Safety Issue with CIO

[dball528]

Hi I'm a new mom and first-time poster. My DD is almost 20 weeks old. She was sleeping very well swaddled (only waking up once per night) until she caught her first cold. We were told to have her sleep in her car seat to keep her head elevated. We did this for a month. Now I want to get her back to sleeping flat.

Her doctor thinks she's having problems because the car seat was snug and made her feel secure (kind of like swaddling), so she suggested trying to swaddle her again. It worked for two nights. The problem is, she has figured out how to turn over on her tummy but can't get back over on her back once she does.

I tried last night with just a loose swaddle so she could get her arms out if she had to. She worked her arms out earlier in the night and I found her a couple hours later on her tummy again - stuck even though her arms were free.

I think I am ready to try CIO, but I'm concerned that she will flip over on her tummy and start crying. If I don't go in to check on her, she will get really panicky or worse, she will have problems breathing (I have always found her flat on her face). The three times she's done it, she was awake for the rest of the night and miserable all the next day. Has anyone seen this before?

[j-love]

My baby girl would roll over, too. We used a sleep positioner. It kept her from rolling over.