Dilemma
To start at the beginning of this thought I have to tell a little story. When I was visiting Amber and her girls we were at the park and Corrine was tired so she turned her over onto her belly to sleep. I’m sure Amber heard, if not saw, the horror in my eyes as I asked why she put Corrine on her belly to sleep, though I tried to not sound judgemental, since it has an infant has a higher chance of SIDS when sleeping on their belly. According to my doctor a chance that is seventeen times greater then the infant is sleeping on their back. Anyways, she answered that it helps Corrine sleep better because of her gas problems. Now I am sympathizing with Amber, but at the same time worried about the increase risk for SIDS. Though my problem is just that Eden rolls to her belly and can’t get back to her back, and she just falls asleep there. She’s young, but already she pushes up to her arms and holds her head up really well. I just don’t know if I should go and roll her to her back after she falls asleep, like my pediatrician advised, because she sleeps better on her belly and longer. That’s just my mother dilemma. I realize that my life only has school and kids, and I constantly talk about my kids, but I guess it’s because that’s what I do. I just wish I had more indpeth problems, but that would lead to more worries and who wants those.
December 14th, 2005 at 1:47 pm
I think I would have freaked out seeing another mom put her baby on her tummy to sleep too. ‘Back to sleep’ ect… but when you’re only getting 20 minutes of consecutive sleep at a time and your baby only sleeps on your chest and cries when she is awake you get desperate. All my other kids have slept on their backs just fine, but Corinne has decided that she’s not like my other kids in many ways. The crying (see above sentence) the gas, ect. She’s much better (and happier) now, but a large part of that was figuring out the gassiness and also getting lots of sleep. She’s also so strong, she could hold her head up since 5 minutes from birth and has always been so steady, so I’ve not worried about her suffocating like I did with my other girls. Anyway, my point is, sometimes it’s best to do what’s best for you and your baby and follow a mother’s instinct even when it disregards what’s currently ‘correct’. (Except when it comes to carseats). Anyway, if she’s able to turn from her back to her stomach herself I wouldn’t worry about turning her back, she’s strong enough to get around which is the whole reason behind not putting them on their stomachs.