his stomach and made the reflux worse).

It depends how far if is from being able to turn himself over. We found, once DD could do this, she immediately started sleeping on her front (bum in the air) like ILovePowerHoop said.

As long as you're confident that he's ok, it's probably easiest not to rock the boat at this stage, especially if he's a good sleeper.

I think he'll cope in the pram or car, he'll know it's not proper bed. My DC2 slept on his front from 4/5 months or so. SIDS risk is much lower by 6 months already.

Yes I was wondering about when the SIDS risk reduces. I know the recommendation is to sleep baby in the same room as you for 6 months but I've also got the 12 month in my vague distant memory too, maybe it's a reduced risk at 6 months but still a bit of a risk? Must google that one.

Sorry. No personal experience, but I would have thought trying daytime naps first might help. So he naps in the pram (obviously on his back) to get used to that position.
The other thing you might find helps woud be to let him fall int a deep sleep (usually takes about ten minutes, his hands will go limp when you lift them IYSWIM) and then turn him over. Then progress to laying him down supine when he's more used to it.

Yes, at 6 months dd started to flip onto her front. I lay her down supine but she could be upside down by the time I go back to her (half an our later)

Dd1 had awful reflux and slept on her front from 4 weeks old, she wouldn't sleep on her back unless it was in her car seat or pushchair. About 6 months old she started to turn herself over onto her back when sleeping.

Personally I wouldn't rock the boat now as your DS is used to sleeping on his front. It probably won't be too long before he learns to turn himself over so it would be pointless trying to change home to sleeping on his back as he may well just turn himself over anyway.

Fair play - maybe I should let sleeping dogs babies lie!