They all say don’t do it. Don’t even think about doing it. Next to formula feeding (which I do by the way), it’s the single worst thing you can do as a mom! Why would you risk letting your baby sleep on their belly?
Well I not only thought about it. I did it! And I liked it!!!
It seriously saved my sanity…for one day at least.
Sienna is still learning how to sleep. During the night she is a champ! I’m sure you will hate me when I say at 2-weeks old she is typically sleeping for a 6-hour stint. But only at night! During the day we struggle. There is no rest for the wicked (did I just call my precious newborn wicked?).
She is tired. She yawns. Her eyes get droopy. She snuggles in to take a nap like a good little baby. Then BAM, those eyes open again! Sometimes it’s a noise she hears. Sometimes it’s her big brother/sister kissing her on the head. Sometimes she startles and throws her arms in the air…only to try the whole thing again. Each attempt as unsuccessful as the last.
We reach a point where she gets fussy. She just wants to sleep…needs sleep. But sleep won’t come. So I hold her. Bounce her. Pace the room. She takes her binky. She spits it out. Cries for her binky again.
It’s seriously an endless cycle of insanity.
I just want to get something done. Even if it’s just eating breakfast or peeing. Nothing major. But these are all forbidden.
Today, I did it. When her eyes closed, I laid her ON HER BELLY! It was glorious. The most magical thing in the world. She actually stayed asleep. I got 3 whole hours. Imagine the stuff I could have done, if I had wanted to. Maybe tomorrow?
For now, I am content being a horrible mother…again! That and a belly sleeping supporter.
Do you have other successful sleeping strategies?
2 Comments on “How Belly Sleeping Saved Me”
My husband and I have two older children a 26 year old daughter and a 23 year old son, and then we have our not one, but two surprise mid-life blessings M&M, who are soon to be 6 and just turned 3. When our older children were born, belly sleeping was the rule to prevent choking when/if the baby spit up. Then when we had Morjahn, the rules were totally different, not just for the sleeping position, but everything! I resisted him sleeping on his stomach for as long as I could, and like your baby, he just wasn’t getting decent sleep, until he was several months old and my mom was watching him while I went to the store. She put him down to nap on his belly. He slept the whole time I was gone. It was then that I decided to go with what had worked with our older children. They had survived. It seems years ago, parenting was so much less stressful, babies were HAPPIER and so were parents!
I agree, there is so much pressure and stress involved in parenting. The worst part it isn’t necessarily what’s going on in your home, but the judgement of those outside of your home. I am a big believer in a mom knows her baby best and you do what’s best for baby/family.