Difficulty sleepling only on side

[smudge44]

My Fiancé is 19+3. We've heard about the importance of not sleeping on her back and invested in a pregnancy pillow to support sleeping on her side. However she's having a hard time sleeping at the moment. She's finding her hips are sore where she is sleeping on her side, and finds not being able to move position difficult. She's also finding her ear is hurting where she is always pressing it against the pillow. She has tried rolling on to her other side, but it doesn't take long before she gets uncomfortable on that side too.

Any words of advice from other Mums on if they have had the same problem and any tips to mitigate it?

Many thanks!

James

[Unihorn]

Its more important from 28 weeks onwards so tell her not to get too worked up just yet if she's struggling to adjust as she has some time to get used to it. What sort of pillow do you have and how is she using it? You can get super expensive wrap-around type ones that tend to work better than the long ones but I just use two or three normal pillows to keep me in roughly the same place all night.

I imagine if Google it there will be lots of examples but I used to put my long pregnancy pillow behind me to keep me from "falling" backwards then use normal pillows and cushions on the bed to out my leg over sort of thing.

This time I have a 15 month old in the middle of my bed that stops me from moving at all though. I wouldn't recommend that approach though!

[windchimesabotage]

The study linking sleeping on your back to stillbirth was pretty dodgy. It says on the NHS website that actually no direct link was found. None of the women in the study actually had a stillbirth regardless of the position they slept in. It was just supposed that it increased the risk slightly.
www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/mothers-sleeping-position-and-risk-of-stillbirth/

[windchimesabotage]

sorry this is the more up to date NHS report
www.nhs.uk/news/2017/10October/Pages/Pregnant-women-should-avoid-sleeping-on-back-in-last-trimester.aspx

[MrsMcW]

I had the same problem - I'm usually a back sleeper and found it really uncomfortable at first! Try wedging another firm pillow or cushion behind her back. I use a non-squashy sofa cushion for example. She can then lie on her side as advised but lean back against the firm cushion so it is taking some of her weight rather than lying entirely on her hips. A squashy cushion between the knees helps too, if her pregnancy pillow doesn't reach that far.

[dinksandbinks]

I also have this problem. I picked up an extra soft pillow from Ikea for the sore ear; latex one in John Lewis was fabulous, but I couldn’t warrant the cost.

For hips, buy a thick double duvet. Fold the duvet in half, and lie it on her half of the bed. Fitted sheet on top. You need to take the duvet out and fluff it up every week but so far this is helping me.

Knee pillow is hit and miss. Sometimes helps, sometimes is flipping annoying, esp if I’m feeling warm! It usually gets kicked out.

[smudge44]

Thanks for the suggestions, will give them a try. :-)

[KateRobin84]

Im 25w and am having exactly the same issues :( Find I wake up at 2/3am with sore hips and/or ear and cant get back to sleep. Softer pillows help with the ears but still working on the hips. Will try the duvet tip. Let us know how your fiance gets on.

[pastabest]

As a pp has said the study that this advice came from was a small study that showed sleeping position did seem to have some impact on the baby whilst in the womb.

What it didn't show was that any long term harm was actually caused by this 'impact' whilst the mother was lying on her back. All of the babies in the study were born healthy.

I'm 24 weeks with my second and still happily sleeping on my back. I will only stop sleeping on my back when it becomes uncomfortable which was way after 30 weeks, and even then sleeping on my back was sometimes still the most comfortable position.

Tell her to just get the best sleep she can in whatever position she can. Pregnancy is rough enough as it is.

[Hairgician]

Im waking through the night with sore hips/legs too. Turn over other way and then I get sore again after a while. Might try the duvet folded over and a wedge for my back. That might help.

[CL1982]

You can go from one to the other....you don't have to stick to one side. Also you're ok if you wake up on your back-just flip back over.