Sleeping positions and products

Today at work the ladies got into a very deep and heated discussion around the way that babies sleep... I just sat and listened, didn't express my own opinion but I'm wondering what you all think...

Basically everyone agreed that the professionals keep changing their minds about what helps and prevents SIDS. Must say I agree with that. Use to be that babies should sleep on their back, then on their sides, then their tummy and it seems that every now and then they change their minds about "whats best"

One of the ladies (mum of 3 kids - 25 yrs old) annouced that all her kids slept on their tummys - never had any issues.

Another (mum of 2 - probably about 55ish) said all her kids slept on their sides with their hand under their head and was very strongly opinionated about babies sleeping on their back for quite a few reasons. Some of them being it can give the child a flat head and another being that if they vomit they can choke - both which I think are valid points.

Overall not one of them agreed with sleeping a baby on their back, and since there were 8 women of varying ages expressing their opinions I thought it was interesting.

And I asked my mum tonight on the phone how she made us sleep, she told me it was always on my tummy or side.

I personally have no intention of getting a safety sleep either but did get given a wedge which everyone seemed to approve of today.

Edited by kebakat

I was a tummy sleeper as a baby - the good old "back in my day we did...." lol.

But my girls are all back sleepers, and I do use safety sleeps. I bought one when I was pregnant with Maya because at the time I read somewhere that a baby had never died from SIDS whilst in one. Don't know if thats still true but it was such a success with Maya that I have them for the gremlins as well.

Mercedes has a flat spot on her head from sleeping the same way all the time, I have tried to correct it by using a wedge but lil miss stubborn just cranes her neack around to the way she wants it anyway and if she doesn't get it sorted shortly will have to see a developmental physio (they suspect she was a little cramped for room during pregnancy - I wonder why!?). Sienna and Maya don't have any issues, they sleep either way.

Probably the biggest peace of mind I have with the gremlins tho are their Respisense breathing monitors - they alarm if they stop breathing for more than 20 seconds, and clip onto their nappies. Like any Mum i would do anything to keep my babies safe, and after a close friend lost her gorgeous wee 6-mth old to SIDS last Feb despite doing everything 'right' according to the experts, I became a bit paranoid. He was fully breastfed, a back sleeper andout of the 2-6mth highest risk period. IMHO the government should give every newborn a monitor, it might cost a few $$$ but if it even saves 1 baby then it's all worth it.

When Caitlin was a newborn she would only sleep on her side and would wake up the moment she rolled onto her back. So we alternated between a wedge and a safety sleep to keep her on her side so that she couldn't roll either way.

Now that she's older she rolls around in her safety sleep on her own (no matter how tight it is) but she's never got onto her tummy (but she hates tummy time when she's awake to)

My Mum said that both my sis and I were tummy sleepers (and we both still are).

I think people always are going to defend how they did things when they raised their kids- obviously they were just doing what was considered safest at the time. I slept DD on her back (she moved her head lots so having a flat spot wasn't a problem) and she was swaddled tightly so stayed put once we put her down. She still sleeps mostly on her back now.

I guess its what you do with the information the experts are putting out there- I figure they aren't telling us this stuff for fun, that they honestly beleive that back is best. Plus, if I didn't follow the advice and something did happen I would always feel guilty that I had ignored it. At least if you do evrything right and something still happens you can take comfort in that you did everything you could.

The rule in the 80's was to lay the kids on their tummies so they won't choke if they vomit... but I have heard that choking in that case was actually never heard of, only worried about. All the rage now is for back sleeping as it is less problematic than tummy sleeping. And as for flat heads, you just alter where the baby's head lies each sleep.

I'm onto round 3 of back sleeping with no problems... when the kids are old enough to roll over I figure their head muscles are strong enough to get them out of difficulty so I let them go to sleep how they will from that point (generally after 6mos when they get into crawling etc).

I had James sleeping on his side to start with because he had quite a lot of mucus when he was first born so the midwife told me to sleep in on his side after that cleared I couldn't get him to sleep on his back. Then he changed his own mind and started sleeping on his back when he was a month and a half old. Our antenatal tutor said that baby's can't chock on their vomit when their sleeping on their back as the airway is above the esophagus(spelling) when laying on the back. James head is misshapen and he does tend to prefer on side over the other.

We will be getting him a safety sleep when he starts to sleep in the cot.