My babies are tummy sleepers, day and night, and this feels right!

It was by chance that after 10 weeks I found out that my son is a stomach sleeper

For weeks I had been fretting over short naps. At night he would always end up on my chest. During the day he took short naps, but fortunately, he could catch up on a few hours of sleep in the baby carrier. At the child health clinic, they advised swaddling, but I didn't feel it would help him, so I didn't do it. Once, when he had fallen asleep on my chest on the couch during the day and someone came to the door, I laid him next to me on the couch on his stomach. A blanket over him, a pillow beside him. When I came back, he was still sleeping soundly! Three hours later and checking every 5 minutes to see if he was still lying well, I had to wake him up for his bottle. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner! I could still kick myself for it. What a discovery. He was by then 10 weeks old and quite strong in his neck, but still, I checked regularly during the first week to see if he was lying well, because, after all, how often are you warned about the suffocation risk of stomach sleepers. Yet this felt right. And with that, I learned to trust my mother's intuition. When I told the great news at the child health clinic, the response was: 'I can't advise you to do that, and you know the risks.' 'Yes, I know,' I replied, 'but my baby sleeps and so do I.' I was overjoyed! It didn't matter where I was, on his stomach in the stroller, on his stomach on the couch... He slept, with his knees pulled up. Wonderful to see.

By now, this was almost four years ago

During that time, I got divorced. I lost our daughter at 32 weeks of pregnancy with my current husband. And this past June, our twins were born 10 weeks premature in Antwerp. If there's anything important with prematurely born babies, it's kangaroo care! We spent days on a chair kangaroo caring with our girls. And then they slept so soundly. After eight long weeks in the hospital, they were allowed to go home. And after two days, I strongly felt that I should let them sleep on their stomachs. I was incredibly scared, because they couldn't yet turn their heads. I decided to first try it during the day in the playpen on a rolled-up muslin diaper. My husband nearly had a heart attack when he came home and saw them lying there. He immediately turned them back over. But I followed my intuition and very carefully let them sleep more and more on their stomachs. We quickly noticed that they slept longer on their stomachs than on their backs, and so my husband was eventually convinced. Because honestly, getting some sleep yourself is also quite nice.

It took several weeks before they were strong enough to also be able to sleep on their stomachs at night

I couldn't lay them down to sleep on their stomachs with the thought that they couldn't turn their heads yet. That made me too anxious. Because they often lay on their tummies during the day and woke up that way, they practiced turning their heads a lot. I always heard them wake up, and sometimes things went 'wrong'. Then they would remain with their noses flat on the playpen mat as they tried to lift or turn their heads. That was the nice thing about trying it out in the playpen downstairs, because I could immediately help them and teach them to turn their heads. Only when they got good at it and it hadn't gone 'wrong' for a number of days, did they also go to sleep on their tummies in their bed. In the beginning, I often checked on them just after they went to bed. Sometimes they slept so soundly that it seemed like they weren't breathing, then I would rub their back and hear a deep sigh. Thankfully! They're still okay. Now I only check on them when I go to bed myself, and then very quietly because imagine if they wake up! A baby remains a baby and sometimes they still wake up regularly at night for a pat on the head, a cuddle with mom, a pacifier, or maybe a bottle of milk. But they are undoubtedly tummy sleepers, and when I see them sleeping so peacefully on their little cheeks with their lips so cutely pursed, I think I secretly just find it nice too, to see them lying there so peacefully. It's my feeling that says they like this, and your mother's instinct is always right, isn't it? Because no one wants anything to happen to their child.

Therefore, for every mom and dad, follow your instincts, and you'll always be right.

CHRISTINE