Is it okay for a nine-month-old baby to sleep on his stomach?

A nine-month-old baby is not yet one year old. At this time, the baby can only roll over or crawl, so the baby at this stage is the most restless and needs careful care from the parents. Some parents find that the baby often sleeps on his stomach. Even if the parents wake up at night and turn the baby over, the baby will continue to roll over and lie on his stomach. This may be because babies feel most comfortable lying on their stomachs. Let’s take a look at whether it is good for nine-month-old babies to sleep on their stomachs.

Generally babies should sleep on their backs. Sometimes, starting from 6 to 7 months, the baby will turn from the supine position to the prone position, which means that the baby can turn over freely. Babies always sleep in the position that is most comfortable for them. If the baby feels comfortable sleeping on his stomach and can turn over by himself, he will adopt this position. Sleeping on your stomach also has benefits, such as preventing vomiting. The baby's stomach has a small capacity, insufficient curvature, and weak contraction force of the cardia, so it is very common for babies to spit up milk. The cardia is close to the middle of the stomach. When the baby lies on his stomach, the cardia is raised to prevent spitting up. Even if vomiting occurs at this time, because the baby is facing downwards, he or she will not suffocate due to vomitus being inhaled into the trachea.

However, lying on one's stomach will also put pressure on the heart. You can help the baby turn over and sleep on his side when he is sleeping.

You may find that your baby, who has always slept on his back, will suddenly sleep on his stomach. Even if the mother turns the baby to lie on his back, the baby will lie on his stomach again after a while. Some mothers will be very worried that this is pathological, suspecting that the baby is lacking some element in the body or has worms in the stomach. In fact, it is not. This is just a sleeping habit. The baby feels more comfortable sleeping on his stomach.

In fact, babies do not sleep on their stomachs all night long. They also change positions, but not as frequently as adults. Some mothers may worry that sleeping on the baby's stomach will block the baby's mouth and nose, causing suffocation.

Babies 3 months ago did have problems in this regard, but now babies are able to turn their heads and necks freely. Even when lying on their stomachs, they will turn their heads and lie on one side without burying their faces in the bed or pillow. But there are special cases where the baby cannot sleep on his back due to some disease, such as a lump behind the head or a boil on the buttocks, and it hurts when touched, so the baby can only sleep on his side. In short, mothers don’t need to worry too much about babies who sleep on their stomachs. Most babies who sleep on their stomachs will return to lying on their backs after a period of time.

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