[gmz1101]

My son Rocco is 6 weeks old. since he was born he has always slept 2 & 1/2 or 3 hours at a time. which can get pretty exhausting as i am sure many others can relate. But when my mom came in this past week to help me out she let him sleep on his belly & told me he slept for 5 hours straight... i of course panicked b/c my pediatrician tells me absolutely not b/c of the whole sids deal. But my mom insists thats how all Babies slept in her generation & it is completely safe as long as the baby can lift their head. I am confused on what to do... last night i tried it. I put him in his crib on his belly & he in deed slepy 5 & 1/2 hours. I was very excited but i am feeling a bit selfish. I definitley don't want to do anything that could possibly harm my baby just so i can get some sleep. does anybody else let their baby sleep on their belly???

[mom2jeremy]

please don't let your baby sleep on his belly. i know you want him to sleep for 5 hours at a stretch but this is a very very dangerous thing to do. when your mother did this with you it was BEFORE they had proof that laying a baby to sleep on their belly can cause crib death.

babies will always sleep more soundly on their stomach. it is the most comfortable position for them. but they are too young and too physically imature to understand that it is dangerous for them. you are increasing your chances of crib death by 50% when you put your baby to sleep on his stomach.

if the baby is incredibly uncomfortable on his back then put him on his side. this way he can snuggle up to the mattress without it being life threatening.

read up on SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). this is a very very serious issue.

[alanjenniallie]

My baby sleeps on her tummy. But I do put her to bed on her side and she rolls to her tummy. SHE WILL NOT SLEEP ON HER BACK. She just cries. Except this morning I laid her down on her back in her cradle and checked on her not 15 minutes later and she was on her tummy!

[juliebethmartin]

yeah, i would say be very careful... we put cade on his tummy ONLY because he has a monitor hooked up to him from the hospital...my pediatrician says that is the only reason we can since the alarm goes off if there is a pause in breathing longer than like 20 seconds or his heart rate dips... (which is the same technology they have in the hospitals and that is why the babies there sleep on their tummy...

babies do just get used to their back the more they sleep on it...

you can purchase the Angel Care Monitor that other people on this board have reccomended...

Angel Care