Sleeping on the tummy?

C

Carmonie

New member
Hi all,

My baby is nearly 4.5 months old. She had started rolling over before she turned 4 months. Last two nights, I found her rolled over on her tummy and slept after putting her to sleep. I did not put her back on her sides because I did not want to wake her up. Sometimes, she even does it during the day when she is having a nap. But, I do worry about SID. Should I let her sleep on her tummy since it seems she likes it and she sleeps better (longer)? Does anyone know when cot death will become less likely to happen to infant? Until how many month old?

Thanks!!
 
Hi Carm

My daughter started doing the same thing at about that age. Like you, I also strictly follow the SIDS guidelines. However, I read that once they learn to roll over by themselves, it is ok to let them sleep on their tummies.

Here is a link which answers your questions:

http://www.sidsandkids.org/safesleep/faq.htm#tummyroll

although it refers to babies over 6 months old.
 
From what I've read and understand, it seems the most high risk period for SIDS is the first two months, so I wouldn't worry too much about your baby sleeping on him tummy at four and a half months.

Graham
 
Rani & jane01,

Thanks!! Very useful information!!


Graham,

How's the parenting?? Is your wife breastfeeding alright?? Has the baby slept through the nights yet?? Cheers!!!
 
Jeffrey's about 6.5 weeks old now. He's not sleeping completely through the night yet, but on a good night he will sleep for 3 to 3.5 hours between feeds.

Breastfeeding has had a few ups and downs, but seems to be progressing ok. However, Jeffrey is quite a lazy baby at feed times and loves to fall asleep on my wife's breast, so it can be a real struggle to get him to suck for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. Still he seems to be gaining weight and last time we weighed him about a week ago he was 10.5lbs (up from 7.62lbs at birth).

I'm still a little concerned about the amount of milk my wife is expressing. On average it's only about 4oz a day, although one day she expresssed 7oz. however, she recently had a blocked milk duct and although it's clearned now, the nurse at the baby clinic advised her to express by hand for a while rather than use our NUK brand electric pump.

Unfortunately, in the last week Jeffrey's picked up what I think is a little cold, first from myself and then from my wife whom I passed it to. He has some mucus blocking his nose and I think something is irritating his throat making it a bit difficult for him to breath.

We took him to the doctor last week and he who gave Jeffrey some nose and mouth drops, which seemed to help. However, after my cold cleared up my wife developed a cold which I think has been passed onto Jeffrey. Last night Jeffrey had a very unsettled night, with very noisy breathing and was only sleeping about 1 hour at a time before waking up.

Graham
 
Hi Graham,
Don't worry about the amount that your wife is expressing. You have to remember that on average the baby is getting at least twice as much out of the breast than your wife can from the pump. From the weight gain that you have told us, it sounds like he is getting enough. I found that more I expressed the more I could get out. When the baby takes milk from the breast it is putting three things into action to get the milk: (i) the sucking action, (ii) it is also creating compression with its jaws and (iii) a realse of hormones in the mother because he is the baby. When you use a pump then you only have one thing coming into play, that is the sucking. Someone gave me a good tip to get more out and that is to pump at the same time as breast feeding. The theory is that you then have two of the necessary things in place, the sucking and the baby.
The time of day is also important, I found. I am able to express much more milk first thing in the morning. Especially if my daughter has had a good night as the milk has had a chance to store.
I hope you find this helpful

Jools
 
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