belly sleepers

There was a thread the other day and I was surprised to see how many babies slept on their bellies. I know it was always the norm for babies to sleep on their bellies when my sisters and brothers were babies, but now with the whole 'back to sleep' thing I was a little surprised.

So how did you know your baby was a 'belly sleeper'? And at what age did they start sleeping on their bellies?

I am just curious for 2 reasons.... 1. My girls hate being on their bellies whether they roll over or its tummy time which I find surprising in itself, and 2. I was always a belly sleeper until I got preg then I broke my tailbone during labor and havent been able to sleep on my belly pp because I get 'stuck' but I HATE sleeping on my back so I feel bad for all the babies sleeping on their backs!

 

Broken tailbone - that's gotta hurt! Let's see...as soon as the boys could pick their heads up and turn them from side to side was when I thought about trying the belly sleeping. I also bought motion sensor crib monitors that beep if no movement is picked up for 20 seconds (that includes breathing) just to be on the safe side. They slept much better on their stomachs because they were never too big on the whole swaddling thing and would wake themselves up very easily on their backs because of flailing arms, etc. I figured what the h*ll, give it a try. They both still sleep on their stomachs, although James is a big side sleeper. It's so cute!

 

I knew my girls were belly sleepers when they would sleep so peacefully and so long during nap time on their bellies. I couldn't do it at night though but am totally convinced they would have slept better at night if I had put them on their bellies.

 

My boys were very different regarding this. Max starting rolling over on his stomach at 8 weeks old. At that time we separated the boys & after fighting it for a week gave in & let him sleep that way. Eli was a later roller. He was about 5-6 months before he started sleeping on his tummy on his own. Max made me so nervous, but none of us were getting any sleep until we let him sleep on his tummy.

 

We started it about about 2 months, neither baby was sleeping well (DS was doing okay down in the pack and play swaddled, DD would nap for about 30 minutes in the pnp but only sleep at night if in my arms or in bed with me). In a moment of desperation I put DD on her belly for a nap and boom, she slept 2 hours. I did alot of research on SIDS, and ultimately decided it was safer for DD to be on her belly in her own bed vs. on her back in bed with me (I was always so paranoid about rolling over her). We never looked back! DS started napping on his belly about a week later (still on his back and swaddled at night) and once he learned how to bust out of the kiddopotamus swaddle (this kid is a houdini) we put him on his belly at night and he started sleeping a ton better. I worried at first but they had good head control when we started and now they are rolling all over the place and woulnd't stay on their back even if we tried.

 

I didnt put my girls on their bellies until they could roll themselves both ways. But I knew they were belly sleepers pretty early because they would quit fussing when we laid them on their tummies. I was too nervous to let them sleep that way, swaddling seemed to give them the same comfort as tummy sleeping though. They have never slept on their back for nap or night since the day I laid them down on their tummies!

 

Our babies have been tummy sleepers pretty much since they were about two weeks old (they are almost 8 months now). When we placed them on their backs they slept horribly (as did we). Usually just as they would fall asleep they would flail their arms and wake up crying--it was awful. When we made the change it was like night & day--they went from sleeping in 15 minute/half hour intervals to 4-5 hours, then started STTN at around 8 weeks. In addition, our Ava was a major spitter-upper, and I was more paranoid about her choking on her spitup if she was on her back vs. stomach--which she did when she was 7 days old and generated our first 911 call and subsequent visit to the ER. So many people we talked to said their babies slept on their stomachs,,, and were just fine. It's a matter of personal choice of course, so this is what we decided to do if we were all going to make it and stay rested (and sane). lol