Did anyone put their baby to sleep on his front before you were 'allowed'? When is it advised to wait until?

[BellaBear]

And did it help or did it just make you stressed?

DS (10 weeks) has reflux and is a terrible sleeper. At the moment we are trying to get him to sleep in his chair to keep him upright, but he isn't sleeping more than 2 hours at a go.

GP is adamant we shouldn't but everyone with experience of reflux says it's the only way they will sleep, or that once they were old enough to sleep on their front they slept much better.

DH really doesn't want to. I've put him down on his front a few times in the day and he feels much more comfortable.

You may find you get no sleep as you will be constantly worrying.
Have you tried propping one end of the cot up?

oh yes. we've tried EVERYTHING

the only way so far that he sleeps comfortably is like a koala bear on someone's chest. not a great recipe for sleeping yourself, now we are trying to wean him off it.

both of my kids as babies always slept on their fronts and they were fine. this was from being newborn!!

Otherwise i wouldve got, oooh, about 2 hours sleep a night..

did you use an apnoea monitor?

I do appreciate the sids evidence about sleeping on backs

We did with DS1. He only slept on his tummy so we let him in the day. But then he wouldn't sleep on his back at night. We stressed about it for weeks then eventually gave in.

We had one of those baby moniters which picks up movement so that made us feel a bit better about it though.

My lad would scream his head off if we put him on his back so like Allgonebelly up he was on his front from newborn, it really calmed him (and me!) down. He is 7 now and still sleeps on his front curled up.

I did worry about the cot death risk, but we are a non-smoking house and all other factors were in our favour if you get me. I know others that did the same.

thanks for replies.

do you know when i can let him without it being a Bad Thing?

Well I presumed it was when they could roll over themselves. Can't remember when mine could do that , 6 months?

Your son sounds very much like my DS3, who didn't sleep for more that 1.5 hours for the first 12 weeks - often sleeping for a lot less [knackered emoticon]. DS3 screamed in pain if lying on his back and also in the car seat. Like your DS he was happy sleeping on his front on somebodys chest which isn't pratical. We put him on his front at 12 weeks and it did improve things quite a bit we also put him in a forward facing car seat earlier than recommended for the same reason.

We followed all the rules with DS1 and 2 but for the sake of an intact family unit we had to break the rules with DS3!

after 6 months you can let them find their own sleeping position according to the SIDS website. Have you tried one of those cot wedge things you get that keeps them a bit more upright when lying down?

DD was a tummy sleeper from about 2 weeks old. I fretted about it so much but in the end we decided that as we followed all the rest of the advice and in order for her and us to get some sleep this would be the way forward. It was an worrying time and I can understand your concerns.

Hope you find a solution

see below ... yes we have.

god, six months is a long way away!

mcd - did you get a movement monitor?

bump for any more responses?

No we didn't.

I did from very young - it was initially on his side (he was swaddled) so I could pat his back and then he just rolled onto his tummy. He's much happier sleeping that way. I co-slept until he was about 4 months though which made me a bit less anxious.

When my first son was born 25 years ago it was the norm in those days to put the baby to sleep tummy down with a rolled up towel to keep them wedged in. We were also told to put a duvet or quilt on top as well.
DS1 is now a strapping great hulk so it did him no harm PLUS we had no idea of the risks then.
DS2 prefers sleeping on his tum but I must admit that I am up lots of times during the night to check his breathing even though his cot is right beside me.
Has anyone a link for the apnoea monitors please ?

google angelcare baby monitor

My DD1 now 12, slept on her tummy from day 1 , she would not settle at all on her side or back, and I went through hours of anguish and conversation with my HV over it.

did your hv ever agree you could?

Do you have any other risk factors for SIDS?

none

ds2 slept swaddled til about 4mo, then on his tummy

i have a friend whose ds had severe reflux and he only ever slept either in his pram, quite upright (they did this at night too as they were so desperate) or - once he was about 3 or 4mo - on his tummy

she told the paeds she was taking him too. they all said the advice was not to, but no-one urged her not to, iykwim

it would never be a choice i would have made without the family's health and wellbeing depending on it

bella, I asked several of the hv's at different times, and they just said that at the end of the day, if she wouldn't sleep on her back or side then I really had no option. I was very aware of all the research.
It was a worrying time, but sometimes you have to weigh up all the pros and cons of a situation .