Baby sleeping on his side, is this ok?

[Pinksprouts]

Hi, I am hoping that someone knows if it is safe for a baby to sleep on his side. He is 5 months now and the past few nights he has been rolling onto his side whilst asleep. We have one of those video monitors so I am able to see him doing it. There is a lot of effort involved so he must really want to sleep on his side. I have looked on the internet and all of our baby books but the only information I can find is on sleeping on their front or backs. I am afraid that he will roll onto his tummy and get stuck face down. Can anyone help please?

The advice given is always to sleep babies on their backs, but our baby had reflux and refused to sleep on her tummy, so she slept on her side from 2 weeks old. We wedged her in, putting a rolled up muslin between her legs to stop her rolling onto her tummy - it worked. when she got to the stage she could move about we stopped the muslin, and now (13months) she sleeps quite happily on side or tummy, rolling herself around.

I am not a professional so have no official information for you. But my DS is 6mo and has always slept on his side. Sometimes he flops onto his back, only once ever onto his front (I obviously moved him then). I was in hospital for a while after he was born and was worried about it but the midwife just said some of them are made that way!

We always put him to sleep on his back and up untill the other night he would stay on his back. We also find him right at the top of his cot when we put him down at the bottom! He is quite a restless baby and is still waking several times during the night. Could you tell me more about your muslin technique please? I am finding myself just watching him sleep instead of getting to sleep myself while I can!
Thank you for your reply.

Thank you yetihed.

Sorry for delay in replying. Basically a maternity nurse showed me the muslin technique. You wind it round and round itself until you make a wiggly worm/snake out of it. Then you put the baby down on it's side. Put one end of the muslin on the baby's belly button area, then thread it through between their legs and up to the back, so the baby is sleeping with it between their legs. It should stop a young baby rolling onto tummy quite easily. Hope that helps!

Oh and yes, babies are restless and both my kids move in their beds. Oldest always sleeps across the top of the bed, youngest always sleeps across the bottom of the cot, horizontally. There's not a lot you can do if they move around, but then that's a healthy sign, so you shouldn't worry too much!