Belly sleepers?

young&beautiful

My little one loves sleeping on his belly but I get so paranoid that I only let him sleep on my belly I know it's probably not right but I'm used to it already so I don't move at night or anything any other moms have similar sleepers like my little one?

jrecine

Yes! My LO will only sleep soundly on his belly. My grandma and mother both told me that once we were all able to hold our heads up for a good amount of time they would put us on our tummys to Sleep. My LO holds his head up on his own & rolls now too. He's 6 weeks, and is sleeping through the night since I laid him on his tummy. I know people have conflicting views on it but I don't worry because my LO is a healthy, strong little man!

rachelarynxo

My LO is the same way! As long as they have good control over turning their head if necessary, you should be fine. After all, we were all put on our tummies and we lived!

kaycorey89

Same here. He slept fine on his back til he was 2 and a half weeks. Then would not sleep anymore than 10 minutes on his back. So my Nan put him on his belly and he slept a solid 4 hours, which had been the most he slept at the time. So that's how he's slept since then. Since he was born he has had awesome neck control and knows to brace himself with his forearms to also support himself. Has rolled over a couple times already as well. He will be 6 weeks Monday. I was very nervous and paranoid at first, even with the video monitor. I am still leery and constantly checking on him but he's slept the last 2 nights for 8 hours so here's hoping. Lol

Caileybug

My LO has been sleeping in his crib on his belly since 2.5 weeks. He has great head control and we have a movement monitor so I'm really not too worried about it

nicunursetomommy

This thread is absolutely terrifying to read. It does not matter if your baby has head control! Babies do not have the instinct to breathe like adults do, hence why they have irregular breathing patterns and short apneic spells where they stop breathing for short periods of time. So if your baby is on their belly sleeping and becomes face down, yes they may have the head control to turn their head, BUT they don't have the instinct that they need to breathe and to send the signal to their brain to turn their head in order to breathe. They will suffocate. Yes it is nice for your babies to sleep longer periods, but would you really put their safety in jeopardy just so you can sleep longer consecutive stretches? Head and neck control do NOT matter when they are this young! They can be the strongest baby in the world, but they still don't have the instinct to breathe like we do!

annie10

Yep, belly sleeper here, too.

rachelarynxo

@nicunursetomommy and it's safer for them to be able to throw up into their mouth and aspirate on it if on their back? We were all for the most part belly sleepers, it only recently changed to back sleeping being the thing! It's not up to you or anyone else to determine what's right for anyone else's baby, you have to go with what works for THEM. I don't put my child on his belly because I want to sleep longer, I want HIM to get the rest he needs. I don't think it's fair of you to condemn any of us for how we choose to parent, if you don't have anything nice or constructive to add, don't say anything! I'm sure others like myself have gotten the riot act from the doctors. That was enough.

JanelleRubs

My LO is a belly sleeper as well. My mom also shared that back in the day we were all put to sleep in our bellies. I worried at first but now I see how happy & content my LO is by sleeping longer stretches. I would be more worried about the chocking on their own vomit while sleeping on their back.

CanadaMom17

rachelarynxo said:

@nicunursetomommy and it's safer for them to be able to throw up into their mouth and aspirate on it if on their back? We were all for the most part belly sleepers, it only recently changed to back sleeping being the thing! It's not up to you or anyone else to determine what's right for anyone else's baby, you have to go with what works for THEM. I don't put my child on his belly because I want to sleep longer, I want HIM to get the rest he needs. I don't think it's fair of you to condemn any of us for how we choose to parent, if you don't have anything nice or constructive to add, don't say anything! I'm sure others like myself have gotten the riot act from the doctors. That was enough.

Babies are most likely to choke on their bellies.  Similar to the diagram shown to us in prenatal class.https://www.healthybabiesjacksonville.org/fear-of-aspiration/

nicunursetomommy

Not condemning, trying to educate to prevent tragic accidents. I am a NICU nurse, I take care of all types of newborns for a living. I have seen quite a few tragedies from parents thinking it won't happen to them. It is a lot more common than people think. It is extremely disheartening when we educate parents about these risks at discharge and then a month or so later find out the child has passed away due to unsafe decisions.

young&beautiful

Lol yeah you had to write it on your user name also to make sure we all know your an NICU nurse yeah maybe some of us don't put our babies on there back but we would if they didn't cry about it and I know my baby is uncomfortable most of the time I put him in his back so he sleeps on me its my decision at the end of the day and you should be concedarate because I'm pretty sure we've all read about this many times.

jrecine

It's really unfortunate when people need to bash other people's parenting styles. I'm sure that not everyone agrees with everything a parent chooses to do for their baby. We may let our children sleep on our bellies, and it's our parenting decision. I'm sure that you do things people would have negative opinions on. Needless to say, everyone is different so making someone feel worse about the choices they make as a parent is useless, rude and nonhelpful. So no need to bash the moms who choose this.

nicunursetomommy

This has nothing to do with bashing parenting styles. I was educating and backing up why it is so important. Some people may know why Back to Sleep is important and go ahead and choose to not follow the recommendations; however, there are many parents that do not know why it is important and need education on it. If you know the potential consequences and choose differently, then fine, but not everyone is aware. Everyone does not need to get so defensive if they are confident in there decisions. What I'm saying are cold hard facts backed up by extensive research, studies and unfortunate personal experiences I have dealt with. It isn't about parenting, do what you please. But many parents need to know the "why" behind research and having head control has nothing to do with preventing suffocation and SIDS at this age. It is a commonly misconstrued fact. And after parents learn certain facts, the majority tends to follow the evidence based research.

CanadaMom17

Ditto to pp.  If lo is beside me on the couch, I'll let her nap on her belly on occasion because I am watching her.  I just wanted to point out that the statement about babies choking on their backs was incorrect with what I was taught in prenatal classes.  Everyone is more than welcome to parent as they choose - I don't think anyone was saying otherwise.

DMEL

How did this get more heated than the "it's my right not to vaccinate" thread???? God I miss the old bump sometimes ......

ali0608

@nicunursetomommy ...I'm glad you said something because this thread bothered me too. I read your post as educating, not condemning.
And I also hate the concept, "we did ____ and we are still alive" statement. Because the people who didn't live aren't here to say anything! We didn't have car seats either, but you would never put your kid in the car without one, right?

Caileybug

I definitely had a car seat. And I slept on my belly... :>

young&beautiful

We have car sets so why not use them they are safer back in the day people didn't have a choice to choose to use one or not and its obvious that people need car seats you can't control other people's actions they don't care that u have a baby in the car..

ali0608

Caileybug said:

I definitely had a car seat. And I slept on my belly... :>

You missed my point completely...

young&beautiful said:

We have car sets so why not use them they are safer back in the day people didn't have a choice to choose to use one or not and its obvious that people need car seats you can't control other people's actions they don't care that u have a baby in the car..

And I have no idea what you are trying to say here.  My point is that we have learned over the years some things that are safer than before.  The number of SIDS deaths has dramatically decreased since back sleeping has been suggested.  If you feel like your child will be fine, that's not my decision.  Nicumommy was just making sure you understand the risks and that it has nothing to do with head control.  If you do and still choose to do it, that's where parenting comes into play.  She just wants to make sure you do understand the risks.

blitzy23

I appreciate the information that you provided @nicunursetomommy - thanks!

lola2bee

young&beautiful said:

Lol yeah you had to write it on your user name also to make sure we all know your an NICU nurse yeah maybe some of us don't put our babies on there back but we would if they didn't cry about it and I know my baby is uncomfortable most of the time I put him in his back so he sleeps on me its my decision at the end of the day and you should be concedarate because I'm pretty sure we've all read about this many times.

She's being considerate by trying to make sure nothing bad happens to your baby.

DMEL

PSA @young&beautiful
Your posts are very difficult to follow