Baby Rolling Over and Waking Himself Up
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Baby Rolling Over and Waking Himself Up
Feb 2007
Our 5 mo old has figured out how to rollover pretty well from
back to front and not so well from front to back. At night, she
rolls over in her sleep onto her tummy, then freaks out because
she hates this position. She either doesn't have enough room or
is too tired to roll herself back over. She then screams and
cries until someone comes and flips her over. This has been
going on for weeks now and can range from either 1 disruption a
night to up to 3 disruptions (almost like every 2 1/2 hrs).
This is worse than when she was a newborn! My husband and I are
getting very sleep deprived. I keep hoping and waiting that
this is something she will grow out of (which I know she will
eventually) but it just seems to be getting worse (the episodes
are coming more frequent). I'm sure other people out there have
experienced this. What did you do? Is there anything I can do
other than wait it out?
very sleepy mom
Have you tried one of those bolsters? My daughter also rolled at
night, though she didn't seem to mind the new position. A bolster
worked for awhile, so maybe give it a try, though our daughter
was eventually strong enough to roll anyway.
Related, I was very worried about my daughter being on her tummy
at night due to SIDS. But our pediatrian said not to worry to
much about it. A baby that strong is probably going to be okay on
their tummy. Maybe that will create a stir on the list! But it
was my experience.
Mamma L
let her cry it out. i know it sounds terrible, but you and your
baby are getting into a sleep deficit that isn't good for anyone.
they sleep on their tummies, trust me. both my kids are tummy
sleepers (21 months and 2 months). i actually didn't even try #2
on her back because they sleep so long on their tummies that i
have a super happy restful baby all the time which is easy for me!
anon
Turn off your monitor. Alternate wearing earplugs. Your child
will figure out how to sleep on her stomach (your doctor will
tell you that SIDS issues are greatly reduced at this point) and
soon enough figure out how to flip back if it really bugs her.
This too shall pass.
jan
November 2004
My 7 month old rolls over from her back onto her belly and wakes up
about three or more times a night. My husband has been turning her
over onto her back and putting the pacifier in her mouth. She usually
goes back to sleep but sometimes she is wide awake by the time he
gets to her and takes a while to fall back asleep with many passy plug
ins. (Ugh, I love/hate the passifier!) We are both extremely sleep
deprived (We also have a two year old who was an aweful sleeper until
recently) and I think it's time to let her work it out for herself. Meaning it is
time to use some degree of letting her cry until she figures out how to
sleep on her belly or roll back over. All feedback welcome!
sharon
Well, I'd caution you to really, really inform yourself before just ignoring your
baby crying. There are various child-development specialists who believe that
simply ignoring a child (particularly an infant) when they cry can be
traumatizing, because they cry as the only way to express a need (for comfort,
food, whatever) and if they receive no response, they may learn that (at least in
certain circumstances) not only they can they not count on getting their needs
met, but they can't even count on a response. So, while, ultimately it will ''work''
in that the child will learn to stop crying, they will also turn inward, becoming
fearful and insecure, and develop deep trust issues.
On the other hand, there are those who say that it is important for children to
learn a certain amount of self-soothing, which they cannot learn if the parents
are ''on'' them every time they express distress. Instead, they become
dependent upon outside affirmation and comfort, and so clingy and
''emotionally fused'' later in life. But I got the sense that this was something to
try when one's child is a little older. And, there too, it didn't mean not
responding, you still make it known to your child that you're ''there,'' you just
don't necessarily rush to comfort them.
So, not meaning to criticize people who choose the ''let-them-cry-it-out''
method, but I think it's important to really gather as much expert, professional
opinion as you can on the subject, so you can make an informed decision. I
know there's a lot of books on this issue, which others will recommend which
should be helpful. I haven't read them, I've been consulting with a child
specialist/therapist (on other issues, actually), so that's why I don't have titles
to refer you to.
have you tried just putting her to sleep on her tummy? not
officially recommended, I know but Sears lists a whole slew of
good reasons why infants tend to sleep better and longer on
their fronts and I know it was the case for my own. my husband
didn't like it but I think once they can lift and move their
heads, the risk of SIDS because of position goes way down
assuming there aren't any other risk factors.
not sure why you don't like pacifiers but seems like if this
soothes and get you all some sleep - what's the harm? can she
put it in her own mouth if its available to her at night?
anon
October 2002
My five-month-old has mastered rolling from his back to his
stomach but hasn't yet learned the reverse. This isn't much of a
problem when he's awake; however, during naptime and at night,
he rolls onto his tummy in his sleep and wakes himself up. I
thought he might actually prefer sleeping on his stomach once he
could get there on his own, but this doesn't seem to be the
case. Has anyone else dealt with this? Do I simply have to wait
until he learns to roll onto his back? Someone suggested putting
rolled up blankets on either side of him, but I'm nervous about
having them in the crib -- and I have a feeling my little
steamroller would just roll right over them anyway! Any ideas
would be appreciated. Thanks.
Carrie
I was the poster of the original ''5 month old hates tummy time - rolls over''
from July that the editor referred to in your posting. My now 9 month old was
driving me NUTS with the rolling onto his tummy, and so I figured he had 3
options: 1. He was going to have to stop rolling onto his tummy; 2. He was
going
to have to figure out how to roll back; or 3. He was going to have to deal
with
the tummy thing and learn to love it! Unfortunately, these options required
that I pretty much leave him there to howl and scream until he picked one (and
my pediatrician agreed). So we started letting him stay on his tummy and only
flipped him back when he was too far gone to be able to comfort himself.
However, at 6 months on the nose, he started sitting up on his own, and once
he
was able to sit up, he hated lying down, so he didn't get much rolling
practice.
So the rolling became less of an issue during the day, and more of an issue at
bedtime or naptime. This meant that I did a lot of schlepping in and out of
his
room to flip him in his sleep, or from just waking up, or from just going down
We
tried the anti-flipping body wedges and they lie on top of, but he hated that
even more for some reason, but there didn't seem to be anything I could do
about it except let him lie there and scream. Eventually things got better
and
he seems to have picked all three options because it hasn't really been an
issue
the last month or so.
I hope this is helpful, feel free to contact me directly if you want to chat.
Jill
You need one of these:
http://www.thefirstyears.com/products/product.asp?pValue=4064
It's a product by ''The First Years'', called an ''air flow sleep
positioner''. The rolls on either side are plastic cages covered
with cloth -- they're not squishy enough for your baby's face to
squash into them even if the baby succeeds in rolling onto them,
so they're very safe. I had the exact same problem as you with
my son, and this product (coincidentally given to me by a friend
a few days before my son started to roll over) solved it!
-- A mom whose son now sleeps through the night
We had the same problem when our son was that age! He'd turn
onto his belly & get stuck. I'd go in to his room, turn him over
and he'd be back on his tummy before I could climb back in bed.
It really disrupted everyone's sleep. After a week or so of
that drill, we bought a sleep wedge at Rockridge Kids and
basically forced him to sleep on his side for a while (until he
was good at rolling back and forth). I found it helpful to give
him extra doses of tummy time during the day to practice the
fine art of rolling over. Good luck!
Jen
I read your posting and wanted to share our very similar
experience with our daughter. When she was about 5 months old she
learned to roll from her back to her tummy. She seemed to want to
be on her tummy all the time which was fine, until she was
sleeping. Then she would roll onto her tummy, wake up, and start
crying. We would try to roll her back but it didn't work. It was
quite frustrating because she had become such a good sleeper on
her back and now everything was in upheaval and her sleep was
constantly being disrupted. We just decided to be patient and hope
that she would work it out...and she did. Now that she is almost 6
months old she is comfortable sleeping on her tummy and no longer
wakes up crying when she rolls over. We asked her pediatrician if
it was okay to sleep on her tummy because of the SIDS issue. The
doctor said yes, that by now she had shown herself to be strong
enough to handle it. Hang in there, I am sure your son will work
it out too.
Suzanne
We had a hard time when my son first started rolling over in bed
and then when he stood up - someone told me they have to learn
how to get themselves to sleep all over again. Ultimately I had
to leave him in the crib and let him (cry and) figure out how to
go to sleep. Now he sleeps on his stomach for most of his
naps. Of course this is in a situation where we were letting
him get himself to sleep (and we've been lucky that this isn't
too hard for him most of the time), and he rolled over before
going to sleep, not in the middle of his nap.
Alma
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