She won't turn her head!! About This Page:

[mac]

Okay, the great news is that for the past month Isabella has been sleeping for 10+ hours per night . Here's the problem, she has started to roll over onto her belly. Now I know that we all slept on our bellies as infants and survived, but she won't turn her head!!! She is extremely capable of moving her head, but for some reason she likes to be face down on the mattress. This is making me crazy . I have gone in there a million times and turned her over. She doesn't know how to flip over to her back yet, and she basically ends up face down after getting tired of holding her head up. I'm afraid she's going to wake up and get frustrated that she can't flip over, and end up smothering herself. I have one of those sleep positioners that would keep her from rolling over, but she hates it. I'm probably being over paranoid, but has anyone else's children ever done this?

[KrisLuvsDisney]

Yes, my DD and I kept trying to "teach" her how to turn her head by turning it for her. My DD didn't like the positioner either! I wish I knew what to tell you, but I just kept checking on mine through the night and made sure the monitor was turned up...it made me very paranoid also.

[crystalloubear]

DD is 16 months old and she has pretty much slept like that since she could turn over. It scares the heck out of me, but I could turn her over and a second later she just turns back.
Hang in there - it is so scary all the goofy stuff they do.

[graygables]

All 4 of my DDs slept on their tummies. From day one. If they were on their backs, they would cry and fuss and never sleep through the night (got it from Mom, I guess ) Anyway, turn up the monitor, see if you can "pat" her head down to the side. The important thing is to make sure the bedding is very smooth and snug and there are no blankets or anything like that (although all my DDs wrapped blankies around their heads, too...it's a miracle they've survived!) for you...next thing you know, she'll be telling you she wants to drop out of school to work at WDW full time!!!

[boosmom96]

My DD has slept on her stomach since she was 5 weeks old!! She would not sleep on her back or let us use a positioner on her. I slept with her on my chest for several weeks until my pediatrician told me to get over it and put her on her stomach in her own bed!! He said kids have been sleeping fine like that and it was worse for her to have me all stressed out and sleep deprived!! (Did I mention I adored my DD's ped!!) Just make sure the sheets are snug like Dawn suggests and you will be fine. At 4 1/2 months Isabella will move her head if she needs to.
I also have to say that we never slept with the baby monitor on all night. DD moved into her own room at about 4 months and was fine. (Her room's very close, so I really felt we could hear her fine.)

[Luv4My4]

My DDs all slept on their stomachs as soon as they could turn over by themselves, they just didn't like sleeping on their backs. My pediatrician (I love my kid's dr too) told me that once my kids could roll over onto their stomachs they were ok to sleep there. There was nothing I could do about it anyway, the positioners didn't work (DD#2 used to roll right over the positioner with no trouble at Isabella's age) All 4 of my girls had no trouble with sleeping on their stomachs at all. Molly (DD#4) sleeps face down on the mattress most of the time to this day and she is 20 months old! I understand how you feel though, it made me crazy that they preferred to sleep on their stomach.

[HiddenMickey]

My DS was a tummy sleeper. He couldn't sleep on his back at all. He'd have involuntary arm or leg movements that would wake him up. So, we let him sleep on his tummy. I don't recall whether he slept face down though to begin with. I would just make sure that her sheet is very tight against the mattress and that the mattress is very firm. Also, don't put any blankets in her bed.

Also, my son also never slept through the night until he was almost 1 year old! You are lucky to get so much sleep.