There are children who, when they begin to acquire the ability to roll on their side, tend to sleep just like that, on their side or even on their stomachs. Incidentally, babies who sleep on their stomachs often seem to sleep deeper and longer, which might please tired parents, but the reality is that these positions are absolutely not recommended until at least six months of age, if not even a year.
Scientific research has indeed shown unequivocally that children who sleep on their backs, i.e. belly up (on the back) they run less risk of SIDS or cot death and that's why national and international health agencies and pediatric scientific societies always recommend putting babies on their stomachs to sleep, even when they take a nap.
In this article
- Make the baby fall asleep on his back
- False myths
Tips for making your baby fall asleep on your back
Here's how to help him fall asleep better on his back according to tips from American pediatricians Rachel Moon and Fern Hauck of the American Association of Pediatricians:
- Since movement can help babies calm down, it can try to swing them moving them to the cot when they are already asleep, placing them on their back;
- Il white noise it can be used to calm children;
- Particularly for babies who are not breastfed, the pacifier;
- Make the baby feel well protected and wrapped: it may be useful to lie down with the head touching the head of the cradle (or bed) and the arm resting on the side. Then the sheet must be tightened up firmly. Or try wrapping it with a light muslin. Or, again, you can try the sleeping bag;
- If despite these precautions you still turn around, that's good put it back on its stomach, at least until he is able to turn around on his own with ease, smoothly moving from one position to another. In this case, however, it is essential that there are no blankets, loose sheets, pillows, bumpers or stuffed or stuffed toys in the cot.
False myths on the belly lull up
Sleeping on their backs children run the risk of suffocating if regurgitation occurs
No: as the booklet on safe sleep by American pediatricians explains, the human being has a reflex that makes him cough in order not to suffocate, so typically in case of regurgitation the child defends himself by coughing. Furthermore, "our body is made in such a way as to make it more difficult for food to be sucked into the breathing channel, and therefore into the lungs, when we are supine rather than when we are lying prone (ie on the stomach)".
Sleeping on their backs, babies have more jolts and wake up more
Jolts, with arms spreading out to the sides, are normal reflexes that protect babies by allowing them to wake up when they need to. If it happens very often and the baby wakes up it must be tucked up well under the sheet, or swaddled
Sleeping on your back can cause your head to come off flat or a bald area
In fact, these things can happen if the baby is on his back most of the time when he is awake. This is why it is important make him lie on his stomach for a while under the careful supervision of an adult when awake. "Sometimes - specifies the brochure - the head flattens only on one side because there is something that the child likes to look at while falling asleep: an object or a toy, a light in the room, music coming from some direction. To avoid the problem, just alternate the position of the baby in the cot, with the head once on one side and the other towards the other side ".
to know more
- SIDS, the cot death syndrome;
- 10 tips to prevent SIDS;
TAG:
- child's agenda
- the baby does not want to sleep on his stomach
- newborn 0-3 months
- sleep
- sids
