After some talk with my husband, we've come to a decision on an issue that has been causing us difficulty.
We are going to let our baby sleep on her stomach.
Now, I am an intelligent, educated woman. I am well aware of the "back to sleep" campaign. I think it is wonderful, in fact. Anything that can cut SIDS deaths in half the way it has is great. I think that everybody should try to put their baby on their back to sleep.
With Sweetpea though, there is a crucial flaw in the back to sleep campaign. It's the fact that it involves "back" but also "sleep".
Sweetpea does not sleep on her back.
If it were the "back to wake" campaign, it would work great for us. Because that is what Sweetpea does when we lay her on her back. In the three months since she has been born, she has probably logged only a couple hours (total) of sleep on her back. She sleeps with us, on her side, in bed. She sleeps in my wrap. Sometimes she will sleep in her carseat after crying herself to sleep. That's it.
Except that's not it. She will sleep on her stomach.
There have been a couple times when she has rolled from her side to her stomach and she has slept better then ever before. In fact, in the last week, she has had a couple naps where she has slept for as much as two hours, by herself, on her stomach. At first, I was terrified to leave her that way and checked on her constantly. Now, I am nervous, but slowly getting used the idea.
Having said that, I think it is amazing how much fear parents have about putting their babies on their stomachs to sleep. A generation ago, it was the reccomended way. It's one thing to teach that back sleeping can be safer, but to instill this fear? I don't know if that is good either.
There is one thing I know though. I need my baby to sleep. If back sleeping just made her more restless, I might still do it. If back sleeping prevents sleep from happening altogether, it just can't happen.
Don't tell the public health nurses! They'll come after me.
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2 comments:
Dont feel badand do what your daughter needs you to do in order to get sleep! I also was very worried and tried to follow the back to sleep rule but my daughter would have nothing to do with it. She was very colicy and needed that extra pressure on her belly for her to sleep. She is now a very active and healthy 1yr old.
I know how you feel. My daughter after a few months started rolling promptly to her tummy as soon as we'd set her in her crib. Her doctor's said it's ok, but she's a bit older. At first I was terrified though.
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