7mo sleeps on tummy but can’t roll front to back

[Reproductivelychallenged]

We are going slightly insane over here continually rolling our baby from his front to his back overnight. He clearly prefers sleeping on his tummy (which is odd as he hates tummy time 🤷🏼‍♀️) but it has been 2 months now and he is still completely unable to roll front to back without a lot of assistance. We do tummy time every day and are absolutely drilling him trying to get him to roll front to back but no joy! I know the official line but is it ok to leave him overnight?! I was expecting a period of time like this but 2 months?! Plus he is 7mo, surely he should be able to roll the other way now. He has a huge head which seems to cause him some trouble with rolling and pushing up 🤣

Bump?! Anyone?

My 7 month old is capable of rolling both ways, but also often gets stuck on his tummy. He does this at night lots... but still hates being on his tummy and so screams at me to turn him over! Several times a night at the moment (in addition to his other wake ups). If he slept happily on his front, I would leave him.

Hi OP - we had this with my daughter. We were up every 5 minutes rolling her back over ending up with none of us having any sleep. I’m not saying its safe - hence why we kept moving her but eventually we just let her do it she is now 16 months and fine.
Again I have no idea if it was safe, nor am I advising you to do it, but the constant turnng over was just torture for us all- she did eventually learn to roll back over around 8 months so it was about a 4-5 week period of her doing this.
It’s so worrying though I get it x

I has this with my daughter- she started preferring to sleep on her front at 5 months. I would roll her onto her back and she would immediately roll onto her front again. But I was worried because she couldn't roll front to back yet. I spoke to my health visitor and she said that the important thing is to put her down on her back. If she rolls onto her front after that, so be it. She said that by 5 months, babies can usually turn their heads to the side to breathe if needed. She said it simply wasn't feasible to stay awake all night every night, turning my baby onto her back. It's important to be well rested, so you can look after your baby.

Thanks so much everyone, really appreciate your responses.

The irony is that he sleeps through the night but we are up all night!! Occasionally he gets stressed out but generally he’s happy on his front and sleeps well like that.

@Bumbers that sounds hard - the screaming to be turned over. Hopefully he’ll get comfortable in that position soon.

@Jevwaypock this is us! It is complete torture. I feel more tired than I did in the earlier days when he was waking to be fed. I think because I’m also anxious and wired about it. That’s good news she got there at 8 months, hopefully we won’t have much longer…

@Georgina125 thank you for passing that on, that’s really reassuring. He can definitely turn his head and does so frequently (I know because I’m watching him on the monitor ALL night ready to snap into action 😂). Actually last night I left him a bit more and it was fine. We have to work out a way to get comfortable with it as it’s just not sustainable. I cannot wait until he can roll both ways!

Hi @Reproductivelychallenged

just wondered if your baby has started rolling tummy to back yet? Going through this with our 7 month old, they constantly roll back to tummy but can’t roll back, has been this way for 2 months! Hope you’re through it now 🤞🏼

My DS slept on his tummy from 8 weeks. Otherwise he just wouldn't sleep.

Till he was about 6 months old we did essentially what you did: took turns to watch him more or less all night. However, we did some research and apparently (if I remember correctly) SIDS risks drops dramatically around 6months of age (or even earlier) so we just decided to start actually sleeping when he slept. We couldn't have continued with this setup for longer as it was simply unsustainable for such a long period.

Oh! And my DS couldn't roll back till maybe 7 months. But he could obviously turn his head with ease. In any case, even if he could have rolled back, he wouldn't have done it as he just was and still is a tummy sleeper.

DD is 7 months too, she can roll back to front but not front to back and she's decided she will only sleep on her tummy. She's been doing it for a good 1.5-2 weeks now and we just leave her to it. No problems so far, she can move her head enough to make sure she doesn't suffocate. I'd leave him on his tummy tbh

Sounds exactly the same! Yes he is rolling both ways but he is still v reluctant to do it overnight. He sleeps on his front every night and we now leave him to it. I wish we had left him sooner to be honest but it was hard to at the time. If they’re not distressed then you might want to consider leaving them alone but it’s a really personal thing