Baby Parenting Guide

How long should my baby sleep on his back?

Im wondering when my baby can sleep in other positions besides on his back. Also, when can I stop worrying about SIDS. My son is 6 months now.

Public Response to How long should my baby sleep on his back?

1. Most SIDS cases happen before 6 months - in fact 90% do. But the risk is still present until 1 year. It is best to put your baby to sleep on their back...babies can/do and will roll in their sleep but continue at this point to still put your baby down for sleep on his back.
2. my daughter is 5 months and shes just started rolling. she just rolls over herself, rolls back again, she knows what way she in comforable. I would wait and let him decide!
3. More than likely if your son can lift his head up and roll over then you should worry about SIDS. Keep him on his back until he rolls over and sleeps on his tummy himself. He will know when he is ready. Just dont put blankets in his bed where he would have access to pull it over his head. I didnt give my daughter a blanket until she was almost 1
4. As soon as he can put himself in other positions, he can sleep in them! In other words, you should always put him in bed on his back, but if he flips himself over or rolls onto his side, don't worry about it. In terms of SIDS, the chances decrease significantly as soon as baby is able to roll over by himself; if your son isn't doing that yet, he soon will be!
5. How do you manage to keep him on his back all night? We wedged our daughter on her side between those soft crib-block things in case she spit up in the middle of the night so it could drain out of her mouth and she wouldn't choke. (one of my greatest fears; my brother choked on spit up in his sleep and died in his infancy. I'm not sure how many months.. my mother isn't keen to talk about it and it happened before I was born- because he couldn't roll over and he couldn't breathe.)
6. When they start rolling you don't have to roll them back because they have enough muscle tone/control to lift their heads. I still put my baby to sleep on her back/side, but didn't worry if she rolled to her tummy. SIDS is still a worry during that first year, though of course the risk goes down the older your child gets.
7. In addition to being a mom for 29 years to 4, I have also been a licensed child care provider in my home for 21 years. Currently, as part of my licensing requirements, I must take a yearly class on SIDS. Statistically, most cases of SIDS occur between 2-4 months of age with 90% of SIDS deaths occurring before 9 months. SIDS is not typically used as a diagnosis after 12 months. The most common recommendation is to initially place infants to sleep on their backs for the first 12 months. However, when the infant is able to roll over on their own in to the sleep position of his/her choice than it is fine to leave the baby in that position. My children are now 29, 27, 24, and 11. When the older 3 were born nearly all infants were placed on their tummies to sleep and it was rare for an infant to back sleep. The thinking at the time was that a back sleeping baby was at risk of choking if he happened to spit up in his sleep. However, many studies and research have shown that the risk of this is quite small. Despite the fact that my older 3 slept on their tummies plus we covered them with blankets and let them sleep with stuffed animals and bumper pads, they still managed to survive to adult hood. I suggest that you continue to initially place your baby down in his crib on his back. When he is able to, he will roll over into the position he wants. SIDS (we used to call it crib death) does produce fear in the hearts of parents everywhere and has for many years. When you stop worrying about it will depend. I wasn't obsessive about it, but even when my kids were older, I would still wake in the night just to go in and watch them breathe. SIDS is actually a rather rare occurence. I only personally know 2 families who suffered this tragedy. One was years ago when I was still in elementary school and the baby daughter of a family who we went to church with us died in her sleep. The other case happened just 7 years ago and involved an infant sleeping for nap time at a daycare provider's home. I know both families, both the care provider and the parents of the baby. In that case, the baby was sleeping in a crib, alone, on his back with no blankets. It was a very difficult time for both families. The baby was 3 months old.
8. After 5 months of age the risk of SIDS goes down dramatically so I would say it's fine to put your son on his stomach/side now. You may want to have him sleep on your chest first to see how he likes sleeping in the stomach position. You may also want to talk to your pediatrician. SIDS occurs typically between the ages of 2 months and 5 months of age. Once a child has motor control over it's head (can lift it up and turn) the risk of SIDS drops dramatically. SIDS only occurs in 1 out of every 4000 infants so your baby is more likely to die of many other things than SIDS. The guy who is in charge of SIDS Marketing in the U.S. (Dr. Kattwinkel) had his 3 day old daughter die (of a heart condition) and he really puts the fear of life into people. But, you shouldn't worry too much. You should probably be more concerned now about some of the motor skills milestone delays that are seen in children who sleep on their backs. Also, if you're child is a back sleeper you should also check for plagiocephaly, torticollis, Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER) as these two conditions are much more common in back sleepers. If your son has trouble sleeping in this position you may also want to have him checked for sleep apnea which is easily treated using a CPAP (or a tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy in older kids). Best of luck.