What position is your co-sleeping infant taking?

[beebalmmama]

My older ds slept with us until he was 18 months and often slept on his side, since we would both fall asleep with nursing (him often still attached).

My younger ds, now 4.5 months is also sleeping with us. He also usually slept on his left side facing me. About a month ago we noticed it looked like his head was a little more flat on his left side. This was so slight that only dh and I thought we could see anything. Anyway I switched sides of the bed so now that ds is often on the right side of his head.
Once we switched he now is often ending up on his back. I guess he may instinctively still be looking for me on the other side. But since he lies on his side so much while co-sleeping it is hard to get him to stay down very long on his back for naps. He just seems more comfortable on his side and sleeps better and so I usually use a tightly rolled receiving/crib blanket to keep him from rolling onto his tummy. Although I've had more luck putting him on his back lately, as he's finally getting into a better routine for napping.

But all of this made me curious. Do other co-sleepers put their infants on their backs to sleep? Obviously this is encouraged with the back to sleep campaign but it seems to me that they often end up on their sides with nursing.

[fruitfulmomma]

No, I don't put them on their backs. In the early days I sleep on my back with baby on top, chest to chest. (The last baby wanted to stay like this until about 6 weeks.) After that, if we are nursing, which I can do in my sleep, they will stay in the crook of my arm facing toward me. Otherwise I turn them over on their other side, facing out from me, so that my chest is against their back. I prefer this position because I am very amply supplied in the breast department and need to know there is plenty of space for them not to get their faces covered.

Naturally I say they tend toward side or tummy sleeping. My 17mo was lying on her tummy this morning when we woke up.

[Alisse]

In the first few months my son would always be lying sideways with his head on my arm. Now he sleeps off my arm on his back with his head to either side. He hates being on his tummy.

[lovepiggie]

DS almost always slept on his side. My husband would put him on his back to sleep, but because of nursing, he would almost always roll over to one side or the other. I switched sides so that he didn't get a flat head...

Now he usually lies on his belly (7 months).

[voxana]

My 11mo sleeps in nearly every position possible. At 4-7 months he woke the least if he was on his tummy and sometimes I would even roll him over onto it. I wasn't worried about tummy sleeping because he was mobile enough to roll out of that position if he needed to.

[akind1]

Until we figured out side-lying nursing (around 3 months) when we slept in bed (we got up in a chair/on the couch to nurse) he was on my chest -belly to chest - or in the crook of my arm while I was either on my side or back.

When I lay him to sleep in the co-sleeper, I lay him on his back, but he often will roll to his side.

Now, at 5 months, when he is in bed with me, he sleeps on his side facing me until he is done nursing, then sleeps on his back, arms above his head and legs splayed -froggy-style.

For naps, he will roll to his belly and put himself to sleep, but unless you lay him down awake, he doesn't roll to his belly at night (yet)

[mommy92109]

DS has gone through stages (he's now 7 months). He has always had a difficult time going to sleep and staying asleep, so in the beginning he was on his side in the crook of my arm while latched (which was for most of the night). I would switch sides with every feeding. Once he started rolling, he would naturally roll out to his back, but still on my arm. Now that he is rolling both ways, I am able to move my arm so that he can roll onto his tummy, and that's where he prefers to be!

[beebalmmama]

Everyone's replies are kind of what I was thinking would be the case. I just don't see how you can co-sleep and nurse and not have them end up on their sides.

I guess with ds 1 I was still figuring out the side lying nursing and was switching him from each side with me rolling over. We also had a several creative arrangements since we moved soon after his birth and so I think our bed setup was always changing. This probably had him sleeping on both sides of his head.

But with ds 2 he'd always stayed on his left side facing me because as soon as he was big enough to nurse the opposite breast side lying (3-4 weeks or so) I didn't change sides with him. Like I said only dh and I can really see a flattening (at least with those people we've talked to about it). But I decided to make an appt with the doc anyway just to have a professional opinion.