Flipping over during sleep

[FutureHKmom]

My five month old son sleeps in his crib in his room by himself at nights. He sleeps on his back and this morning we found that he had flipped himself over to his stomach and had his head down to the side. He knows how to flip himself back to his stomach but sometimes has a hard time doing it himself. I'm concerned that he will suffocate on his stomach. I'm also concerned about SIDS. We have our monitor on but this morning he didn't make a sound when he flipped. Any ideas and advice on what we should do? Thanks!

 

[FutureHKmom]

Oops - typo in my first message, my son can easily flip from his back to his stomach and also knows how to flip from his stomach to back, but sometimes he has a hard time flipping from his stomach to back which gets him really annoyed and in turn makes it even harder for him to get back to his back. This is what worries me the most - that he will be stuck on his stomach and suffocate!

 

[Shenzhennifer]

My baby was the same - I just moved him from his hammock to a cot at 6 months and he couldn`t yet flip back to his back from his stomach. What ended up happening is me waking up to his calls several times a night to be rescued. I was also paranoid about him suffocating, and I still always do breathing checks on him, even during naps. I have even moved his head more to one side from time to time. What I noticed is that even if he gets stuck, he won`t suffocate (I hope!) because he can lift his neck up so well. and then call for help. sometimes he just gives up and goes back to sleep on his tummy but his head is always turned to one side.
He will eventually learn how to flip back over. Mind did, thankfully, but that`s just a recent thing. Though with the cribs (mine is a smaller one) there`s not always room for them to do it. Try practicing rolling with him while he`s awake and maybe it will help strengthen his muscles.

 

[bart]

My baby is just learning to turn now- being 4 months and I have the same worries. Was told by my friend to get the 'Angelcare' baby monitor, which comes with a sensor pad which you place underneath the baby's mattress to detect her breathing. I find it rather amazing, since the mattress is not exactly thin. We have not had an actual incident yet (touch wood) but sometimes when we lift her off the bed and forget to turn off the alarm, it does go off immediately. Not sure if a breathing monitor is absolutely necessary but we just have it for our peace of mind.

 

[starbucks2]

Hi FutureHKMom

We used a wedge for our son which you can buy from Eugene and other places. It is two triangles of foam with material between. It stops the baby rolling over onto their tummy. This gave us some peace of mind with the SIDS risk.

SB2

 

[AutoCAD]

My daughter has been sleeping on her belly since about 6 months, when she learned to roll over. I've tried rolling her onto her back, but she seems to really prefer sleeping on her belly, so I've pretty much given up flipping her (several times a night) which usually just woke her anyway. I do check her breathing often and sometimes re-position her head. She is 10 months and her crib is still in our room, so its been pretty easy to monitor her. We are moving her to her own room soon and have bought an Angel Care monitor, a movement and sound monitor that can apparently monitor the smallest movements made by breathing (I hope I never have to find out if it really works). I think its added piece of mind, especially since she won't be right there with us, but I'm sure I'll still be in checking for breathing every hour, as I've gotten pretty used to it!

 

[Obiwan]

That's right. Get an Angel Care Monitor that can detect sound and motion (baby's breathing). Some babies sleep better on their sides/stomach.

 

[starbucks2]

I should add that we also had a Tommee Tippee (sound and) motion monitor which sets off an alarm if the baby does not move for a few seconds. Picks up the breathing. It has a blinking light on the part in our room and it was a real comfort when I was having my crazy "baby is in the bed with us and is suffocating" dreams when he was little! I could just look at the blinking light that blinks every time he breathes and was reassured.

SB2

 

[FutureHKmom]

Thanks for everyone's helpful advice!

Was wondering where to buy the Angel Care Monitor and the Tommee Tippee one. Will definitely look into it.....

 

[starbucks2]

We got our Tommee Tippee one from Eugene