5 month old rolling in her sleep and hating it!

[Izzywhizzy123]

My dd has just turned 5 months old and at the same time has started rolling back to front and shuffling forwards. Lovely! Except she does it through the night too and won't settle on her front.

She's EBF and I feed her to sleep. Every night is different - sometimes she wakes herself (and me of course) 2, 3, 4 times, other nights (like yesterday) she woke once but wouldn't settle for an hour and a half.

This evening I've already had to resettle her twice since bedtime. Sorry for the rant, but after a few weeks of great sleep this is wearing me down. Someone tell me there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Growbags stopped my dd from rolling over, have you tried one of those?

We've been using a grobag for a while but doesn't seem to make a difference! Thanks for the suggestion though.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, they do eventually get to like sleeping on their front. Mine is 7 months old,ebf and it's 50/50 if she ll stay asleep if she rolls on her front. She started around 5 months and hated it to begin with but now it's better

Unfortunately you just have to roll with the punches pardon the pun .......

Yes, DS went through this stage. When they sleep they ‘practice’ the new skill they’ve learnt. So lots of rolling around the cot and bumping into the top/sides.

As with your DC a grobag didn’t make a difference, he was determined!

DS settled down after a while and it became more traditional tossing and turning. I think they have a sleep regression around 5 months so that could be contributing to the restless nights too.

At a year old he’s still a fidgety sleeper (doesn’t wake just flaps about) but he’s almost learning to walk so it’ll probably keep going for a while yet.

You can do this OP.

Thank you for the vote of confidence. Sometimes it's just nice to have a reminder that this too shall pass!

Out of interest, did either of you do anything in particular to help settle them on their stomachs? I try to but dd just gets more and more irate until I end up feeding her to sleep anyway.

I feel like that’s my mantra! Some days you’re just surviving a ‘stage’.

TBH we left him on him wherever he was comfortable. He would just flip back over 2 minutes later anyway. Once they can roll over with ease we felt keeping him on his back was less of a necessity. Obviously we put him down that way to start with, but if he moved, we left him. We were strict with everything else (no loose bedding, pillows, soft toys) so felt a bit more comfortable with it. Although we did watch the monitor like hawks the first few evenings!

DS gets particularly restless if he has wind or is a bit constipated and being on his stomach makes it worse. Could she have wind from her last feed of the night? After the night feed I raise his top half while he’s half asleep and gently rub circles on his back then rock him forward and back slowly. He doesn’t burp now he’s bigger but it seems to shift the gas around a bit so it’s not uncomfortable for him.

Yes you have my sympathy! My DS2 started rolling at 4 months, and at 5 months decided it would be fun to do at night too! But like your DD wasn't happy on his front and moans to be rolled back. I remember my DS1 going through this exact stage, but I can't remember how long it lasted. My DS2 has been sleeping through since 8 weeks, and was sleeping 7pm-6am up until a couple of weeks ago so it's been tough going. I am starting to see him be slightly comfier on his front though (although he still moans to be rolled back, and has also started waking for milk in the night which has been a shock to the system!).

It doesn't last forever, I hope it doesn't last too long for any of us!

It's easier when they can get themselves back again so I started more actively getting her to practice in the day time going front to back so she could sort herself out at night. I don't know if it worked or if the phase just ended naturally!
Dd is 7 mths now and our latest thing is only snack feeding as everything else is more interesting! Any noise or movement means she stops feeding to watch. It's nearly impossible to feed her to sleep anymore because of it!

Ugh babies! Just when you think you've cracked it they throw something else into the mix.

Thanks for all your advice/support- I've been trying to settle her on her front when she's rolled over instead of instantly flipping her. So far it's worked once...progress!

Just another one to say that we went through this phase! DS started rolling onto his tummy around 4.5 months, would get stuck in the night and cry. After about a month, he would still roll onto his tummy, but sleep like that peacefully. We spoke to several HV about him sleeping on tummy if he was rolling himself in the night, and their consensus was that as long as we continued to put him down to sleep on his back, we could leave him on his tummy when he rolls in the night at 6+ months.

Drove me mad for about 4-5 weeks, but all back to normal sleeping now! Until the next milestone...