Sleeping on my side!

[golddustx]

I'm 28 weeks pregnant and trying my hardest to sleep on my side, but I feel like my back hurts so much when I do!

AIBU to lay on my back? Why aren't we supposed to?

Currently 03:44am and it's killing 😢

I still move to my back when I'm asleep and I'm 37 weeks. I think it's to do with blood getting to the baby

It’s to do with the weight of baby on a big blood vessel compressing it. makes me feel really sick if I roll that way (27wks).

Get lots of pillows - I have one between knees, a thin one tucked into my back (so if I roll I’m not flat) and One under my bump.

I'm 27 weeks pregnant and often find myself sleeping on my back. I have never found it so restricting to sleep on my side! Can't seem to get comfy even with a giant pillow although insomnia isn't helping.

I constantly worry about doing the baby harm if I sleep on my back though? Wonder if I should get one of those v pillows and try to sleep in a little more upright position...

www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/sleep-side-pregnancy-campaign

It’s to do with an increased risk of stillbirth in later stages of pregnancy.
It’s hard though, latterly with my last pregnancy my hips were so sore from lying on my left side. Always tried to go to sleep on left side although I’d sometimes wake up on my back or right side. Just used to roll back onto left side (cry with pain, try and rearrange my body pillow) and try to get back to sleep

Have you got a pregnancy pillow? If not, stick a pillow behind your back.

If you lie on your back the pressure presses on your vena cava which can make you poorly.

It's horrid being so restricted, you have my sympathies - my hips used to hurt so badly.

What name change said. Plenty of pillows make your self a supportive and comfy ‘ nest’ and be prepared to nap rather than deep sleeps. Congrats x

As above / the weight of your uterus can make you dizzy, and studies show that women who tragically suffered a stillbirth were more likely to have been sleeping on their backs or right sides.

I had to lie on my back for my c section recently and was panicking because I was finding it hard to breathe and I couldn't cough (NOT great timing to have had a really chesty cough!) - the anaesthetist

explained that was due to the weight of the baby. Sure enough it lifted enormously when they lifted out the baby.

It is awful though - you just long to lie on your back! And if your hips start to hurt you feel like such an old woman.

What helped me was getting the dreamgenii pillow. Compared to standard pregnancy pillows it can seem a stupid price for what it is, but the design actually worked really well for me for sleeping and you don’t feel so on your side I’d that makes sense so was 100% worth it. Plus have just used it for pregnancy 2 (now using as a feeding pillow) so has lasted quite well.

www.johnlewis.com/dreamgenii-maternity-and-nursing-pillow-white/p3350531?sku=237138252&s_kwcid=2dx92700030020189060&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIy7fKs4G-2gIVirftCh2u3QlxEAQYAyABEgKmffD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you have a partner and a larger bed or no partner then one of those U shaped pregnancy pillows is nice.

It didn't work for me ultimately because we have a standard double size bed and I don't want a larger bed since it's only been an issue during pregnancy. So the pillow kept falling off one side rendering it pretty useless til I got mad and tossed it in a wardrobe, plan on tossing it to the tip next as it's huge and don't have the room or desire for it.

There are also regular body pillows, L shaped pillows, wedge pillows for between your knees, or regular pillows for between the knees which is what I use.

My body is so adapted to using one that I find my knees just tote the pillow along no matter how many times I switch sides in my sleep.

I sometimes also put a pillow under my belly and chest.

I eliminated a lot of my back pain by wearing a maternity support belt during the day as well.

What is wrong about sleeping on your right side @saucyjane?

Have you tried a pillow between your knees? I've been finding that helps take the pressure off my hips (38 weeks)
When you're on your back try propping your right hip/ lower back up to 'tip' yourself to the left and away from the vena cava vein that runs down your spine on the right side.

Actually the studies that make this recommendation aren't clear cut.

No one involved in the most recent study actually had a stillbirth. All of the babies were born healthy regardless of what their mother's sleeping position had been in the weeks prior to giving birth. The conclusions did not definitively say that sleeping on your back in the third trimester raises the risk of stillbirth, it says that sleeping on your back does appear to have some impact on the babies' heart rate levels and from this they don't want to rule out the possibility that this could be a negative impact. However no long term negative impact was actually observed in the study.

An older study also making the claim about sleeping on your back possibly raising the risk got their data by asking a small number of women who had experienced a stillbirth what their sleeping position had been the nights before they gave birth. Now I can't tell you what my sleeping position was LAST NIGHT after an uneventful nights sleep and a boring morning. I'm relatively certain that I wouldn't reliably be able to tell a researcher what it was the night before an extremely traumatic event.

There is some evidence that sleeping on your back can cause you discomfort because of the weight of your uterus and baby squishing the blood supply. The point here is though that it causes discomfort, and naturally we tend to shift position if we are uncomfortable. Any midwife I have spoken to has told me that you would naturally move into another position long before it caused you or the baby harm. The caveat to this is if you have had an epidural and can't feel the discomfort - I think this scenario is specifically where some risks of being on your back have been identified.

The top and bottom of it is, if you are uncomfortable move into a position where you are more comfortable. I'm 32 weeks with DC2 and depending on where the baby is at the time sometimes that is on my right side, sometimes that is on my left side and sometimes that is in my back. I did the same with DC1. I think generally the advice is to try and fall asleep on your side 'just in case' but not to worry about it if you end up in your back during the night.

I'm 31 weeks and wouldn't be able to sleep on my back, my indigestion at night is utterly unbearable unless I sleep on my left side. Get tonnes of pillows and arrange them around yourself.

pastabest has it spot on. However, I tried as often as I could to sleep on my left after 30 weeks but the newest research suggests it isn't as much of a concern as previously thought. Also remember reading that a rested mum to be is the most important thing.

The NHS has summed up the latest research here:

www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/pregnant-women-should-avoid-sleeping-back-last-trimester/