7.5 month old sleeping on stomach - is it safe?

[HensMum]

My 7 and a half month old has just discovered how to roll from back to front, which is great, but he likes to practice at night, which is not so great. He can't yet go from front to back, at least not that we've witnessed, so he's kind of waking up when he's on his front, grizzling as he can't get back.
Is it safe to leave him like this to see if he'll go back to sleep? Last night my partner was up 5 times, flipping him back over. He only grizzled a bit, never properly cried or woke up so we'd normally leave him but are concerned about leaving him on his tum.
We have a movement sensing monitor which offers some reassurance...although he's taken to wriggling off it so it went off twice last night as well! And he's in a lightweight sleeping bag so no danger of wriggling under the covers.
How long will the nighttime acrobatics last? Or is this it now?! He gets himself into some amazing positions

From 6 months it is considered ok to let them sleep in whichever position they prefer. My ds has slept on his tummy from around that age as did dd.

Yeah they all start to do it at that age, turn him over if he's distressed about it, but he'll soon (days/weeks) learn how to flip back over. The acrobatics are continuing here (ds 10 months) I'm afraid!

meant to say, it's no problem now, he's strong enough to move if he can't breathe, even if he can't flip over yet. And they're really good at letting you know when they aren't happy, aren't they???

phew! i just logged on to ask exactly tis question about my near exact same age baby. i've actually put him on is tummy as he just won't settle on his back anymore? although he was fine with it before. i guess it's a teething/devt thing but i was really worried it would have me up to check on him more times than usual!

Great, thanks! Good (ish night) last night. He didn't wake at all but the monitor alarm went off twice at 3.30am and 3.45am as he'd managed to wriggle off the mat. He slept through it thank goodness but was up at 5.20am, on tummy with his head wedged in the corner of the cot.
Are bumpers a Bad Thing? He sometimes gets his feet caught in the bars which a bumper would stop but I seem to remember reading they weren't safe, but can't remember why...

You are supposed to remove bumpers when your lo gets mobile as they can try to use them to get out the cot. 7.5 months would be a bit late to get one as they would normally be getting removed by around that age.

Thought as much He'll just have to learn not to stick his feet through the bars then, or at least how to get them back out for himself!

I adapted a muslin and tied it on to the bars on the side where ds1 get getting his legs and arms stuck, which stopped it, and was also thin enough for me not to worry about him not being able to breathe.

DD is nearly 27 months old and stil does the night time acrobatics, gets herself into allsorts of odd positions and regularly has her feet hanging out of the bars. This is one of the reasons I still havent turned her cot into a bed yet- the other reason is she has never made any attempt to climb out.

so how long is it until they grow out of this stage and sleep relatively still?

A rellated question - how does the night-time acrobatics turn into sleeping on tummy?

My 7.5 month old also keeps flipping over onto his tum at night and I would be over the moon if this led to him sleeping on his front as apparently most babies sleep better that way from this age. But as soon as he's on his front, it's like he goes into action mode, trying to crawl, having a shout, flailing about, and sleep is the last thing on his mind!

How does it work for you, Hensmum and others? Do you leave them so long that they eventually flake out? How long have you left it? Once they've fallen asleep on their front a few times, do they remember and stop doing the crawly madness so much?

Would really appreciate your views as I've been up since 4am again and need to sort this out!

Well, he's ony been doing this for about a week so we'll see what happens! He doesn't really do that crawly madness that you talk about. When he flips over, he doesn't really wake up, just kind of grizzles, which is why I was asking if it's safe to leave him as I'd rather he settled himself back to sleep on his tum, than needed me to get up and flip him over.
To be honest, the past few nights he's been OK, not really made much noise, so I guess he is getting used to it and is able to settle on his tummy. BUT he's waking earlier than ever. He's always been an early riser but the past two days he's been up at 5.20am. I'll leave him a good 20mins to see if he'll go back to sleep but when I go in, he's up on his hands, grinning at me! I think by this point, he's just too awake to re-settle on his tum.