Ack Attack News: Rolling over already....Sept 9th

I have to admit I am a pretty proud parent. This week Bray has learned to roll from his tummy to his back. But I also have to admit that its because he sleeps on his tummy which pediatricians do not recommend since the risk of SIDS is higher when babies sleep on their tummies. This has been an inner struggle for me the whole time...doing something I knew was not the "best".

I did not plan on Brayden sleeping on his tummy...actually when my 14 year old student, (who became a mother 2 months before me) told me she put her baby to sleep on her tummy I was shocked! For the first couple weeks Brayden could sleep anywhere anytime. At about his fourth week of life he was getting a little harder to get down for naps during the day. One day I was at my parents house and I left and went to the gym while my mom was watching Bray. She put him down for a nap and when I came home I went to check on him and what did I find...my little baby sleeping soundly on his tummy. I was like "Mom! You know they are not supposed to sleep on their tummies!" She of course said yes but that me and my two sisters all slept on our tummies. (If you were born during the 70's or 80's like me, that was a time period where doctors told mothers to let babies sleep on their tummies.) So anyways after this nap where Brayden slept great we slowly transitioned him to sleeping on his stomach. We learned that Brayden actually wanted to be and liked his tummy better. At night we would lay him in his crib on his back for a while. He would be fine and so we would let him lay there for 30-40 minutes. Eventually he would start "talking"...we would come in flip him over to his tummy and his eyes would literally shut. Now when we lay him down on his back at night he immediately starts fussing or "yelling" at us--and I believe this is his way of saying come turn me over. Anyways, all this to say that I have learned as a parent I decide what is best for my kids. Sometimes you just have to do what works. Brayden sleeps great on his tummy, takes good naps, and sleeps through the night. So ultimately yes I am doing something that is not recommended, however I think if I did what was recommended, I think I would have a baby who never sleeps!!! My life as a mother would be a whole lot more stressful and crazy if he did not sleep well. Ultimately I just have to trust God that my little Bray will be ok, and God already knows the whole course that Bray's life will take.

All this to say...babies who sleep on their tummies roll over sooner then babies who sleep on their backs. Last weekend I was looking through my own baby book where my mother chronicled that one night she had to get up with me two times because I had rolled over and could not go back to sleep. It was so funny because that next week I had to do the same thing with Bray. At 4 am one morning I heard him talking...and I thought hmmm, this is odd. I went in and I saw the cutest little face staring up at me. I was so shocked I ran back into the bedroom and called for Steven to come here. Of course Steven thought something was wrong and I had to calm him down. It was so cute to see little Bray there in his crib looking up at us! We were such proud parents. (Its amazing at how you get so excited about such little things!) Congrats Brayden on your accomplishment. (Now you just need to learn how to get back to your tummy so we don't have to get up in the middle of the night! :-)