5.5 month old "involuntarily" rolling onto belly & scaring herself (esp during night). Thoughts?

Hey - anyone else experience this or have thoughts on it?

DD was working hard for a couple of weeks to get over from back to belly. Finally mastered it, and would always end up popped up on her elbows and would stay like that happily for a little while (during day).

At night, we were still swaddling...until one night last week, she flipped in her swaddle, so that was the end of that.

She slept good the first night without the swaddle, much to my surprise and delight, probably because I had taken her for a long walk during the day, etc.

Every night since then, she wakes herself repeatedly because she flips in her sleep and winds up flat on her face and can't seem to flip back or get into a comfortable position on belly.

I go in and flip her back to her back and two seconds later, she's crying b/c she's flipped to her belly again!

And this is happening during the day also. She flips to flat on her face and just cries.

And it doesn't look like she's WANTING to flip over, like it did when she was working to master it previously. It's like she's playing on her back and her muscles just start contracting (not like a spasm or anything) and boom - she's on her belly/face.

Whenever I flip her, I try to show her how she can do it herself, but it's awkward and doesn't seem to work.

I've been trying to give her more tummy time but it's not helping so far.

Other thoughts, ideas, similar experiences??

It's driving us nuts!

Re: 5.5 month old "involuntarily" rolling onto belly & scaring herself (esp during night). Thoughts?

Did your DD ever flip from belly to back before back to belly? Usually belly to back comes first?

When my DD started turning from back to belly, at 4 months, she had already been going the other way for a long time, but still cried whenever she ended up on her belly in the crib. It was like her muscles were practicing the skill even though she did not consciously want to be on her stomach. After a week or two of interrupted sleep where she would wake up every time she was on her belly (I'm sure I posted about it at some point), she began to comfortably sleep that way. It also takes some time for them to adjust to no longer having the swaddle. Good luck!

5.5 month old

Thank you! Yes, she has gone from belly to back, but only when she's up on her elbows......it's looks more like she's just tumbling out of that position onto her back. But she hasn't done it in a while.

But your post gives me hope!

5.5 month old

Dd is like that as well but seems to get comfy sleeping on her belly so I leave her. Good luck!