Babies: 6 - 9 Months
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LOs preferred sleep position

Anyone else's LO changed sleep position preference?

DD will be 8 months old on the 3rd and suddenly this week she has developed preference to sleeping on her tummy. Up until now she has always slept on her back or sides so this sleeping on the tummy is totally new. I was watching her on the monitor when she flipped on her stomach and I was like "what is she doing?!" since she has never done that before...but she fell asleep so I was thinking ha interesting will see what happens when she wakes up..when she woke up from that nap she was confused a little as to where she was at and she immediately started crying..so I thought it may have been a fluke. But then every time after that she has been flipping to her tummy and falling sleep.  I figured since she's old enough and able to do it herself and rolls back and forth from tummy to back to tummy throughout the night that it is safe to leave her be. Her face is not buried into the mattress when she is on her tummy, it's turned to her side. I watch her on the monitor throughout the night. If she was 2 months old I'd probably freak out and run in to put her on her back but at 8 months I think we are ok to go with the new arrangement.

In the long term are there any advantages or disadvantages to sleeping on the stomach? I'm all for whatever will get her to sleep longer so if sleeping on her stomach will yield longer stretches of sleep I will not want to mess with it one bit but as I got to have something to worry about I was just thinking if there are any disadvantages to sleeping on her stomach long term.

Re: LOs preferred sleep position

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    My daughter is the same age. She likes to sleep on her tummy sometimes. Even when I flip her over she'll go right back to her tummy. But more often than not she still prefers sleeping on her side(s). I haven't heard of any advantages or disadvantages. I just flipped her because I thought babies weren't supposed to sleep on their tummies.
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    I don't think there's any sort of disadvantage when they flip themselves and sleep on their tummy. Babies sleep weird. My DD squishes her face in a corner or against the crib bars to sleep, and torques her neck if she's  on her back. it looks awfully uncomfortable, but she crashes so...
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    Once they can roll over easily, there is no disadvantage to it.  DS has only been able to sleep on his tummy from about 4.5 months on, unless he is exhausted.  In a general sense, for adults, tummy sleeping (the only way I can sleep) is less healthy, but I am not sure there is too much you can do to change this preference.  Also remember that before the SIDS "Back to Sleep" campaign, when you and I were babies, parents were instructed to put babies to sleep on their tummies.
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    Once they can roll over easily, there is no disadvantage to it.  DS has only been able to sleep on his tummy from about 4.5 months on, unless he is exhausted.  In a general sense, for adults, tummy sleeping (the only way I can sleep) is less healthy, but I am not sure there is too much you can do to change this preference.  Also remember that before the SIDS "Back to Sleep" campaign, when you and I were babies, parents were instructed to put babies to sleep on their tummies.
    Me too! This caused so much misery during pregnancy days! I'd pile pillows around me to sleep on my side only to wake up in the middle of the night on my stomach!
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    I don't know if there are any advantages or disadvantages but my LO did the same thing.  He is almost 8 months old.  Was always a back or side sleeper and then now he ends up on his stomach.  Sometimes he forgets he can get off his stomach which sucks.
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    2013mommy said:
    DS has been tummy sleeping since he started rolling at 4.5 months. It never worried me because he could get himself there and always has his head to the side. I always put him on his back to sleep but he flips almost immediately. The only thing I noticed when he started tummy sleeping is the slight flat spot he had started to go away. 
    Tummy sleeping hasn't happened yet over here (still in a sleep suit) but as nervous as I would be, DS has a wicked bald spot that could use some hair lol I think that would help. But mentally, I don't know if I'm ready for tummy sleeping.
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    As soon as DD could roll onto her tummy she started sleeping in that position - around 4 months.  I'll put her down on her back and she can be completely asleep but she'll still roll over.  Very rarely she'll stay on her back or on her side.
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    VPGIRL06 said:
     My DD squishes her face in a corner or against the crib bars to sleep, and torques her neck if she's  on her back. it looks awfully uncomfortable, but she crashes so...

    My DD does the same thing!  She looks so uncomfortable in her sleep, but if it keeps her asleep I'm not messing with it.  I have started finding her on her tummy with her butt sticking up in the air lately too... 
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    Last night our guy rolled onto his stomach to sleep for the first time! (He just rolled back to belly for the first time on Tuesday... late roller over here.) Anyway, I fed him before work and put him back down and apparently he did it again. So we might have a new belly sleeper on our hands!
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    I say let baby sleep how they best sleep.  That said, my chiropractor would insist tummy sleeping is bad.  It can mess up the muscles and the back and is just considered bad for the back.  I sleep on my tummy and was lectured big time.  In reality I don't think it's a huge issue.

     

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    2013mommy said:
    DS has been tummy sleeping since he started rolling at 4.5 months. It never worried me because he could get himself there and always has his head to the side. I always put him on his back to sleep but he flips almost immediately. The only thing I noticed when he started tummy sleeping is the slight flat spot he had started to go away. 
    Tummy sleeping hasn't happened yet over here (still in a sleep suit) but as nervous as I would be, DS has a wicked bald spot that could use some hair lol I think that would help. But mentally, I don't know if I'm ready for tummy sleeping.
    Just an update here .. DS rolled in his suit last night so we cold turkey'd it. He had a rough patch for 3 hours but has been sleeping on his tummy majority of the night. I'm proud and only slightly nervous at the same time!
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    She will plank with her butt in the air quite often, or sleep on her side. If they do it on their own, let them be unless you think they're obstructed.
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    My dd has been sleeping that way since she could roll.  I put her in on her side and then eventually she turns over.  In the beginning when she was first learning to roll I would have to go in and turn her multiple times a night.  I was worried she wouldn't be able to turn herself and because she would start to cry when she "forgot" how to get back over.  My dd is like her father when she sleeps.  She is all over the place in her crib in every which position.  For the most part though she does sleep on her side.

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