[bittersweet]

My baby has been a pretty good sleeper since I started putting her on her tummy to sleep at around 5 weeks.

Until recently, she took quite a bit of rocking and soothing to get to sleep. At 3 months I started mild 'sleep training' with her and she took to it very well. She has been going into her crib and falling asleep on her own fairly easily...usually some fussing for about 5-10 minutes.

But now that is a rolling pro, as soon as I put her in her crib on her tummy, she flips on to her back and starts screaming (she can't roll from back to tummy yet). I've tried letting her cry on her back in hopes she will fall asleep on her own, but she gets really worked up. Now, I usually will go flip her back to her tummy after 10 mintues of crying, but then she will just flip back over again. This will go on until she is just exhausted, usually about 40 minutes in...at which point she will go to sleep almost instantly once flipped on to her stomach (for the 5th or 6th time). Or sometimes I'll let it go on for an hour, at which she is equally exhausted and wants to sleep so bad, so I'll get her out and nurse her, which will make her go right to sleep since she is so tired. Then I can put her on her tummy in the crib and she will stay asleep and not roll.

I feel like all this going into her room and turning her or nursing her is going to ruin all the work on sleep training we did.

So what would you do? I don't know which is better. Should I continue to flip her and/or nurse her when she rolls to her back until she falls alseep? Maybe then once she learns to roll on her tummy I could resume sleep training? Or should I let her CIO on her back? I just feel like she hates that position so much



I don't want to use sleep positioners either...I feel like those are not safe for tummy sleepers, plus she likes hates anything that is restraining in any form.

When did you babies begin to roll from back to tummy? She is close, she can get from her back onto her side..but can't get all the way over.

[soImarriedAnerd]

london rolled about 6 months from back to belly. I don't know anything about sleep training so this could be a dumb suggestion. But if you nurse till she is "arm drop" sleep then lay her down I would think she stays down?! And by arm drop sleep I mean like OUT where she isn't doing the fake sucks or twitches but is just dead to the world with arms/legs so asleep you can pick on up and drop it ans she stays out. For london thats about a 15 min nurse.

[Mod-LadyCoconut]

Lily rolled over from tummy to back at 3 months and 1 day, that was when she did it intentionally and it clicked and she would do it consistently. She learned to roll from her back to her tummy at 3 months and 3 weeks. I feel like once babies learn something 'new' they want to do it non-stop... so I would think soon enough this trick will be less fun and she will stop rolling every time you put her to bed in the near future. If not, hopefully soon she will learn to roll the other way.

I would do what Angela said and just nurse her til she's out cold and then put her to bed. It sounds like she's capable of soothing herself to sleep so I don't think you'd 'un-do' that necessarily. I don't think its recommended to CIO this early, especially not for longer periods of time.

[bittersweet]

Originally Posted by soImarriedAnerd

london rolled about 6 months from back to belly. I don't know anything about sleep training so this could be a dumb suggestion. But if you nurse till she is "arm drop" sleep then lay her down I would think she stays down?! And by arm drop sleep I mean like OUT where she isn't doing the fake sucks or twitches but is just dead to the world with arms/legs so asleep you can pick on up and drop it ans she stays out. For london thats about a 15 min nurse.

This does work..most of the time, but I don't want her to start depending on being nursed into complete sleep. I want her to to be able to soothe herseld to sleep..which she was doing.

[**jessie**]

As you know, I have the laziest baby in the world so we have never come across this issue. But I know what you mean about wanting her to continue to self soothe. We did the same mild sleep training early on and have a great sleeper now... and I have never let him fall asleep at the bottle on a regular basis. I know it works well for some, but I really didn't want to have that habit to break later on.

Just some ideas- have you tried the sleep sack? Many babies can still roll in them, but maybe because she is still quite young and small it would add just enough bulk so she couldn't get over. Or maybe if you use blankets you could sort of tuck/wedge them in on all sides of her? Or does she tend to roll one way, to the right or left? If she does, you can place her against that side of the crib (with a bumper on) so it acts like a wall... and then if you felt uncomfortable with her sleeping like that, you could move her to the center of the crib once she is asleep.

[~*Bethy*~]

have you tried propping her on her side? this way shes mostly on her belly but cant get on her back because of the rolled blanket in her way? If shes going down fine without nursing, I wouldnt change that. Hope you can get it figured out soon!!

[Mars]

I never had this issue but I would try the sleep sack or a rolled towel as a prop. Hope something works.