Off to Dreamland Blog Post of May 7, 2014 click here to see the original blog post

Once or twice a week I get an anxious call or text from a client whose baby, after initially being put on their back to sleep, has started rolling onto their tummy and getting stuck there, and the parent doesn’t know what to do. Expert sleep advice for babies and toddlers “Is it dangerous?”, they’ll ask. “Should I be flipping her over onto her back again?” Thankfully, most parents have gotten the message that the safest choice is to put infants on their back to sleep in order to reduce the risk of suffocation and SIDS. This practice, along with others, is part of the Safe to Sleep campaign publicized by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in conjunction with many other organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as child health and safety authorities around the world.

While many parents have gotten the message regarding how to place their baby down for sleep, they are often confused about what to do next. As I tell my clients, once your baby is rolling from back to tummy of their own accord, it is safe to let them stay there, assuming that you are following all of the other sleep safety recommendations including keeping all loose items out of the crib, avoiding mattress pads and loose crib sheets, and unswaddling your baby once they start rolling over. For a baby who can roll, the safer alternative to both loose blankets (never use before 12 months) and swaddles (only use before rolling starts) is a wearable blanket which zips up and provides warmth and security while staying clear of babies’ airiway and providing range of motion so that baby can adjust her position while lying face-down. Once your baby is strong enough to roll from back to tummy, he is strong enough to adjust his head and position himself for safe breathing (again, assuming he is not swaddled and there are no objects in the crib presenting a suffocation risk.

But what about when baby starts to cry, seemingly because she’s stuck on her tummy, wants to roll back, but can’t? I’ll tell a concerned parent that they can try helping them roll onto their back once, but more often than not baby will end up rolling back onto tummy and crying again. When this happens, I encourage parents to allow baby time to practice getting themselves back over on their own, both at night and during the day. Plenty of tummy time with the use of a strategic toy or other interesting object to entice baby to try to roll over onto her back will help baby learn this new skill sooner, and shorten the nighttime frustrations they are experiencing. Going in over and over to intervene at night tends to prolong the process as it doesn’t give baby the chance to practice. I feel the need to reiterate that initially putting baby to sleep on his back is the right way to go, even when they start rolling over on their own later.

A recent study revealed that as many as a third of full-term infants are not placed on their backs to sleep, and the number was even higher for babies born prematurely. Keep your baby safe by doing the right thing at bedtime. Whatever baby decides to do on her own after that is fine!

Sasha Carr, PhD is a psychologist, family sleep expert and mom dedicated to helping babies, toddlers, children and families get the rest they need. In addition to heading her sleep consulting company for parents, Off to Dreamland, Dr. Carr helps train future sleep coaches at the Family Sleep Institute and serves as the resident pediatric sleep expert at Willows Pediatric Group in Westport, CT. – To learn more about Dr. Sasha Carr, please visit her website at http://www.offtodreamland.com