Baby Getting Stuck on Stomach

[Cali_Katy]

For the past week or two, our naptime routine has gone something like this:

I put DS down to bed in his crib on his back. All is quiet for 10 minutes or so. Then he starts screaming bloody murder. I go in to check on him, and he's on his stomach and can't figure out how to roll over onto his back. I try to calm him down, put him back on his back. Lather, rinse and repeat. It's been almost impossible to get a good nap in.

The same thing happens at bedtime, only he'll actually sleep. I'll put him down at 5:30 p.m. and hear him screaming around 2:30, and sure enough, he's stuck on his stomach. I am not sure whether he turns himself over around 5:30 and sleeps on his stomach for several hours, or whether he's waking up in the middle of the night, rolling over, and then freaking out.

What to do?

[madmartian]

We went through the same exact thing. I just kept flipping DD over onto her back until she fell asleep. Sometimes I would prop her up on a pillow for naps because she couldn't flip over like that. When I did that I kept a very close eye on her the whole time. It didn't take very long for DD to learn how to flip over from stomach to back and the problem went away.

[BooeyJ2]

Unfortunately there isn't much you can do.
He'll learn how to flip back over soon enough

[Megande]

We are going through this exact same thing right now! He has turned from front to back a ton of times, but it seems like he has recently forgotten how! Either that or he can't make the connection that it would solve his problem!

He only rolls to the right, so what has been working for me for the past couple of days is to put him down really close to the right side of his crib. He can't get his feet over to start the roll, so he is more likely to stay on his stomach. If he is really tired or rolls over in the middle of the night, he will sleep on his stomach and be ok. Hopefully we will both be through this irritating stage soon!

[AmyE]

DS did the same thing for a couple of weeks - we finally put him down and put a small stuff animal behind his shoulder so he couldn't roll in his preferred direction. that worked for a couple of weeks, and now he can rescue himself or just sleep on his tummy. (7.5 months, fyi)