Lately, my husband and I have been having some trouble with our son. He's almost 6 months old, and he has mastered rolling over from back to tummy. He can't roll from tummy to back (which is supposed to be easier); I don't mind, because he's an individual. That's cool. But the past couple weeks, we haven't been able to let him sleep in the crib. He gets himself onto his tummy and can't roll back over.
The concern isn't so much the SIDS risk (although I still worry about that all the time). Experts say once they are strong enough to roll over, they are pretty much not a SIDS risk anymore. The real issue is that after he rolls, he always manages to get an arm, a leg, or both stuck through the bars of his crib, and then he cries like a maniac. I don't know if it hurts him or if he is just scared or what. But there is no helping it.
In order to avoid this terrible fiasco, we have been having the baby sleep in his car seat--a method we used when his crib was still too big for him to feel comfortable in. But I really like him sleeping in his crib, where he belongs. It is true that in the car seat he sleeps much longer and much more soundly than the crib (even more than he did before the rolling/stuck leg phase hit).
I don't know what to do: should I continue to let him sleep in the car seat, at least until he figures out how to roll back over from tummy to back? Or should I just be tough and push through the crying and rolling and getting stuck?
Also, does anyone have experience with the whole 'putting baby down to sleep while he is awake and letting him cry it out' philosophy? We have been doing that for the past few months, and he still cries a lot each night (unless he falls asleep while eating). So, I don't know if I should keep trying it, or if I should just give up. He cries for as little as five minutes and as long as an hour. I feel like he is learning to self-soothe, because I see him finding his thumb and calming down in other situations. But he still does cry a lot at night, so I don't know for sure. Any input will really help us. Thanks!
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- Cruelty-Free Mommy
- I am a mother who is suddenly finding that she knows it all and MUST SHARE WITH OTHERS! I have two sons (one born 1.07 and one due 4.09), a husband, a sweet doggie and a fiesty cat. Most of my days are spent with my family, reading, going for walks, visiting free local places, and watching movies. In my spare time, I teach high school English. I am a lutheran pacifist vegetarian who tries very hard to influence others without being a pushy jerk.
7 comments:
As far as the bars of the crib, I noticed you don't have a bumper in there. It's a padded piece of fabric, about 8 inches wide, that runs along the bars so they won't bash themselves as they sleep. It also helps prevent them sticking their legs through the bars. This might help a bit.
You also might try rolling some small blankets up and placing them on each side of him so he can't roll when he sleeps.
Only you can really answer the question of crying when you put them down for the night. So much depends on your own patience.
It wouldn't matter if he could roll from stomach to back--with one leg thrust out the side, I don't think he'd make it!
We were told by our hospital classes not to put a runner in while the baby is sleeping, that it's decorative and potentially unsafe.
Without getting into a discussion on the quality of different classes, I'll say, they all have their own subjects and concerns they choose to emphasis or deemphasis. Your class mentioned the runner issue, but seemed to neglect the arms and legs through the bars problem.
We found it to be helpful, provided you set it up properly and check to make sure it is secured well.
But that's us, and we are given to the same biases as your class instructor.
Rolled blankets, or pillows along his side, snuggling him as the car seat does, might solve the problem too.
Here is the thing with raising kids. Each kid is different and what works with one might not work with another. We personally went with what worked, of course that has now translated into a 2 year old joining us in bed sometime during the night on most occasions.
Micah slept on his tummy from month 3 on. We had that fear of SIDS, but seriously almost all of us parents now were raised sleeping on our tummy. Why? Because at the time it was believed that a child was at greater risk of choking on their own burp up and drewl, etc.
Parenting philosophies change all the time. So just find out what works for you, if currently that is the car seat, hey go for it. Why not? It isn't like the Fox man is going to be tramatized because he slept in a car seat for a month or two.
The Ferber method (i.e. the wailing crying rip your heart out method) we refused to do. Our friends did it and it sucked when we would visit and their son would cry for 45 minutes. He seems to be doing fine though, so it appears to work. I however don't see the reasoning behind it. It is supposed to create self-soothing, but I often wonder how much of the philosophy is based upon creating an "individual" who has his own wants and desires from an early period. I am always a little skeptical of capitalistic philosophy and its influence on all aspects of life including "parenting." But I don't judge those who chose to do it. It just was not for us.
Not being a parent yet, take my comment with a grain of salt! That being said, my chiropractor is very firmly against babies sleeping in their carseats because the seat is not designed to support the natural curvature of the spine and can lead to back problems in the future. Babies should lie flat as often as possible to promote correct growth of the spine. (P.S. My chiropractor is a family friend and I trust him- but since you don't know him you may want to check around and get other opinions on this. I know how my backs feels if I fall asleep in a chair not meant for sleeping, so this info. makes sense to me!)
Thanks everyone! Today, we went to BabiesRUs and got a BreathableBaby mesh bumper pad. It was around 25$, but I think it will be worth it. So, Fox will be back in his crib! I don't think it will be a sids risk, since you can breathe through it really easily, and now his spine will grow well! I appreciate all the input.
If you are still worried about his rolling over and not being able to get off his tummy, try a sleep positioner. We bought one that you could adjust via velcro so the baby could sleep on his back, side, or stomach without being able to flip over.
Regarding crying to sleep: if you do it, you HAVE to follow through. My biggest mistake was doing it for a week, and giving up. Then a couple of months went by, and I'd try again, and give it up. This left Taran with no idea how to fall asleep AND a terror of having to do it on his own. He's fine now, but every thing I've read, pro- or con-crying, said the same one important thing: put your baby to bed tired, but awake. That is the best way to get him to fall asleep on his own.
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