7 month old sleeping on stomach face down: I need some help/advice please! My 6MO has started sleeping face down literally face straight do…

I need some help/advice please! My 6MO has started sleeping face down literally face straight do…

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Most babies will be rolling over by 4- 6 months. This is very normal as babies grow & become stronger.
Many babies then prefer to sleep on their tummy.
This is not something that needs to be stopped. It is important to make her new environment as safe as possible.

If she is in a bassinet, it is important to move her to a cot.
Also ensure that the mattress is firm & flat & there is nothing soft or loose in her cot, especially as she is face planting at times.
You can try to turn her face if you see her with face down, but often, like rolling to tummy, babies will just go back to the position of comfort.
Always place baby on back to sleep.
Increasing tummy time when awake is also helpful.
If you are still wrapping her, this need to be ceased – she needs her arms free.

Red Nose has the following information now that your baby is starting to roll.

Give baby extra tummy time to play when awake and supervised as this helps baby to develop stronger neck and upper body muscles which in turn enables them to roll back over.
Make sure that baby is on a firm and well-fitting mattress that is flat (not tilted or elevated).
Make sure that baby’s face and head remains uncovered (do not use lambswool, doonas, pillows, cot bumpers or soft toys)

As babies grow and develop they become very active and learn to roll around the cot.
At this time, continue to put them on the back at the start of sleep time, but let them find their own position of comfort.
By this stage it is not necessary to wake during the night to turn baby over to the back position

Do not use any devices designed to keep baby in a particular sleep position.
https://rednose.org.au/article/what-do-we-do-now-that-a-baby-has-started-to-roll-over

6 month old is rolling really well from back to belly and has only rolled from belly to back on a few occasions. Loves to sleep on her side or stomach, is it safe to leave her in this position or does she need to be rolled onto her back until she rolling more consistently from belly to back?

Most babies will be rolling over by 4- 5 months……some earlier, some later. 

This is normal as babies grow & become stronger.                         

Many babies then prefer to sleep on their tummy or side.

This is not something that needs to be stopped. It is important to make her environment as safe as possible.

Is she in a cot now, & not being wrapped?

Babies need their arms free & space of a cot to roll well & safely.

**Always continue to place baby on back for sleep.

Red Nose has the following general information now that she is rolling.

Give baby extra tummy time to play when awake and supervised as this helps baby to develop stronger neck and upper body muscles which in turn enables them to roll back over.
Make sure that baby is on a firm and well-fitting mattress that is flat (not tilted or elevated).
Make sure that baby’s face and head remains uncovered (do not use lambswool, doonas, pillows, cot bumpers or soft toys)

**As babies grow and develop they become very active and learn to roll around the cot.
At this time, continue to put them on the back at the start of sleep time, but let them find their own position of comfort.
By this stage it is not necessary to wake during the night to turn baby over to the back position

Do not use any devices designed to keep baby in a particular sleep position.
https://rednose.org.au/article/what-do-we-do-now-that-a-baby-has-started-to-roll-over
Let me know if you have further questions.

What to know – Newborn Baby

BLOGPOST

Kara Wilson
Editor & Infant Sleep Educator

When babies start to roll somewhere between 4-6 months, many find that they’re more comfortable sleeping on their tummy. Sometimes, no matter how many times they’re rolled over onto their back again, they keep returning to their front.

With all of the safe sleeping recommendations of sleeping bub on their back, this can be really worrying for parents. But, it becomes even more concerning when their preferred position is to sleep face down.

Have you woken in the night to find your baby with their face on their hands and pressed into the mattress? If you gently move their head to the side again, they’ll probably return to the face down position. The fear that they’ll suffocate can be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing.

We don’t want you to lose any more sleep over it (because how can you relax when they’re in that position!), so we hope you find this information about face-down sleeping helpful and reassuring.

Tummy sleeping is normal and many babies will prefer to sleep this way once they’re able to roll onto their front independently.

According to Red Nose, you don’t need to stop them from doing it, but you do need to make their sleep environment as safe as possible, including the following:

1. Parents are advised to share the same room as their baby for the first 6-12 months to reduce the risk of SUDI (Sudden Unexpected Death in Infants). Both night and day sleep should be supervised, as in baby should be checked regularly.
2. Always place them on their back at the start of sleep time.
3. Stop swaddling and move them to a safe sleep bag with their arms free.
4. Move them to a cot if they’re in a bassinet.
5. Ensure that the mattress is firm and flat (not tilted or elevated).
6. The cot must be empty of everything, such as lamb’s wool, soft toys, bumpers, pillows, blankets, and doonas/duvets.
7. Make sure your baby’s head and face remains uncovered.
8. Remove any teething necklaces or dummy clips/chains for sleep times.
9. Do not use any devices that keep babies in a particular position.
10. The sleeping environment should be smoke free.

There’s no need to wake your baby when you find them with their face down. You can try to turn their head to the side, but they will probably return to their position of comfort. Whilst you don’t need to stop them from sleeping this way, you can help to build strength in their neck and upper body muscles. 

Increase the amount of supervised tummy time they get each day. This will help them to roll back over or lift their head when they need to in their sleep space.

Make it fun by using some of our tips to make tummy time more enjoyable. As your baby gets stronger and more active, they’ll move around the cot more and get themselves into all kinds of positions.

• Does your baby have a dummy/soother for sleep? Sometimes babies sleep in particular positions to keep the dummy in their mouth. You might consider removing it if your baby is waking when it falls out. We have some gentle solutions for that here.
• Is your baby mouth breathing at all? Again, sometimes babies who mouth breathe get themselves into certain positions to comfortably breathe. This is a red flag that something else is going on that will need to be explored. If this is your bub, please consult your GP, lactation consultant, or maternal and child health nurse.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

05/31/2019

“Death in the cradle” or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden and unexplained death of children under 1 year of age. It is characterized by respiratory failure during sleep and cardiac arrest.

In the Arkhangelsk region over the past 5 years, among children under the age of 12 months of life, 38 children have died from this syndrome at home.

SIDS is not considered a disease. This is a post-mortem diagnosis that sounds like a bolt from the blue: neither the analysis of the child’s medical record, nor the post-mortem examination can answer the question of why the baby stopped breathing.
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SIDS is not issued if: a malformation is found, or the child has died as a result of an accident.

In most cases, the circumstances of the death of children are typical – the death of a child occurs during a night’s sleep in the same bed with the mother. The baby looked healthy, his condition did not cause concern. In the evening or at night, his mother fed him (usually with an artificial mixture), put him to bed with her (between herself and the back of the sofa, between herself and her husband), waking up a few hours later found that the child was not breathing. “Ambulance” ascertained death, which occurred long before the call. Most often, the mothers of these children were smokers, some of them admitted that they had consumed alcohol the day before.
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MAIN RISK FACTORS FOR SIDS:

– Night sleep in the same bed with parents, including in a state of intoxication or with a tired mother.

Passive smoking of a child is the smoking of his mother, father.

– Maternal smoking during pregnancy.

– Refusal of the mother from exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of a child’s life.

– Independent transfer of the mother to feeding the child with an artificial mixture or cow’s milk. nine0017

– Premature birth and the birth of a child weighing less than 2.9 kg.

– Young mothers aged 16-20 years.

– Mother’s going to work when the baby stays at night with the father, grandmothers, or older children.

– Bathing an infant in a hot bath, excessive wrapping, leading to overheating.

– Insufficient emotional attention of the mother to the child, unwanted child.

– Insufficient attention of family members to the mother of an infant.
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Unfortunately, such a tragedy can happen in any, even a prosperous family. It is impossible to give guarantees that everything will be fine with the baby and that he is not in danger of SIDS, but it is possible for each parent to exclude risk factors that increase the likelihood of SIDS:

1. Do not smoke during pregnancy and after childbirth. Passive smoking also negatively affects the health of mother and baby. Strictly prohibit anyone from smoking in the presence of your child! If a mother-to-be continues to smoke during pregnancy, her child is eight times more likely to die suddenly during sleep than children of non-smoking mothers.
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2. If you smoke, drink alcohol, take sleeping pills or are just very tired – NEVER put your baby to sleep in your bed!

Lay your baby to sleep on their back or on their side. Make sure your baby doesn’t sleep face down.

3. Breastfeeding is the best way to prevent SIDS. It has been proven that SIDS is 36% less common among children who have ever been breastfed!

4. Remove toys and pillows from the crib. Do not put the child to sleep on soft feather beds and mattresses.
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5. Do not swaddle the baby, he will choose a comfortable sleeping position on his own.

6. If the baby sucks a pacifier at night, do not hang it around the child’s neck!

7. Do not wrap your baby. Make sure that he does not sweat during sleep, keep the temperature in the children’s room at 18-22C.

8. Never put a child near a heater, near a gas stove, a burning fireplace, or a stove. Don’t try to warm it up with a heating pad.
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9. During the night sleep, be in the same room with the child, try not to let him out of sight during the day.

Follow the recommendations, take care of the health of your child, but at the same time take care of yourself too. Do not stay awake all night listening to your baby’s breathing. By doing this, you will bring yourself to physical, moral exhaustion and a nervous breakdown. For a full development, in addition to breastfeeding, proper sleep and walks in the fresh air, a child needs a healthy, cheerful, full of strength mother.
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Childhood injuries

The process of cognition of the surrounding space by a child is rarely without injury. And if it was not possible to protect the baby from a fracture, cut, bite or burn, then it is important to use the “golden hour” as efficiently as possible – the first 60 minutes after the incident, when the health and sometimes the life of the child depend only on the actions of adults.

Parents need to be ready for literally anything. Steps, sharp corners, sockets, a stove with a hot pot and a cup of boiling water on the table – this is a far from complete list of areas dangerous for a small child. Therefore, it is necessary to have an idea about possible domestic injuries and know how to act in a particular case. The first thing parents should do if the baby is injured is not to panic themselves, not to be helpless and unable to help the baby. Then you need to calm the child, give him first aid and show the baby to the doctor as soon as possible. nine0003

Bruise

Contusion is perhaps the most common childhood injury. Whether the child fell or hit something – swelling and bruising appear at the site of the bruise. With bruises, the integrity of the tissues is not violated, the main damage occurs in the vessels that burst, forming a hematoma (hemorrhage).

In this case, you need to put something cold on the site of injury: an ice bag, a towel moistened with ice water. Cooling the site of injury will relieve pain and prevent swelling or hematoma from building up. If the bruise is rapidly increasing in size and volume, you need to call a doctor or take the child to a traumatologist. Most likely, there is an increase in the hematoma, and it is necessary to evacuate the blood by puncture (the doctor will puncture the skin and suck out the blood). nine0003

Dislocation

The joints of children are not as strong as those of adults, since the connective tissue in a child is more elastic and less dense. Therefore, any careless, abrupt movement or fall can lead to subluxations or dislocations. More often in children there are dislocations of the head of the radius, shoulder, fingers. Such an injury is accompanied by pain, the child cannot move the dislocated arm or leg, sometimes the limb takes an unnatural position due to “springy” fixation (when the dislocated part of the limb exerts springy resistance when trying to return it to its natural position and cannot “get back in place”). nine0003

If the arm is injured, it must be immobilized by applying a scarf bandage. The bandage is made from a square scarf, which is folded into a triangle, and the two extreme corners are tied around the child’s neck. The forearm is laid on the plane of the handkerchief at an angle of 90°C. The middle corner of the fabric wraps around the shoulder and elbow and is fixed with a pin on the front side of the bandage.

A dislocated leg can be fixed with a bandage to an impromptu splint: thick cardboard, plywood, board, etc. The main thing is to achieve a comfortable, painless position of the limb, without trying to overcome the springy resistance. To do this, you can use pillows, rolled up diapers or blankets. Then you should put an ice pack (or other cold object) on the sore spot, give the child pain medication. And then, as soon as possible, show the injured baby to the traumatologist. The dislocation must be repaired as quickly as possible. Then, for 2-3 weeks, a bandage fixing the joint is applied to the child. nine0003

Stretching

Sprain symptoms may not appear immediately, but after some time. In this case, swelling usually occurs at the site of the sprain, and the child feels severe pain.

In this case, it is necessary to immobilize or reduce the load on the damaged joint, apply cold to the pain site. Then you can apply a fixing cruciform bandage at the site of sprain (with oblique bandage moves, alternately apply it above and below the injured joint) and contact a traumatologist. If the injury happened late in the evening, and you can only see a doctor in the morning, no bandages should be applied to the injured joint. Give the limbs of the baby an elevated position. Give your child pain medication and go to the traumatologist in the morning. Often, with symptoms of sprain, a baby is diagnosed with a fracture. nine0003

Fracture

It is quite difficult to recognize a closed fracture without special skills and X-rays. Pain sensations occur in the child at the very moment of the fracture and appear when trying to move or when touching the affected area. Also, a fracture can be accompanied by a tumor (due to tissue edema) and rupture of soft tissues. More often in children, fractures of the fingers, bones of the forearm, shoulder, collarbone, and also the lower leg occur.

First of all, you need to immobilize the broken limb with the help of improvised means (thick cardboard, ruler, board, etc.), give it an elevated position and apply cold to the place of pain. nine0003

If the leg is injured, eliminate any vertical or horizontal load on it. Fix the joints located above and below the site of a possible fracture with a long splint, bandaging it to the leg. Give your child pain medication and call an ambulance.

In case of tissue damage, in no case should you touch the wound above the fracture site with your hands to avoid infection. Cover it with a clean cloth moistened with an antiseptic. Do not bandage tightly, it is better to secure the napkin with a band-aid. Do not try to eliminate the displacement of bone fragments yourself, so as not to aggravate the injury. Take the injured child to a traumatologist as soon as possible. He will choose an adequate surgical or conservative treatment tactics (for example, apply a cast). nine0003

Splinter

A small foreign body (a sliver, a thorn, etc.) that has entered under the skin gives the baby discomfort. If the splinter is not removed, suppuration may begin.

As carefully as possible, using tweezers, pull out the splinter and treat the wound with hydrogen peroxide and any other available antiseptic (zelenil, iodine). If you can’t get a splinter with tweezers, in no case should you expand the wound with a needle – you need to contact a surgeon or traumatologist at the clinic. The doctor, using special tools, quickly, without causing pain and additional injury to the child, will remove the foreign body and, if necessary, prevent possible infectious complications by prescribing antibiotics in the form of tablets or ointments. nine0003

Scratch or abrasion

These are superficial skin lesions. It is almost impossible to protect a child from them. But you can teach him to seek help from his parents in case of injury and in no case touch the wound with his hands so as not to infect.

A scratch or abrasion should be treated with any drying antiseptic. When the wound is healing, do not allow the baby to tear off the dry crust so that a rough scar does not form, which can remain for a long time. If inflammation is suspected (redness around the abrasion, swelling, fluid release), it is necessary to show the child to a surgeon or traumatologist. nine0003

Cut

This is a fairly deep skin injury, accompanied by bleeding.

If the wound was caused by a broken cup or glass, or a Christmas toy, or any other fragile object, the fragments remaining in the baby’s wound should be removed if possible. The main thing is not to drive the fragments deeper. After washing the wound under running water, treat the edges with an antiseptic and apply a pressure bandage (tightly bandaging a gauze napkin to the wound).

For cuts, regardless of their depth, the main thing is to stop the bleeding. If the pressure bandage does not help, you need to apply a tourniquet above the injury site and show the baby to the doctor no more than 60 minutes later. A tourniquet is applied to the leg in the upper third of the thigh or lower leg, and to the arm – in the upper part of the shoulder or forearm. Under the tourniquet, be sure to put cotton wool or a napkin. It is dangerous to overexpose the tourniquet – this can lead to tissue necrosis, since blood is temporarily not supplied to them. nine0003

To avoid the possibility of wound infection, poor healing, rough scarring and, of course, tetanus infection, show any cuts to a doctor. Otherwise, the responsibility for possible complications lies with you.

Only the doctor decides whether to suture or strengthen the edges of the wound with a band-aid, or it is enough to treat it with medicines.

Tetanus prophylaxis is carried out in children who are not vaccinated against this infection in trauma centers or hospitals. Antitoxin from tetanus is administered urgently once to those babies whose wound was contaminated during trauma. nine0003

Tetanus vaccination is included in the National Immunization Schedule and is given to all children at 3-4.5-6 months. Revaccination is carried out at 1.5 years, at 7 and at 14 years. After age 18, the vaccine is given every 10 years.

Burn

A baby can get burned not only by fire, but also by boiling water. In this case, burns are of three categories: light, characterized by reddening of the skin; medium, when a bubble is formed filled with liquid; as well as severe, in which there is charring of the skin and underlying tissues – to the bone. In either case, the child will experience pain ranging from tingling to sharp. nine0004 In these cases, firstly, it is necessary to stop the effect of heat as soon as possible and cool the affected area either under a stream of cold water or with a damp and cold cloth, often replaced. A good effect with mild and moderate burns is given by alcohol applications – applying a napkin soaked in alcohol to the burn site until it warms up and dries. Alcohol, evaporating from the skin, will carry away heat from the burnt surface, and the tissues will gradually cool.

After 5-10 minutes of cooling (during this time, not only superficial tissues, but also the deep layers of the affected skin cool down), you need to assess the baby’s condition, give him an anesthetic, calm him down and, applying a bandage moistened with an antiseptic, contact a surgeon or traumatologist. It is better to show a child even with a mild, in your opinion, degree of burn to a specialist in a clinic. nine0003

In case of burns, do not apply ointment dressings and do not treat the skin of the crumbs with coloring antiseptics – such as brilliant green, fukartsin, etc. This will make it difficult for a doctor to assess the degree of tissue damage. Only he can correctly determine the degree of the burn, remove necrotic (dead) tissues and choose further tactics for treating the child.

It is not necessary to lubricate the burn site with oil or urine, since in the first case a film is formed that disrupts the thermal exchange in the tissues (the burned layers of the skin cannot cool), and the urine dehydrates the tissues that have already lost water as a result of the burn. nine0003

Nosebleed

It is common for children to break their nose, thereby violating the integrity of the capillaries (the smallest vessels), which is why the nose bleeds. At an early age, this is mainly due to a fall. Older children may develop nosebleeds due to damage to the nose in a fight.

A common mistake in helping with a nosebleed is tilting the baby’s head back. This can not be done, as the baby can simply choke on blood entering the throat. The child needs to be seated and asked to tilt his head slightly forward, pressing the injured nostril against the nasal septum with his finger for a few seconds. nine0003

If blood continues to flow, place a piece of cotton wool or a piece of bandage moistened with hydrogen peroxide in the nostril and apply ice or something cold to the nose. If this does not help, you need an examination by an otolaryngologist, surgeon or traumatologist who can stop the bleeding.

Items in the nose

Sometimes it’s not easy to tell if a child has put something up its nose. If nothing is visible in the nostril, and there is also no unnatural protrusion of one of the nasal passages, but at the same time a healthy baby breathes with a whistle, it is possible that there is a foreign object in the nasal cavity. nine0003

If you have not seen how the child put something in his nose, but at the same time do not exclude such a possibility, ask him about it if the baby already knows how to talk. In any case, even if you think that you can remove the object from the child’s nose yourself, do not do this so as not to damage the nasal septum.

If you find (or suspect) something foreign in the nose, show the baby to a surgeon, traumatologist or otolaryngologist. With special tools, the doctor will remove the foreign object from the nose. nine0003

Swallowed toy

Signs that a toy is not completely swallowed or lodged in a child’s airway may include: choking, wheezing, coughing, voice change or loss.

In these cases, call an ambulance immediately. If a child is choking, you need to act immediately! Lay the baby face down, supporting him with a hand, for example, in the waist area so that his head is lower than the level of the body, and pat a few times on the back between the shoulder blades or, lowering the child upside down, shake him. nine0003

If the foreign body does not come out, try to open the baby’s mouth and, pulling back the tongue, assess the situation: if there is a toy in your field of vision, it is advisable to remove it as soon as possible. But only if you are sure that it can be done with a finger or long tweezers.

If all else fails and the child continues to choke, begin artificial respiration until the ambulance arrives. The child must be laid on his back on a hard surface; throw his head back; closing your nose with your fingers, inflate the lungs of the child with your breath, combining this with a closed heart massage (pressing on the sternum). Ha 1 breath perform 5 pressure on the sternum. If the child is very small, press with two crossed fingers. For an older baby, an indirect heart massage is performed by pressing on the sternum with several fingers. Remember, all these manipulations must be done very quickly! nine0003

If the child has swallowed a small object and does not show any complaints, it is better to discuss further actions with the doctor after the x-ray of the gastrointestinal tract. Buttons, beads and other small smooth objects are usually evacuated from the intestines along with feces on their own. In other cases, surgery may be required.

Electric shock

Modern parents know that with the advent of a child, all sockets in the house must be closed, and electrical appliances must be removed to a distance inaccessible to the baby. However, it is not always possible to follow all precautions, and children often get electrical injuries while examining sockets or electrical appliances. nine0003

In the event of an electrical injury, a child may be found to have a burn at the point of contact with the wire, a weak or arrhythmic heartbeat, and shortness of breath.

In this case, parents should ensure that the injured baby is calm and immediately call an ambulance, even if at first glance it seems that the electric shock was not strong. Often, the heart suffers from an electrical discharge, so do not delay calling a doctor for a child. You need to see a doctor for a few days. nine0003

Bite

Bites are different: insects or animals. Minor insect bites (for example, mosquitoes) should be treated with special antihistamines (antiallergic), antipruritic agents and the child should not be allowed to comb the damaged area.

When bitten by a stinging insect (wasp, bee), it is necessary to remove the entire sting with tweezers and treat the wound with any antiseptic (brilliant green, iodine).

If bitten by a tick, be sure to consult a surgeon. In no case do not try to remove it from the baby’s skin with your fingers, since the contents of the internal organs of the tick (and if it is infected, then the encephalitis virus), as from a syringe, is released into the wound. And this significantly increases the risk of infection with tick-borne encephalitis. Remember: the rate of its spread and the severity of the course of the disease depend on the dose of the virus that enters the body. nine0003

When bitten by an animal, including a domestic animal, wash the bite site very thoroughly with soap and water to remove the animal’s saliva. Through pinpoint skin wounds, microbes can get deep under the skin and cause inflammation. After washing, apply a loose, clean and dry aseptic (sterile) bandage to this place and immediately show the child to the doctor.

When bitten by an animal suspected of rabies, children are given specific prophylaxis with anti-rabies gamma globulin and anti-rabies vaccine. nine0003

A child, especially a small one, can be injured, it would seem, out of the blue. In residential premises, the main danger is represented by sharp corners of furniture, sockets, household electrical appliances, sharp and cutting objects, slippery carpets or parquet – in general, almost any interior and household items.