Can babies sleep on their fronts?

[Doodle1983]

I know it's advised that babies go to sleep on their backs ... DS is 8 weeks old and is suffering from colic pain. Usually he mainly struggles feeding, crying and squirming... Tonight it's got so bad for him everytime I've put him down he's cried, gradually building up to a scream. The Only position he seems to be comfortable in is on his front. I've tried him in his bouncer, tried the Moses basket propped up at one end.. No joy.

In the end I've sat up with him on my chest.. All night. I've not even had 10 mins sleep.
As an experiment I laid him down on the bed on his front to see if he would settle (and he wasn't just being needy with me) and he did

He was fine this evening on his changing mat before his last feed, we usually give him plenty of time on his back and late evening let him kick with his nappy off.
Had his injections today (yesterday) so hoping it's those that's just thrown him off course a bit with his pains, but if not I can't obviously sit up with him every night and have no sleep ever?? Can I?

No of course you can't. I would check you have no other SIDS risk factors (no loose covers, no smokers in the house etc) and then pop him on his front. You need to be able to function yourself and you can't do that on no sleep!

Sleeping on his front is a significant risk factor for sids. I'd advise you to s speak to your health visitor and get some proper advice about this.

No.

But I had an early roller who started sleeping happily on his tummy from 3-4 months himself (I just never rolled him back when he rolled over himself).

Maybe you could increase amount of tummy time to develop the muscles/strength and then baby could choose to sleep on their own tummy if they learn to roll early. Just a suggestion :)

As Peace says, it's a significant risk factor for SIDS.

Could you let him fall asleep on his front and roll him over onto his back once settled?

Could you raise/tilt one end of the cot/crib so baby isn't laid totally flat, might be comfier for him if he is suffering from a spot of reflux (ba is with reflux hate to be laid flat on their backs).

If you do decide to put him on his front (would strongly advise against it) maybe look into a breathing monitor? It goes under the mattress in a cot and alarms if they stop breathing.

You know it's not advised...if you feel it's necessary, get yourself an Angelcare monitor.

Both of my kids slept on their front. With the first I was mega paranoid and put him on his back until he started to roll. Then it was obvious that he wanted to be on his front. I think I spent the first night staring at him making sure he was still breathing... actually now I'm
thinking about it, I think I called my mum at 2am who told me that my sisters and I were all put on our fronts as that was the advice 30 years ago (to prevent choking on vomit). With DS2 we put him on his front after a couple of weeks because his neck was so strong, he could obviously lift his head up to breathe and we thought he'd whine if ye wanted to turn over. He had a really strong moro reflex so kept batting himself awake on his back and batted his way out of swaddles too.

I think, like any advice, you need to look at the whys. The advice to place babies on their backs was because a small number were too weak to lift or turn their heads to breathe, some were sucking up loose covers, some were pulling loose covers into their mouths as they were trying to suck thumbs and mattresses used to be made from slightly toxic and / or less breathable material. If you are intelligent you can see through the scare stories and make your own assessment.... However with DS1 I didn't regain my brain until he was about 6 months so.... Perhaps phone your mum ;)

Putting a baby on their front to sleep more than triples the risk of SIDS.

My eldest was premature so under the paediatrician. She would only settle on her front so we took it in turns to sit up with her. The paediatrician laughed at us and said we are a low risk household (no smoking, breastfed etc) and if that's how she sleeps then let her. It is far safer than sitting up all night with a baby on your chest.

And everything yumcha888 says.

There have been other improvements since back to sleep that have helped lower the risk. In all honesty we don't know anything about SIDS and we do what we think is best. Only 300 babies die each year of SIDS and that will include the "triple risk" front sleeping babies too.

I had exactly this problem with my son. I would put him on his tummy during the day when I could watch him (until I got a sling and he slept in that whilst I got on with stuff) but at night I co-slept for weeks, gradually moving him from my chest to my side, to next to me in his basket with my hand on him, to his cot over the course of several weeks. He now sleeps 11.5 hours in his cot almost every night. I read and read and read about it and decided that sensible, researched bed sharing was less risky than my sleep deprivation. This was after days and days of barely any rest.

Thankfully we seem to have had a better night.. Unfortunately he was low birth weigh which is an extra risk in SIDS. He's a lovely 8lb8oz now and has had a very strong neck from the start.

During tummy time he moves his head from side to side. Agh I don't know.. Thanks all for your advice hopefully the other night was just a bad one.