# Alternatives to back sleeping when fussy?



## babylove2007 (Mar 30, 2007)

My son HATES being flat on his back, HATES it. Especially after nursing, when the milk sometimes rolls back out during diaper change and then he wants to be upright (he's slightly reflux-y right after eating although he doesn't officially "have" reflux).

If placed on his back within an hour after a meal, he will be wide awake, kicking around and appearing to be "playing," but that's quickly followed by crying within 15-20 minutes. Makes nursing to sleep somewhat difficult.

Right now he is sleeping like an angel in his bouncer--the only place he didn't fuss after eating--but I question whether I should leave him there when I go to bed so I'll probably move him flat on the bed.

I know all the SIDS prevention recommendations say to always put the baby flat on the back to sleep, but this is causing some very fussy days and nights. He simply sounds uncomfortable and gets restless. Has anyone had your baby sleep either in a bouncer or propped on a nursing pillow (he loves that during the day but I only do it when I can watch him) or on top of you in a sling "kangaroo care" style? Is it safe for nighttime sleeping? Any other suggestions?

I just feel like we need an alternative to flat on the back until he gets over this refluxy stage. If that's the only thing that's safe then I have to wait til he's out cold to put him that way or else he protests.


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## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

DD was the same way as a newborn. the chiropractor helped a lot. but she still preferred tummy sleeping, so we just let her to do that...she sleeps in a co-sleeper, though, so very firm mattress.

i would try a chiro first.


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## babylove2007 (Mar 30, 2007)

How risky is tummy sleeping really? I read so many scares about it in the mainstream, but I've heard of many MDC moms using it and their babies are fine. shall I try it if chiro doesn't help?


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## munkeesmama (May 17, 2005)

Personally, I had a reflux baby (who evetually needed a feeding tube for it). What I'd try first is elevating one side of the crib. put something under the mattress, and then make a "sling" out of a blanket to keep your baby from slipping don. This might elevate baby enough to not make him fussy. There are also things called the AR pillow or tuckersling which you could try but are pricey. Once my kids could roll they slept on their stomachs, and during naps during the day when I could watch them they did as well.


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## _betsy_ (Jun 29, 2004)

Baby is a month old, if I read your sig line correctly? At that age, whatever works to get them to sleep.

If that means swaddled and in the carseat, so be it.

Even without diagnosable reflux, many babies seem to have a hard tiome back sleeping.

DD hates being on her back to this day (She's 13 mo). She's a side sleeper. Once she started rolling over, I stopped worrying so much about the side/tummy thing.

Where does baby sleep? With you? Basinet? Crib?


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## CalebsMome (Apr 25, 2007)

Okay, I'll be the non-pediatrician correct person here. I put my son to sleep on his tummy, in the room with us, starting when he was just 2 weeks old.







: He would NOT sleep on his back. He HATES being on his back. But he slept fine on his tummy. He slept in our room until he was 10 weeks old and then slept through the night so well we put him in his room. I always made sure everything was out of the crib except him, and I used one of those sleep bags. He actually still uses one at 20 months old. That way he couldn't get tangled in the blankets. I know it's not SIDS friendly, but my son had no other risk factors so we tried it.







:My sister in law put her little girl on her tummy too, she had BAD acid reflux issues, and had no problem. If baby is with you in the room anyway, I'd let baby sleep any way they wanted, if it was me.


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## Iris' Mom (Aug 3, 2007)

My ds was the same. Honestly, when dd was a baby 17 yrs ago, the recommendation was tummy, but I didn't trust the rationale, so I propped her on her side. There was a thread on the baby forum about this that cited criticism of the back to sleep campaign. If I recall, the gist was that the start of the campaign coincided with performing autopsies on all unexplained infant deaths. Apparently, there has been no overall decline in the incidence of infant death, but just a decrease in the SIDS diagnosis (i.e., due to autopsy, other causes are being identified for deaths that would previously have been attributed to SIDS). There's more; the thread was fairly recent (August or Sept.)


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## TinyMama (Sep 4, 2007)

DD napped on her tummy from birth, right in the middle of the living room floor on a blanket. She slept on her side in bed with us. After watching her nap for almost a whole month, I finally started putting her on her tummy in her portacrib (2 feet from our bed) at night, and once she could really lift her head up well, on her tummy in our bed. There is no question that she sleeps better tummy down.

Our ped. told us that there were three things cited in the SIDS study: back sleeping, breastfeeding, and not overheating. And she expressed some ambivalence about the reasons for back sleeping being better--could it be the plastic in the mattress/mattress pad? She also commented that overtired infants are not particularly healthy, and that brain development could be affected by poor sleep. So we felt pretty comfortable knowing that we did not have two out of the three risk factors, and bought 100% organic cotton bedding for our bed and DD's little crib.


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## babylove2007 (Mar 30, 2007)

He'll sleep on the bed with me for daytime naps or if I'm awake and can watch him. We don't share the bed overnight because I'm a really heavy sleeper and DH is an active sleeper who kicks the comforter, so we don't want to take a chance. That and we have only a full-size bed not a queen or king. So he sleeps right next to my side of the bed in a pack-and-play bassinet, and with our bed height that's essentially a co-sleeper since it's the same height and so close.

When we are awake he will doze on his tummy on someone's lap, we just haven't put him down for the night that way. Or he dozes off propped on the nursing pillow.

I have heard the controversty about sleep position too. They seem to change it every decade--70's was back, 80's was tummy, 90's back on the back, etc. All the logic I've heard seems based on "if they vomit." On the tummy, "if they vomit they'll aspirate it" and on the back "if they vomit, they'll choke." But doesn't cosleeping or room-sharing and not CIO'ing alleviate a lot of those worries? I mean I'd know more quickly if he vomited when he's right next to me as opposed to a separate room where we might not hear him vomit, or letting him cry not knowing that it's because he vomited, kwim?? I mean if he cries, I'm right there checking on him.

I read something about sleeping propped leading to spinal damage and also that it's bad for a newborn to have their neck flopped since they can't support their head. Is this true?


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## catchthewind (Jan 11, 2006)

DD slept on her tummy, on my chest, for her first 4 weeks. She prefers sleeping on her tummy or side too. Actually, her first few days she was able to roll from her back to her stomach on the bed, though she doesn't seem to be able to do that anymore. I talked to the midwife about it and she told me to do what makes us both happiest and in her 20 years of practice she has never had a cosleeping baby die of SIDS, regardless of position.

Around 3-4 weeks I started to get the hang of side lying while nursing and since then we both tend to drift off facing each other on our sides, though we still sometimes start the night with DD on my tummy.

It sounds like there are a lot of theories about why back or front sleeping are safer. I'd always read that it was a danger of suffocation if other objects were around their faces and they aren't strong enough to lift their heads. I would think the baby would cry though, and even if it was muffled if he's in the room with you you'd hear that.


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## eri_flores (Feb 8, 2006)

We just started putting our 9-week old down on his tummy for both naps and nights (he sleeps in the bed on a sheepskin). The difference is amazing: the first time we put him on his stomach was for a nap... I was just hit with the idea because he always likes sleeping so much on our chest/shoulders and he's essentially tummy down, so I put him down like that and he slept for 3 hours! Previously, his naps had been maybe 45 minutes and at night he went no more than 3 hours, often fussy without waking up (but keeping me and his Papi up!) He started sleeping 5-7 hours at night too. He's quite a pukey baby, so I'm sure it's a comfort thing. It's so worth it to me to have him sleeping better, for *everyone's* sake, than to worry about any danger associated with tummy sleeping. It's obvious that he is so much more comfortable, and I watched him enough at first to know that he moves his head if he needs air. Maybe as your child gets a little older and has more head control you will feel a little more confident about it, but I must say that tummy sleeping has been a miracle for our household!


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## SublimeBirthGirl (Sep 9, 2005)

Someone here suggested that BTS has nothing to do with the SIDS decrease. I got curious and did some research. At the same time that the BTS campaign kicked off, new guidelines were released for the investigation of deaths where SIDS was suspected. It seems likely from my research that SIDS deaths decreased not because babies are sleeping on their backs, but because deaths that previously would have been called SIDS are now more accurately classified as something else.


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## MidgeMommy (Mar 22, 2007)

SublimeBirthGirl Someone here suggested that BTS has nothing to do with the SIDS decrease. I got curious and did some research. At the same time that the BTS campaign kicked off, new guidelines were released for the investigation of deaths where SIDS was suspected. It seems likely from my research that SIDS deaths decreased not because babies are sleeping on their backs, but because deaths that previously would have been called SIDS are now more accurately classified as something else.

ITA. Baby girl has slept however she has been most comfortable. 70% of the time, thats tummy. She has always slept next to me in bed, and the other 30% is either side or back. She generally wakes up after 45 minutes if shes on her back.

With the tummy sleeping, she sleeps 6-7 hours straight at night, and is a super-happy morning baby. We breastfeed, co-sleep, and don't smoke or drink. I think CIO and not co-sleeping are 90% of the risk factors. I mean, that's why they play heartbeats for preemies; babies are MEANT to be near their parents, and thrive with that contact.

As long as she's comfortable, I let her sleep however, wherever.

Good luck getting some sleep!


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## Savmay (Oct 18, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CalebsMome* 
Okay, I'll be the non-pediatrician correct person here. I put my son to sleep on his tummy, in the room with us, starting when he was just 2 weeks old.







: He would NOT sleep on his back. He HATES being on his back. But he slept fine on his tummy. He slept in our room until he was 10 weeks old and then slept through the night so well we put him in his room. I always made sure everything was out of the crib except him, and I used one of those sleep bags. He actually still uses one at 20 months old. That way he couldn't get tangled in the blankets. I know it's not SIDS friendly, but my son had no other risk factors so we tried it.







:My sister in law put her little girl on her tummy too, she had BAD acid reflux issues, and had no problem. If baby is with you in the room anyway, I'd let baby sleep any way they wanted, if it was me.

this is pretty much where we came from with our tummy sleeper as well. We started when he was about six weeks b/c he would not sleep for more than a few minutes on his back. He has been sleeping on tummy since then and now just rolls into which ever he wants (seven months now).
I did a lot of research and decided that I was comfortable with the tummy. Funny thing is, despite BTS campaign, many many parents still tummy sleep with babes (they just don't always admit it...)


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## babylove2007 (Mar 30, 2007)

Wow, so many tummy sleepers, I would not have known! Glad to know something besides "back to sleep" works, and isn't the death wish the media makes it out to be!


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## swampangel (Feb 10, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *_betsy_* 
Baby is a month old, if I read your sig line correctly? At that age, whatever works to get them to sleep.

If that means swaddled and in the carseat, so be it.

My oldest ds slept in his carseat for several months...it was the place he slept the best. I worried about it for various reasons (mainly because he was my first!) but I think it was a really great arrangement...he slept well and he was upright and cozy.

So I think I would do the bouncer if you felt that it was secure where ever it is located and wouldn't tip.


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## lily7 (Aug 24, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *catchthewind* 
DD slept on her tummy, on my chest, for her first 4 weeks. She prefers sleeping on her tummy or side too. Actually, her first few days she was able to roll from her back to her stomach on the bed, though she doesn't seem to be able to do that anymore. I talked to the midwife about it and she told me to do what makes us both happiest and in her 20 years of practice she has never had a cosleeping baby die of SIDS, regardless of position.

Around 3-4 weeks I started to get the hang of side lying while nursing and since then we both tend to drift off facing each other on our sides, though we still sometimes start the night with DD on my tummy.

It sounds like there are a lot of theories about why back or front sleeping are safer. I'd always read that it was a danger of suffocation if other objects were around their faces and they aren't strong enough to lift their heads. I would think the baby would cry though, and even if it was muffled if he's in the room with you you'd hear that.

My baby has the same issue, whenever I put him on his back, 20 minutes later he chokes on milk coming back, he is a month old, and the only way I can get some sleep is to have him sleep on his tummy on my chest. I fell this is safe but fairly uncomfy for me.


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## Twinklefae (Dec 13, 2006)

My baby sleeps on his tummy for naps and on his side for night, because he's against me.







I don't worry and he sleeps like a champ!


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