Dana: Hi, I’m Dana. Welcome to this week’s video. Today I want to talk about babies getting stuck in uncomfortable positions. I’ve seen a lot of questions on the Facebook page lately that are talking about babies pushed up against bars or arms through the bar and parents are wondering should I intervene or should I just leave it alone. If you’ve seen the started The Sleep Sense Program, especially if you’re doing the stay in the room method, you’ll see your babies exploring the crib and figuring out comfortable positions. They’ll even start to fall asleep and things that don’t look so comfortable, like sitting, sometimes even standing. That’s often because they don’t understand yet that you actually need to lie down in order for sleep to come easily.

These are often babies who are always put into the crib already asleep, right? Then they haven’t had to do any kind of work to figure out what’s comfortable, what’s not, how do I get myself to sleep because you’ve always done all the work for them. Now they’re in the crib and they’re wondering, “Hey ma, I’ve never been in this thing before awake. What do I do with myself?” They’ll look a little bit like a fish out of water for the first couple of nights because they haven’t figured this out. You will see them trying to figure out how this goes, but really not having the skill set. It’s common for a baby to start falling asleep in a sitting or standing position. I get it. It looks cute, sad and pathetic all wrapped up into one.

It’s easy to feel bad for them, but just keep in mind that that’s why this is happening and all you can do is assist, right? Obviously you’re not going to leave a baby in a sitting position for a sleep because they might fall over. Or if they’re standing, you’re not going to leave them there because they might fall over. You’re just going to gently lay them down. Now that might fuel their fire all over again and up they come and you’re in for round 2 or 3, but it’s better to do that than leave it and have them tumble over and hurt themselves so definitely assist. Now a lot of times though, they do fall asleep and you might come back later to check. Your little one is inch away to the top of the crib and she’s nestled in the corner there and it doesn’t look comfortable.

We’re tempted to take them by the legs and pull them back to the middle of the crib, only to find when you walk in 2 hours later, she’s right back up in the corner again. A lot of babies like that. They actually like to feel up against something. It gives them a little bit of a sense of security. Even if they’re up against the hard crib bars, they seem to prefer it. You just pulling them back to the middle isn’t really doing them any favors. The good news is that we are very good at moving into more comfortable positions when our body tells us to. In fact, it’s a pretty serious problem. If you don’t have that, people tend to not shift positions or move around and then they end up injuring themselves.

The good news is that your baby will move if she’s genuinely uncomfortable. If it’s just a matter of being squished in the corner, leave it alone. Obviously though if the arm is out of the crib between the bars or the leg is out between the bars, we’re going to move those back in because we don’t want any kind of injury to occur in that situation so just gently slide those back into the crib, which again might wake up and you might be in for round 2. It’s better to be safe than sorry in those types of situations. Again, might not look comfortable to you, but it is most likely comfortable to them as long as it’s not a safety issue. Okay, thanks so much for watching today. Sleep well.