Sleeping on front

[MintChocaMocha]

My DS is 17 weeks and has been able to roll from back to front but not front to back for the last few weeks.

For day time naps he has been sleeping on his front, which I'm happy for him to do because I'm monitoring him.

However, I'm so worried about him sleeping on his front at night time and the SIDS risk. I wouldn't be worried if he could fully roll but he can't. Tonight I let him fall asleep on his front but have turned him over before I went to sleep and he's been unsettled since.

Do I let him sleep on his front or keep moving him until he can fully roll over?

The ‘official’ guidance is that you should place baby on their back for every sleep.

Many people find that their babies just wont sleep like this. It is up to you to determine if you are prepared to take the risk, knowing the potential consequences.

I know that doesn’t really help you, but ultimately you have to decide what you are prepared to risk for an easy night’s sleep. I don’t mean that flippantly as sleep is important, but the risks are real.

I guess you have to ask yourself, how would you feel if the worst happened? Would you be able to live with the choice you made? How likely is this worst case scenario and is it worth the trade off?

Personally, I wouldn’t put baby down on his front if I was watching him or not.

I'll probably get absolutely flamed for this, but, my little one did the same from around 4 months. We got rid of the swaddle and after a week she started flipping herself over. I left her to it, I reasoned if she is strong enough to roll, she is strong enough to lift her head, which she did.

She's now 7 months and will always flip herself
Over to sleep no matter me putting her down on her back every time.

I also bought a monitor with a sensor pad, which relaxed me a little.

Obviously the rules are quite clear baby is to be put on back for all sleep, however once they start rolling I think it's difficult to police this and read you should leave them to it. you could be up moving her so many times throughout the night you wouldn't sleep!

That's just me though, perhaps see what your HV has to say?

Thanks for the advice. I've been giving DS plenty of tummy time so he can practise rolling tummy to back and he's so close to rolling frustratingly. I will give the HV a call but I think I'll just have to suck it up and keep rolling him over until he can fully roll, hopefully it won't be much longer.

I never had this problem with DS1 as he never rolled over until well after 6 months so hadn't had this problem before!

SIDS risk drops way way way down after 4 months so you’re really out of that risky period. I believe the advice is to put them down on their backs but once they can roll, nothing you can do about it, and it’s an indication that they are strong enough front is no longer dangerous.

Mine did this at around 5 months. The first two or three nights I tried turning him over but he would turn himself over agin within a few minutes, so I gave up pretty quickly. He’s two now and still sleeps on his front with his bum sticking up in the air, clearly it’s comfortable. I wouldn’t worry about it at all. What can you within reason do? Staying up all night turning them over every half an hour is not within reason in my opinion.

My DS did this as well. As soon as he was rolling consistently both ways there was nothing I could do, he wanted to sleep on his front so I couldn't stop him. I figured if he can roll into that position and out again confidently then I wasn’t too worried as I reasoned he’d get himself out of trouble.

But as your LO isn’t rolling both ways yet I think I’d put up with the disturbed sleep until they are

Back sleeping is safer and I would prefer for any baby to sleep that way. However, 40 years ago front sleeping was thought to be safer and we were told to put our babies to sleep on their front, from birth. Clearly this was wrong this wasn't the safest. It caused death for a very very tiny percentage. My eldest couldn't turn over either way until at least 6 months

Once a baby can turn from back to front it is even more unlikely for front sleeping to be a problem. Even if he can't fully turn he can clearly move his head. Please don't worry.