Baby is Rolling Over in Sleep
Making it to the other side of the 4 month sleep regression is a moment to be celebrated! Your baby might even be sleeping longer stretches again. Life is good. What could possibly go wrong?
BAM. ROLLING.
Rolling can disrupt sleep even when they aren’t even consciously TRYING to roll. Keep reading to learn how to handle this fun, yet sleep-disrupting milestone.
Why my baby is rolling over in sleep:
When adults are sleeping, we experience a kind of muscle paralysis so that we don’t act out our dreams. (Ever tried so hard to punch something in your dream but it just never seems to land? No? Just me?)
Babies do not have this muscle paralysis yet. If they are dreaming about rolling, then they are going to roll! Then, they’ll wake up in a different position and probably be very confused about how they got there, and unhappy about it.
New skills stay on your baby’s mind until they master it. Their developmental skills become integrated while they are asleep, so their brain treats learning this skill as a priority temporarily.
What do I do if my baby rolls and can’t roll back?
So, now you know the why behind sleep disruption and rolling. But what can you do about it?
Practice, practice, practice! Remember it will be on their mind until they master this skill. The more time they have during the day to practice the better.
When they roll and become upset (either at night or during the day), remember to roll them out of the position, versus just picking them straight up.
Switch up which direction you guide them into and out of (right/left)
Try soothing first, rather than just flipping them back. They won’t be likely to accept it the very first time you try, but with time and consistency they will eventually get used to this position, and realize that it’s okay to sleep on their belly.
*And, it’s safe to allow this, per AAP recommendations:
“Place your baby on their back for every sleep. If your baby is comfortable rolling both ways (back to tummy, tummy to back), then you do not have to return your baby to their back if they roll over on their own.”
Once you are fairly confident that they can roll themselves back, you might just try rolling them over once or twice, and then giving them space to figure it out on their own. You can help every other time, then space it out further to every third time, and so on)
Having disrupted sleep due to rolling truly takes some time to work through. However if you use some (or all) of these tips, you’ll find yourself on the other side of this hurdle in no time.
*Fun fact for my fellow Law and Order: SVU fans! As I was researching this blog topic, it came to my attention that apparently “who is Rollins’ baby daddy” is a highly searched question on search engines 😂
Going through other regressions? Check out these blogs:
Is this a milestone that’s really disrupting sleep and you’re not sure how to get back to those good habits? Check out the sleep tune up support!
