Infants sleeping on stomach

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:numbers don't lie. i don't have them at hand, but you can look them up. since the campaign to get babies off their tummies, the cases of babies dying from SIDS has dramatically fallen. make of it what you will. what can you live with?

However the numbers do lie. Part of the problem is that they way the deaths are being classified when a baby dies. They are no longer listed as SIDS, but as asphyxiation or some other cause. If you look on infant mortality on a whole, not much as changed, just the coroner reports.

New Zealand did a study and concluded that all crib mattresses be wrapped, especially the OLDER ones, as they seem to be more toxic. They found that once the mattress was wrapped, it didn't matter what position the baby slept in. The study also said to never, ever, use bumpers on the crib as it just traps in toxic gasses that are released from the mattress, and from the baby exhaling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only thing I know is that I've always sleep on my stomach, since I was first born. So have my brother and sister. So has my daughter. Nobody has ever had any problems and I firmly believe that if an infant can turn his head, he will not suffocate unless something else is wrong.

What is sad, though, is that anyone who did sleep on their tummy as an infant and had a truely different experience won't be represented here to tell their story.

[khawthorne]

When my DD was born it was sleep on the tummy and tummy only, then 4 years later it was sleep on the back. DD is now 18, DS is now 14.
Because I am CPR and First Aid certified many times over I have to tend to agree with "back to sleep". Sleeping on the tummy is a recipe for making a little tent or bubble if you will of toxic air around baby's nose and mouth, trapped between the mattress and the face.

[Anonymous]

How, exactly, are you supposed to watch your young infant "vigilantly on the monitor" all night long while she sleeps on her stomach? Do you pop popcorn and put up your feet?

No, I thought not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know several parents who let their babies (under age of 3 months, and not rolling over) sleep on their tummies. They make sure that there's nothing in the crib, and watch vigilently on the baby monitor. This definitely helps babies get mobile faster. my DD has been a back sleeper and didn't roll over until she was 8 months old. She is now 10 months and still isn't crawling and hates tummy time. The tummy sleepers I knew were rolling and crawling much earlier. And, they don't have the bald spot that DD still has!

Can someone please explain to me why you want to put your child to sleep on his or her stomach? Please don't flame me; I just don't understand. I get that babies used to roll over, etc. earlier, but can't you just do more supervised tummy time during the day? I always put DC to sleep on his back (even now), and he rolled over on his own around 3 months because we tried to get in as much tummy time as we could during his waking hours.

[Anonymous]

My son just never ever liked sleeping on his back. When I was a kid, my mom was always told to put babies on their tummies to help them sleep. So, I always was put to sleep on my tummy.

Even now, as a 15 month old, DS always, always, always sleeps on his tummy. Maybe there's a reason that he doesn't like being on his back. I have no idea.

(just answering 13:40's question)

[Anonymous]

Ditto (14:49)

[Anonymous]

oooops.

Ditto (13:49)

[Anonymous]

My DS started sleeping on his stomach when he started rolling over around 2 mos. Even now (6mos), I put him down on his back and he rolls over onto his stomach to sleep. I figured once he's able to, there's really not a lot I can do to stop him from sleeping on his stomach since he clearly prefers to.

[Anonymous]

For the PP who asked about why parents put their kids to sleep on their stomachs, it differs based on the parent. For us, two of our three kids had reflux. We put them on their tummies after they both choked on their own spit-up multiple times. We reveiwed all the risk factors for SIDS prior to doing it, and realized that we might be taking a risk.

[Anonymous]

I know several parents who let their babies (under age of 3 months, and not rolling over) sleep on their tummies. They make sure that there's nothing in the crib, and watch vigilently on the baby monitor. This definitely helps babies get mobile faster. my DD has been a back sleeper and didn't roll over until she was 8 months old. She is now 10 months and still isn't crawling and hates tummy time. The tummy sleepers I knew were rolling and crawling much earlier. And, they don't have the bald spot that DD still has!

and why is it important to roll over or crawl early? who cares?? it's not worth the risk to a lot of us Moms. i could give a flying fig at what month my DS hit those arbitrary milestones! i'd just rather he wake up.

from what i understand, once a baby is rolling himself over, the risk of SIDS decreases anyway. so back sleeping is only really a concern for babies who aren't mobile yet.