I know loads of baby's who sleep on their tummys and they are some of the best sleepers out there. My personal feelings on tummy sleeping is that they really like and feel more secure with their arms and legs tucked under them. The only (and this is a small one) potential drawback I see is when they learn to roll over. Since they generally roll over front to back first they will occasionally roll themselves over before they fall asleep (we always put our babies down before they are asleep) and then get mad when they get themselves back over so you have to go in and put them back on their tummies.
Plus, every baby I've ever known (and that's a considerable number) that has been a back sleeper early on immediately started sleeping on their tummies as soon as they were able to get their on their own. What does that tell you?
8 hours straight...That's great!
BTW, congrats!
SB
Have you found that belly sleepers learn to crawl, and roll over faster to? That certainly seems to be what the old ladies tell us. And it makes sense considering the muscle groups being used.
Just wait 'til you have everyone who's child is still up in the middle of the night at a year telling you you're just lucky that he's a good sleeper. That crap drives me crazy. Yes, my kids are good sleepers, I taught them from birth to be so. I also taught them that no one leaves their room except to go to the bathroom from 8 at night to 8 in the morning. If they wake up before that (and Hollywood always does) they read or play quietly in their rooms until the designated time. This is not rocket science people.
Um, not sure about learning to crawl faster, but if those whose babies sleep on their backs never put them on their tummies when they are awake (mine loved tummy time!) I wouldn't be surprised if they take longer. Crawling/walking in my experience has had little to do with the other things. I had two that didn't crawl until they were 10 months old (well, Hollywood never crawled, she went everywhere on her belly dragging herself like a wounded dog by her left forarm the little nut) and one that was crawling by 6 months. Also, some kids never crawl but go straight to walking. Crawling is not actually intregal to walking and while it's a milestone most hit it isn't detrimental to their development if they skip it.
All our kids slept on their stomachs, it also prevents flat spots on their heads.
believe me SB... we've already dealt with the haters. Ya know Jeb and Eli were great sleepers.. and in fact were just extremely laid back babies.
We took so much crap that I eventually learned that there is a culture among moms out there that really hate good babies. If your baby sleeps well and travels well they call him a "lump". The term implies that the baby is to stupid to be upset... it just doesn't care.
I've never bought the "my baby just won't sleep" claims. Of course... few things piss a mom off like someone pointing out that they are screwing up... but when a chick complains that her baby won't sleep... the natural reaction is to try to help her... then invariably... they take the suggestions as an attack. And of course.. the attack is even harder to take when its coming from a guy. God forbid a male should dare to take an active interest in infants.
ugh.. sorry man... its a pet-peeve.
Nope- it's a pet peeve of mine too. If your baby sleeps well you are just lucky. Whatever. If that's true then I know the luckiest mom's out there because we all trained our babies more or less the same way and they all sleep great.
Haven't you noticed that with many things that have to do with Raising Kids - if things go well (if they are well behaved, if they learn quickly, if they are respectful) you are a lucky parent. Because, obviously, they were born that way.
We've had a pediatric doctor secretly tell my wife (when she admitted to it) that it was good that we had them sleeping on their stomachs. And we didn't even have a cool monitor thing.
Is Julie on maternity leave from work? Either way, this is nice for both you and her. 
I figured something along the lines of what y'all are saying. I've not much experience with kids and babies, but it seems the moms that complain the most are the ones that let the kids get away with running things.
I would have loved to have said any of the following to the inlaws:
He didn't eat his dinner and now you're letting him have chips now?
Are you sure you want to give him so much diet pop, especially with the caffeine? (He's on ritalin.)
Are you sure letting a three year old watch CSI is a good idea?
What ever happened to good old fashioned common sense?
I'm rather scared at the idea of having kids...
A three year old on ritalen?
I'm just gonna go puke now.
Having kids is fun. Wendy, turn off the t.v. and leave it off and more than half of your problems will be solved. One thing that drives me crazy is listening to parents complain about the ads their kids see on t.v. and how they then have to buy them that stuff. W. T. F. Apparently for many parents the word no does not exist in their vocabulary. When I take the kids into a store, they always like to look around and talk about what they might ask for for Christmas or their birthdays, they never expect that I will buy them anything when we are out.
Yeah. We get the 'Your kids are so amazingly good.' from everyone.
Mostly we just nod and say thank you. We did clue my aunt in on the trick.
What ever happened to discipline?
Ours aren't particularly good sleepers till they start solids. Since it's about like flipping a switch, I figure it really is hunger waking them up at night. And yes, mine are all belly sleepers, except Hummer, who prefers his side. We just don't tell the pediatrician.
Oh, congrats on the new baby! What a cutie!
Dude... My kids put themselves in the corner.
Absolutely right, Spacebunny, on all counts. Should we be blessed with kids, the only thing that will be on tv will be hockey games (and then probably tivo'ed to skip commercials) and the occasional movie. Other than that: turned off.
To be "fair", our nephew wasn't put on ritalin till he was five, I think. Still, the sentiment remains appropriate regardless of age. I don't think they've even thought about him taking it for the rest of his life because he's never learned to control himself without medication and that it was probably sleep issues (he had no bedtime) and the fact he is a boy, combined with lack of discipline that caused behavioral problems. TV is indeed a bad babysitter.
the only thing that will be on tv will be hockey games
They still have hockey games on tv?
We had twins that were premie(34 weeks). As soon as we could we put them on our schedule. Feedings every four hours (2 oz). What kind of moron is going to let the baby decide when it's going to wake up and eat? When one woke up, we woke them both up, gave them the bottles, changed them if necessary, then back to bed. It wasn't all that long before it was longer nights and they were on the same schedule.
My sis-in-law on the other hand literally let the kids run the house. When the baby wanted something she dropped everything to run to the baby. If the baby was sleeping, no noise of any kind, shut of the ringer on the phone, speak only in whispers, etc. Idiot, if you teach them to sleep through the noise, they will be better sleepers for life. Now the kids are 10 and 12 years old and a neighbors dog barking has them up all night.
Saw an article on SIDS awhile back. Can't find it now. Suggested that an unwrapped mattress released chemicals that caused the SIDS. Simply wrapping the mattress with plastic as if the child were allergic puts a stop to SIDS completely.
Wish I could find the article again but no luck.
Cardinal,
SIDS: Cause and Cure (From my blog, links to the article)
We have one of the mattress covers. I slept a lot better knowing we had one.
Nate and SB are right. There are haters out there, for sure. All of my kids were good sleepers and were sleeping through the night within a few weeks.
But it goes beyond the first weeks. I see some parents that gripe about their children's behavior and say that there is nothing they can do about it. I just laugh at them.
It is a regular occurence for us to be eating out and have an old couple or group of old ladies stop by our table and tell us how well-behaved our children are. In proper form, our children then thank them for their kind words.
Yeah, I can brag about my kids. They know how to act in public. I taught them to do so. Parents who complain about their childrens behavior need to stop griping and start spanking.
I saw a two or three year old boy raise his hand to hit his mother yesterday and I almost whipped him. The mom just told him to go find his grandma and get a sucker. Geez, that kid won't be a nightmare in about 10 years...
Ten years? He sounds like a nightmare now.
I don't think they are necessarily haters, they just don't want to take any responsibility for their kids' actions. You can raise a kid right and they can still turn out bad, but usually not until after puberty. Before that you can control their behaviour - if you choose to.
Dr, Helen touches on this in her latest post as well.
Congrats!! I haven't checked in for a while, didn't know you were even planning to have another little one.
My little guy just about 3½ months old. We gave up on the back sleeping about a month ago, two months too late if you ask me. Babies were meant to sleep on their bellies. We don't have any monitors either.
Congratulations, what a beautiful family you have.
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