[**jessie**]

Erin, did you ever happen to figure out a way to keep your LO on her belly at night? At the time of your post, we weren't having that problem but alas we are now! For the past few nights, I have been up probably 10 times having to roll him back over on his belly. As soon as he's on his back, he freaks out until I go in and turn him over. It's driving me nuts. He's been sttn for months now, and now I have to get up a million times per night! He didn't even wake up nearly that much when he was a newborn. I wish I could figure something out to keep him on his belly or else have him be able to sleep on his back too.

Keri or anyone else have advice? Literally I just go in (in the dark), flip him over and cover him with the blanket, and walk out. No playing or talking. It also takes FOREVER to get him down for naps or bedtime because of this rolling issue. Before it would take him a max of 5 minutes.

[~*sierra*~]

i'm interested in the answer to this one! payne would freak himself out with rolling when he first started doing it too, but not when sleeping.

[bittersweet]

It is funny you mentioned this! She stopped doing it awhile after I mentioned it before (it was maybe 2 months ago). But now, the past couple nights she started again!! Ugh.

But now, she CAN roll in the other direction (from back to stomach) and does so all day long while playing...but she won't when she rolls in her sleep. It is like she rolls to her back, semi-wakes up, and freaks out so much she can't settle herself enough to figure out she can just roll back over to her stomach.

The night before last, every time she did it, even when I'd roll her back to her tummy...she was just so upset still (she was doing the sleep cry thing where she looks like she is sleeping, but screaming). So I picked her up and nursed her each time. I figured it was just a fluke, but she kept doing this last night too!

I don't want her to get used to being nursed a million times a night, so last night I let her CIO on her back. She was not happy. She went to bed at 6:30pm...woke up screaming blody murder on her back around 9:00pm. I just peaked at her to make she was ok, but didn't go to her at all. She cried for 30 minutes (constant hard crying), then fell asleep on her back. She stayed asleep until 1:30am....started screaming again (still on her back from the last time), but this time she fell asleep after 5-10 minutes of intermittent crying. Woke up again at 4:00am, this time I nurses her, since I usually nurse her around this time at night. I put her in her crib on her tummy like usually...and she is still sleeping ...and is 9:15am, haha. She is always up between 6-7am, but I think she is extra tired from her rough night.

For naps..50% of the time she will go right to sleep on her tummy and stays put, 50% she does the rolling/crying thing. When she did that I *have* been going in every 10 minutes to roll her back to her stomach. This will go on for about 30 minutes before she is asleep. But starting today...she will be taking her naps in whatever position she puts herself in. I've been using the book 'Happy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child' and it has been working great for us. However, it does not address this paticular issue. So I will use the book's method for napping which is, after 10 minutes tops of soothing, put in crib awake/drowsy and leave for at least 1 full hr or whenever baby wake up past that hr. If she cries for that whole hr, pick up, soothe and try again later.


Anyhow, so my answer is let him figure out how to sleep on his back. This is what we are planning on doing from now on.

[Oriyan]

If he knows how to lift his head up, and rolls from stomach to back, him sleeping on his stomach is not a big issue :-) If you are concerned because he does not roll stomach to back, then maybe buy one of those body positioner for infants?

[**jessie**]

Erin, thank you so much. That's basically what I was asking. He has to learn to sleep both ways eventually. And Jax is just like Jenna. He can roll back to belly, but he just doesn't in the middle of the night. Getting up 10+ times per night to baby flip is kind of ridiculous. And when I went to put him down for his last nap (and he was tired, rubbing eyes, ect), I had to flip him back 16 times before he went to sleep! It's like he wants to sleep so badly, but can't resist the urge to roll over! I think I may try a little cio tonight.

Sam, I don't mind which way he sleeps, as long as he actually does sleep. The problem is he has slept on his belly from an early age and apparently doesn't know he can do the same on his back. I think those sleep positioners are only for back sleepers, not belly sleepers?