Baby won’t sleep on her back

[Stuckinmyownhead]

I have a one week old baby and she is gorgeous. She is a good sleeper in general, but only on her front. Every time we move her on to her back, her arms and legs flail and she scrunches up her face, looking uncomfortable as if she has wind. So we wind her, she stops crying, she falls asleep on us, we try to put her down on her back and the same thing happens all over again. We have tried swaddling her and putting her on her back, but that doesn’t seem to help. Any ideas? I’m presuming it’s reflux or wind but I’m struggling to know how to help her and at the moment. My husband and I are exhausted as one of us has to be awake at any given time to check she is ok on her front. Thank you!

Firstly, congratulations on your new baby! Secondly, and most importantly, please stop putting your baby to sleep on their front. It is not safe (look up safe sleep/lullaby trust guidelines). I know you’re exhausted, every parent has been there, but putting a baby to sleep on their front is a major risk factor for cot death. For reflux, you can try raising the head end of the Moses basket or whatever she’s sleeping in slightly but ultimately she’s a week old and it’s totally normal that she only wants to sleep if she’s being held. I presume your DH is still on paternity leave so start splitting the nights 50:50 to allow you both the opportunity to get a little sleep. If you’re breast feeding then during his ‘shift’ he should bring you DD for feeds but then he should take her to another room to settle her. You could also look into ways to safely co-sleep if you think it might help.

I feel your pain OP! Mine is a few days older and exactly the same. All I can tell you is that week 2 has been better than week 1. You just have to persevere and if she'll only sleep on her front, take it in turns to hold her so someone's always awake and on deck.

I had some luck with a couple of nights co sleeping and then gradually transferring her to her crib. It's hit and miss though. She settles best when she is totally tanked up on milk. Good luck.

I had one of these babies.
After about 3 weeks of him NEVER sleeping for more than 45 mins at a time unless on a parent, and a lot of reading, we put him to sleep on his front. For us, we made the decision to front sleep (this was the only risk factor) was worth it to extend sleep to 90 mins at a time. He continued to sleep in 45 min naps, and 90 mins over night until about 18 months, when it slowly started extending.
Front sleeping is a risk factor for SIDS.
I guess it depends on how bad the sleeping on her back is. I had (and still gave 8 years later) a terrible sleeper. He is currently making an origami sword (im not now in the uk - it's 7am, but he's been up for hours).

My ds seems to sleep better if hes in a sleeping bag thing. The slight extra weight seems to help.

I had this with dd2. She slept on her tummy, and we used the Angelcare monitor under her mattress.
She slept through from 9 weeks olds, and is a great sleeper now.

My 6 week old was Exactly the same....I say was...he’s still quite uncomfortable on his back (wind) and definitely prefers naps on us or in his bouncer but he’s definitely improved and since Week 4 has started going every 2-4 hours at night instead of every 30 mins-1 hour!!! If you are breastfeeding could you try expressing a couple of bottles so that you can get a good chunk of sleep and your OH can feed?
Do u feel comfortable co sleeping? I co sleep with my son after 4am as he’s really really fussy at this time and this is when his wind is at its worse but he seems to settle more in the bed than the cot. X

Dont put them on their front. Anne Diamonds baby died cos he was on his front. She didnt know, and has become a massive advocate of Back To Sleep since.

Firstly, if you think she has wind, buy Infacol. Gets up good burps.

Put her on her side, with a rolled up towel/muslin at her back. Most babies who refuse to sleep on their back will deign to sleep on their side. Then once they fall asleep, you slooooowly edge out the towel and they sloooooowly lean back without waking.

If they do wake, well, side sleeping is safer than front sleeping, and three quarters flat us better still.

You may have to start them off on their side for 6 months, but so what as long as they end up on their backs rather than their fronts.

I had the same problem and both of mine slept on their sides propped with a rolled up sheet as a Pp mentioned. They still both sleep on their sides/front now ages 2 and 4. I coslept for the first 5 months with both and would wake if they literally moved a cm.