Her Sleeping Position

I am a firm believer that God speaks through people.

Just yesterday in the church nursery, a nursery worker came to chat with me, and when she saw that Baby Jayne was sleeping chest down, she told me that it’s not advisable to do that. She just watched a documentary the other day and the experts said that babies should not sleep chest down because it’s detrimental to their spine development. Because of the way the head turns to the extreme right or left when lying down, it puts unnecessary pressure on the spine, and may result in spinal problems when the baby grows up.

I was only half-convinced, though this new piece of information shook me a little.

Usually, people discourage sleeping in that position for fear of suffocation. Babies’ necks are not strong enough and they may suffocate if they are just too tired or weak to lift their necks during their sleep. But this is the first time I’ve heard of the damage to the spine.

I told my mother-in-law about it today, and she was a little shocked too. She’s always believed in sleeping chest down because of the security it provides for the baby. Joey slept like that for more than one year when she was a baby. In fact, whenever people tell her it’s not good because of the fear of suffocation, she would always say that the westerners all let their babies sleep like that because it’s more secure and babies sleep better.

Barely 5 minutes after I told my mother-in-law about it, she went into her bedroom, switched on the TV and the Chinese programme happened to be talking about sleeping positions for adults, and the experts said in the  show that the worst sleeping position is the chest-down position because of the stress it causes for the spine! One of the guests asked, ‘How about babies? I know a lot of parents let their babies sleep chest down. My siblings and I slept like that when we were babies too.’ And the reply was the same – DO NOT LET BABIES SLEEP CHEST DOWN!

The guests on the show were quite surprised and one of them asked the question that was burning in my MIL’s mind - ‘Don’t all westerners let their babies sleep like that?’ And the expert said, ‘That was 10 years ago. Because of studies they did years ago, most of them have already switched over to the chest-up position.’ The expert ended the show by reiterating, ‘I stress it again: Do not let babies sleep chest down! It’s very dangerous!’ That totally did it for us.

In a span of 2 days, I heard the same thing repeated to me. And the answers looked like they were answering the unheard questions in our minds!

It’s either God speaking to me, or it’s just very good advice. So, the next immediate thing my mother-in-law and I did was to rush to the room and change Baby Jayne’s sleeping position!

She was such a poor thing. Sleeping soundly and suddenly awoken by a commotion and had to immediately get used to a brand new sleeping position! Haha!

Oh man, I have 2 days to let her get used to this new sleeping position before she goes to the office nursery! Otherwise, she’s going to make life very difficult for all the caregivers and fellow babies there! God, help me!!!

Updated (4.35pm)

Since the big switch in her sleeping position, Baby Jayne has been waking up from her sleep every 10 minutes. I resisted picking her up to pat her back to sleep, and just let her cry a little, then pat her arm while she’s lying down. Thank God it works! The waking up, hopefully, will stop once she gets used to this new position. Oh my gosh, I don’t even want to think about how much sleep I can get tonight.