XP: Found LO facedown in crib. Worried.

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?

Kimberskirby · May 2013

Oh my gosh, my son did this too for the longest time at like 3 or 4 months old when he learned to turn over. Scared the crap out of me and I would keep going in there to turn him over. It made for some sleepless nights for me. I talked to the pedi, who was not worried and said that he was old enough and strong enough that if he couldn't breathe, he would turn his head. I still had a hard time getting used to it and would literally sleep with the video monitor in my bed. He finally just quit doing it one day and he lays his head to the side now. I know how you feel though, it is scary and not natural!

Latham12 · May 2013

Can you try moving his head to the side instead of rolling him on his back? Sometimes DD is facedown but when I look really close she has room to breath.

PS I don't mean to be incensitive! I know it's scary!

AJKayakMomma · May 2013

DD does this all the time, shes more than capable of moving her head back into a side postion.

IBackBevo · May 2013

Thanks for replying! It does make me feel better to hear that he is not the only one.

mben1119 · May 2013

At 8 months, he should be more than capable of rolling himself over if breathing becomes an issue. At that point, you can't really control their rolling.

zmoss · May 2013

My lil' guy has just started sleeping through the night (4 days in a row 7:30pm-6am) and I have found that it is because he rolls himself over onto his belly. I was super scared and the 1st couple of nights did the same thing--roll him on his side etc. But now I just take the time to peek in on him and make sure he's ok.

I figure the sleepless nights are just a part of our lives now. Now its because we want to make sure they are still breathing--later it will be cause they missed curfew!

puppy_love6969 · May 2013

C sleeps on her tummy, sometimes with her face planted as well. She is more than capable of moving it. SO I leave her.

sadie+w · May 2013

You might want to check the tag on the back of the RnP because I thought it said once babies can roll over or sit up, the RnP is no longer safe.

If your baby is rolling over, it is fine to leave them on their tummy in the crib. I totally know what you're going through, though! I did the same thing for a few weeks. Would keep flipping LO over all night long. Now I just put him down on his tummy because I know that if I don't, he will wake up within an hour squawking until he can get himself into his tummy.

BeachBabe22 · May 2013

My baby does that all the time too. I kept moving her head and flipping her over and it would just wake her up. I use the snuza and my mom told me once she can roll over and move around on her own then I should let her sleep however she wants. She's old enough now to move herself around so no matter how many times I move her face she will still move it back.

CnAnA · May 2013

DD does this too, and has since she was about 5 months old. Scared the ever living daylights out of me the first two weeks. But after i actually witnessed her moving her head when she needed to, I'm a bit more at ease with it. Once we moved her into her own room (she was in a PNP in our room until a few weeks ago) I got a video monitor and that made my sleep SO much easier!

melody921 · May 2013

DD sleeps face down every night. As soon as she could roll over, she did, and now even if I flip her to her back, she just turns over again. I think that once they can move on their own, we don't have to worry about this. It's not the same as laying an infant on his/her stomach, KWIM?

Faith 21 · May 2013

if he is turning over like that he should be able to flip back over if he cant breathe. I don't think you have nothing to worry about but if it bothers you talk to pedi about it.

arilevine · May 2013

DD does this as well- its seems like she sleeps a little better when she is on her tummy. It really scares me also but I know she is strong enough to hold her head up & roll... she got herself there- right?!? We also have a Snuza which helps ease my mind.

steff13914 · May 2013

My twins are tummy sleepers, but they sleep with their head to the side. Sometimes they get facedown, but are always good about turning to get air. What type of mattress do you have? Maybe it's too soft?

Eastie156 · May 2013

DS has been doing this for a few months now. The first few nights, I'd get up every 15-20 mins and flip him to his back. After talking to the pedi, I decided if he turned himself on his belly during sleep, I would leave him there. I try not to worry too much about it anymore. I still put him to sleep on his back, don't get me wrong. I just don't worry about it too much now. I hope this doesn't sound insensitive!

IBackBevo · May 2013

Thanks for the responses! I feel better about letting him sleep in the crib now. I guess he isn't the only one who likes to sleep face down and y'all may be right in that he has room to breathe even if he is facedown.

The mattress we have is not soft at all. I don't remember what it is called, but it got high safety ratings.

The R-N-P has straps that prevent them from rolling over or crawling out and is for up to 24 lbs. He is only 18 lbs. Still, I want to get him in the crib so staying in the R-N-P isn't really an option anyway.

scdancer · May 2013

As soon as my DD learned to roll from back to tummy at 3 months she'd sleep on her tummy with her face down and usually with 1 or both hands under her face. It scared me b/c I was worried she couldn't breathe but she had strong enough head control to move her head if she couldn't so it doesn't bother me anymore. He's old enough to know when to move his head. No need to worry.

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