: 5.5 Month old turns onto her stomach during sleep, should I turn her onto her back again? During periods of light sleep, transitioning to deep sleep, she'll turn to the side, then onto her stomach, and sleep face down. To

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SIDS is statistically likely in younger babies (90% of cases before 6 months). The risk of SIDS is incredibly low.*

There are some actions you can take to further decrease the risk. These actions make sense because they are very simple things to do (no soft mattress she can "drown" in, put her in her bed on her back, no objects she can cover herself with in her bed, such as blankets** or toys, etc).

These actions should be are taken because they are zero effort and they decrease an already almost zero risk even further. Because they are zero effort, it would be negligent to not do these.

Trying to somehow restrain or turn back a baby that starts turning in her sleep is far from zero effort, and has downsides as well, for near negligible upsides. Babys survive sleeping on their stomachs all the time. I've been told I did.

*The risk of a baby drowning before she's 4 is higher than the risk of SIDS. The risk of the child dying before reaching 20 years of age is about 20 times higher than the risk of the child dying specifically due to SIDS (source).

**Use a baby sleeping bag instead of a blanket.

P.S: You said she sleeps face down. I assume this means the face is to the side so she can breathe. If this isn't the case I suggest you contact your doctor. Putting the head in a position where she can breathe is a natural reflex that should work from day one.

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The danger of belly sleeping is that while the kids are still too young to turn themselves over, they can suffocate either by rebreathing the deoxygenated stagnant air around them (result of their own breathing) or accidentally suffocate on the bedclothes.

Once they can turn themselves over, if they are uncomfortable they will do so, so the danger is over. I was a belly sleeper, and my kids were both belly sleepers.