Update on our repositionning: Advice (long)-repost

[Guest guest]

Hi Bernadette,

> During the daytime if he's in the buggy or car seat we put

> padding under one shoulder to try to make him turn the other way.

>

We used a rolled towel too, but has always been quite lay back, so he

never really fought us about it and just kinda stayed in the position we placed

him. Since we didn't want him to develop a flat spot on the other side, we also

alternate the use of the rolled towel with some bubble styrofoam (we cut a

square piece of it and put it in the head region of his car seat covered by a

receiving blanket). When we used that we let him choose his own position.

Finally, we got the Boppy " Noggin nest " that we also use in the car seat. We

just try to vary our way of positioning him, so doesn't get tired of it,

and also that no other flat spot developed.

> If he's lying flat during the day we similarly pad under one

> shoulder and try to ensure that anything of interest (toys, people etc.)

> are on the unfavoured side. It is amazing how often he seems to prefer

> looking uphill at a blank wall!

We rarely lay him flat on his back during the day, we never did it at the

beginning of his repositioning... He is my only one and I'm still on maternity

leave until he turns one y.o., so sometimes I just hold him more, and he does

lots of tummy time like you. We he was younger and not as heavy I carried him

in a frontal pouch. Recently, we started doing a little bit of activities while

he lays on his back, but now he never stays in the same position anymore, and

since his flat spot is better he doesn't rest on it. We also alternate our ways

of doing tummy time, by sometimes doing it directly on the floor on a receiving

blanket, sometimes using a boppy pillow, and we also bought the " Tummy mat " from

Boppy that loves playing

with. Sometimes, he also does tummy time on my bed while I have things to do

in the bedroom. Once again, we change it as much as we can, change the toys we

use, change the orientation so he has something new to look at. He now really

enjoys tummy time and plays for good periods of time in that position. At the

beginning he use to fuss a lot, and I would get down on the floor with him and

cheer him and play with him. Now, he is quite independent.

> . At night we're propping him with a lot of padding under one

> shoulder so that he's almost on his side. We then put more padding

> between his tummy and the side of the cradle so he can't turn over.

> We're having a moderate amount of success with this in that he will

> sleep this way for a number of hours. That said, he used to sleep

> through the night but when he trys to turn at night now and finds that

> he can't he wakes and is difficult to settle again so I'm up with him

> for about one hour in 4 - very tiring!

At night, we use a side positioner so has been sleeping on his side since

he was 2 months old, and we change sides whenever wakes up... But once

again, he is a really lay back kind of baby. Actually, that is one reason, I

think, he develop plagio, since he is not a big mover at night and would stay in

the same position for so long, hence the flat spot. His sleeping habits didn't

change when we started repositioning him at night, so sorry I can't help you

there... But, I believe that him not sleeping on his back is very important

since, he still sleeps close to 15 hours a day, so it's an important part of his

repositioning process. Don't take me wrong, I know back to sleep is important,

and my next baby will sleep on

his back for his first few months too... but I will be more careful about which

side he sleeps on and also how much time he spends on his back during the day.

We didn't do that when was a newborn... So now I feel that we have to

compensate for , and his side sleeping has been approved by his ped. He is

just starting to roll from his back to his tummy, so I'm hoping soon he will

also sleep part of the time on his tummy.

> We'd love to hear if there is anything else that you found to work.

Not really... We are doing the basics and are trying to be consistent with it.

Now we use exersaucer which I guess is similar to your Jolly Jumper, plus

has started sitting up so it is so much easier to reposition him. Even in his

high chair, he doesn't rest his head, but prefers to lean forward... I still

hold him a lot and even carry him sometimes for part of the way if we go

somewhere and he is his stroller for a long time so that he doesn't rest on his

back for too long. Also, if I know that one day he spent more time on his back

than usual, because we drove more, or of where we were, then I'm more careful

the next couple of days in reducing the amount of time he spends on his back to

compensate.

Well, hope this helps, and good luck with your efforts. Let me know if I can be

of more help or if something I wrote isn't clear. Repositioning is hard work,

and sometimes even very demanding, but keep up the good work!

Annick

Mom to (27/01/01-repositioning for the past 3 months)

Montreal, Canada