Is putting a baby to sleep on their tummy really so bad? All the medical advice seems to say yes, yet it’s the only position in which Little B will have a proper sleep. He’s been suffering from terrible colic, leaving him wreathing around full of wind and unable to settle on his back. As a result we’ve spent most of the past week co-sleeping with one of us rubbing his tummy to ease the pain – seemingly another big no-no.
It didn’t do me any harm, but the evidence suggests the risk of cot death is higher in babies who sleep on their front. Even so, I know Little B would be far more comfortable on his tummy and we’d all get more sleep. Lie him on his back after a night time feed and he thrashes around in discomfort, but put him on his front and he’s asleep in seconds, so totally relaxed that his limbs are a dead weight.
Terrified of putting him in his moses basket on his front in case something terrible happens and in a bid to have less broken nights, I’ve been lying in bed on my back with him on his front on my chest, or on his side in the crook of my arm. But I’ve read that more than half of cot deaths happen when babies are sleeping in the same bed as their parents, and babies who share their parents’ bed before the age of three months are five times more likely to die during the night. Even worse, apparently cot death is more common in males.
So now I don’t know what to do for the best.
Just. Need. To. Sleep.
My little one is 16 months now and he has consistently slept in bed with my husband and me since he was 6 months old. Prior to that, he slept on his stomach from about 3 months old. I got so much criticism for that. He had GERD and would wake up every few minutes from discomfort and spitting up. As soon as we put him on his stomach, it all stopped. In fact, the first time he slept through the night, it was on his stomach. I slept on the floor in his bedroom because I was so nervous. Yes, there are risks, but at the end of the day, I think it’s best to do what’s best for your child’s comfort. Little B will be fine 🙂
I don’t normally comment on blog posts but couldn’t not on this one. I have a 13 week old son who suffered massively from trapped wind, to the point that we were up with him every haf hour on a bad night. We started him on probiotics at 8 weeks to try to improve his digestion and the change was unbelievable. By the second day he slept 8 hours in a row and he now only wakes once at night to feed. I was sceptical before trying them but have been completely converted. We use the bio Gaia drops as he is breastfed, but there are plenty of others out there that are suitable from birth.
I don’t know about sleeping on front, the thought of it terrifies me, but we coslept with P2 from birth until around 6 months consistently then it was odd times here and there from then until P3 was born. We were advised against doing this by health visitor etc. But when P3 came along, all the leaflets in the hospital didn’t say NO COSLEEPING they simply said cosleep safely with the following advice… The usual no drinking, no medication, no smoking etc.