Help! Found LO facedown in crib. Worried about suffocation.

IBackBevo · May 2013

On Friday night, we transitioned LO from the Rock-N-Play to the crib. It went pretty well. He cried about 40 minutes and then went to sleep and STTN. Last night, it went even better. He let out two little noises and fell asleep. He is 8 months old so clearly needs to get out of the R-n-P.

Then, in the middle of the night, I heard him making a noise...sort of like he was gagging and gasping for air. I went in and found him facedown in his crib. Not just on his stomach, but literally face planted with his face in the mattress. I immediately flipped him over. Five minutes later I checked on him again and, once again, he was on his belly. We put him back in the R-n-P for the rest of the night.

He can roll and hold himself up with his arms, but yet I found him face down. I worry about him ending up on his stomach, tiring out and getting in trouble. Or am I worrying for nothing? I've never seen anyone who sleeps face planted into the mattress. What should I do?

Mrs.AmyDylan · May 2013

Can he turn his head to the side when he is doing tummy time? Maybe it is a learning curve kind of thing. Is he waking up when he started gasping and hiking face down?

When J first started eating her fingers, she gagged a lot from shoving them in too far. Now she eats them and rarely gags.

Not exactly the same thing, but maybe when it happens again go in and watch to see if he resolves it on his own (flipping to back, extending arms, or turning head), before intervening.

Good luck!

Ruthie04 · May 2013

Both of my LOs have been tummy sleepers for about six to eight weeks. The first night each of them rolled over to sleep, I freaked and checked on them a dozen times. DS1 is a thumb sucker, so he is really good about turning his head to get to his thumb. But, DS2 often sleeps with his face down. He's gotten a bit better about it since he has become more comfortable on his tummy and is now crawling, but it was not rare to find him face down in those first few weeks. He never showed any signs of distress, though. I would turn his head to the side, but I don't think I had to. I've heard of lots of babies sleeping with their faces to the mattress.

Normally, I'd say your LO is perfectly fine. He's old enough to roll everywhere and get himself out of an uncomfortable position. However, those noises would concern me. Like PP said, are his fingers to blame? A runny nose from teething that is exacerbated by the position of his head? DS2 has reflux and sometimes spits up in his sleep with similar noises. Could that be a possibility? I'm just throwing out ideas...

Sorry I don't have a better answer!!

ETA: Oh, I forgot!! He's not trying to scoot in his sleep, is he? DS1 face plants and grunts/ moans/ gurgles as he does this little inchworm thing as he is trying to get to sleep. He never stays like that for long, but he will make some crazy noises.

IBackBevo · May 2013

He could have been trying to scoot. The first night he slept in his crib, he was at the other end of the crib by the morning.

appeared to be dead asleep when I found him. He has been teething (has one tooth and starting another one) and has had a bit of a cold so I guess it could have bee some noise associated with that.

He pushes himself up just fine, rolls both ways and scoots backwards (doesn't really crawl, just pushes himself backwards) so I would think if he was in distress he would have been able to get himself out of the situation. Still, it scared the crap out of me. I guess I will just try to move his head next time.

Thanks for responding!

boxtonmom1014 · May 2013

I know that the rule of thumb is that by the time they can roll themselves over consistently, they are fine belly sleeping, but the BEST rule of thumb is always to call your pedi if you're concerned. This kind of thing is so tough!!!

pb_bride · May 2013

I know it can be quite a frightening sight, as we've been there! M started rolling back to tummy when he was 4 months, and he didn't know how to roll back onto his back. We tried rolling him back but he was on his tummy in 3 seconds. He eventually fell asleep that way but many times he was sleeping face down, like burying his nose in the mattress. DH was super worried. I can tell you that we kept putting our hands on his back to check if he was breathing. This went on for about a week before we relaxed some.

We were going to move him to his bedroom at 4 months, so obviously that didn't happen. We waited 2 more weeks before we moved him out.

Given that your LO is 8 months already, I wouldn't really worry as babies at that age have very good head and neck control. It'll just take a few nights for them (and you) to get used to it!

IBackBevo · May 2013

Thanks everyone for the replies! It makes me feel better to hear that apparently LO is not the only one who likes to sleep with his entire face buried in the mattress and apparently he can do this without suffocating.