It Takes a Village

We've had a change of heart. After a couple family members expressed concern over our decision to allow Jackson to sleep on his tummy we decided to revisit the issue.

Conclusion: No more tummy sleeping until he can roll to that position on his own.

That said, I want to clarify one thing - for our readers as well as for myself. So that years from now when I'm reading this I'll remember the whole story. Anyway, after re-reading my post, I realize that it came across as though we are absolutely exhausted around here. That we are at our wits end and will do anything to get some sleep. Not so. Sure, there have been rough days. But I can count those days on 1 hand. For the most part, we get out of bed when the alarm goes off, get all 3 of us (and the Laboradiva) out the door on time, have busy and productive days at work (with no secret naps behind closed office doors) and enjoy our evenings at home as a family of 3. And for me (who gave it up over 10 years ago) all of this is caffeine free! Yes, we go to bed at 9:30 pm quite pooped. But lack of sleep is not what was driving our decision.

Jackson was driving our decision. When allowed to sleep on his tummy, he slept soundly. The result: a very consistent routine, both at daycare and at home. And a very happy baby. He was taking 2 naps at daycare: 8-10 am and 1-3 pm. He was awake all evening and went to bed without a struggle between 7:30 and 8:00 pm. During his awake hours he was well rested, so he was happy, active and ready to play. Jack is not typically a fussy baby. But we noticed he was even happier than normal. The schedule seemed to be doing him good. That was our motivation. The extra sleep for us, while nice, was just a bonus.

So back to our change of heart. We considered (and appreciate) all of your feedback. After much deliberation (again), we decided to defer to our pediatrician. We posted a question on their website and agreed to follow whatever advice they gave. It was what we expected. "We strongly recommend infants be put to sleep on their backs until they are able to roll over on their own. Usually around 6 months." So that's what we're doing.

Jackson is a big boy. He is a strong boy. We still believe he would be able to get himself out of trouble on his tummy. But we were rushing him. And when he's ready to roll over on his own we'll get back on that schedule that was working so well. In the meantime, we'll enjoy every minute with our still immobile little boy!