My sister just sent pictures of her new granddaughter (33 week preemie). She was put on her tummy as were all the other babies in the hospital. Is anyone else aware of hospitals doing this?
I know that the current thinking is that babies should be put on their backs to help prevent the possibility of SIDS, but has this changed in light of the possiblity of babies ending up with misshaped skulls?
The new mom is a NICU nurse. But I haven't had a chance to ask her yet.
jakennedy85
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My son was born at 37 weeks. They said he was border line preemie. Weird way to put it but whatever, I didn't come up with it. He had fluid in his lungs so he wasn't breathing regularly and they had him on his stomach the whole time he was in the NICU. It was only 3 days, but still. I never thought about it until you brought it up. My son is 2 now, so this was a while ago. So I have no idea why they put them on their stomachs.
~Stargirl is cold~
Both of my babies were in the NICU and the only reason that they do this is because they are at all times monitored and there are nurses assigned to every baby all the time. It's different when they come home. There are no monitors, no nurses, no doctors. Just you and baby. So be smart. Don't try to do something that NICU did because they had the ability to do. Back to sleep and tummy for play!
Melderella
I just had a baby and my pediatricians and the hospital where I gave birth placed all babies on their backs to sleep and instructed us to lay him on his back to sleep. We were told to give him some "tummy time" every day. He is now 6 months old with a perfectly shaped head. Maybe it is different since she is only a 33 week preemie and her head may be even softer than a full term baby? I'm not sure.
The pediatrician will check the babies head every visit to make sure it is not getting a flat head. If the baby is getting a flat head they will instruct some more tummy time and may put this helmet like thing on their head to wear until their head is back to its shape.
When my mom had me 25 years ago they were told to place babies on their tummies to sleep to prevent SIDS. Now things have changed. However, I lived, and so did my husband who was also placed on his tummy to sleep when he was a baby. Different mothers do different things.
Allyson C
Still the back. Skulls will "pop" out when baby sits up well. My oldest had a misshaped skull and is almost completely gone now. I would never put my baby on his tummy to sleep.
Allie W
No, babies until they are 18 months need to be put to sleep on there backs. To prevent mishapped skulls, it's important to give all babies "tummy time". You put them on there tummies for 5 minutes about 3-4 times a day. You have to stay there and watch them while they have there tummy time. This may have been what the hospital was doing.