how seriously are you taking not sleeping on your back?

[soandsosmum]

I have a friend who's loosing sleep as she's so uncomfortable on her side and she's only 19 wks.

I am too, but its dc2 and I'm just taking all the 'rules' with a pinch of salt.

I'm trying not to sleep on my back but I'm not going to worry if I end up there - if that makes sense! From what I've read, it's more for our welfare than the baby's, I think if you sleep on your back there's pressure on the vena cava returning blood to your heart which can make you feel unwell or faint. I'm under the impression if I end up there I'm unlikely to do any lasting damage and at 25 weeks I'm not going to lose sleep over it, so to speak, we've got enough of that to come

Not at all. It gets to about 5am and I find I can't sleep on my side anymore because I need the loo and can't be bothered to get up and go. It's a toss up between going for a wee or sleeping on my back. Sleep always wins.

You will no wen u are too far along to sleep on your back as u will feel light headed and v uncomfortable! Enjoy it while you can because later on u won't b able to bare it x

I read (from a reliable source) that there was a connection between the risk of stillbirth and sleep position and that lying on your left side was the safest position. So being the worrier I am, I propped myself with multiple pillows every night to get comfortable like that. All was well.

I'm still lying on my front and reading no apparent ill effects. I know this is prob a big no no!

I've found the source if interested - Google BMJ maternal sleep stillbirth and you should find it. They also found that women who went to the loo frequently at night were less likely to have stillbirth. It's only a single study though but maybe worth reading if you want to know why the advice is to sleep on your left. I know newspapers reported it as 'women who sleep on their left side have half the risk..' etc. But it's still only a small number of women - it just sounds more dramatic!

I can't help it, I go off on my side and wake on my back!

I think it's 'What To Expect..' that says to try, but to definitely not worry if you wake up on your back. Like with many things in pregnancy, birth and parenting, you do what you can but you can't control everything!

I read a midwife say that if your body was distressed eg being on back causing a problem, you'd wake up and shift the way you automatically wake up if you need to be sick.

My GP, Spinal Consultant and Osteo all have no problem with me sleeping on my back at almost 28 weeks. It's the only way I can get any sleep. I do try and rotate, but spend the majority of every night on my back. General consensus is pregnant women have been sleeping on their back for millenia!

Baby is very active too, so no worries there .

These recomendations and studies really annoy me to be honest, because they very rarely quote actual statistics. So an 'increase' in a risk of stillbirth might be an increase of > 0.05%. Without context they're meaningless and just further increase maternity guilt unneccessarily.

I slept on my back for my whole pregnancy because my hips hurt if I lay on my side, and obviously lying on my front was out. I never felt lightheaded nor did the baby stop moving. She is now a very healthy 6 week old. Just go with what you feel, you'd know if it was causing you or the baby distress x

I thought it was only really a problem in the 3rd trimester? I might have made that up.

Anyway, I try to sleep on my left but often find myself on my back. It does wake me up though so I turn over again.

I am physically incapable of sleeping on my left - had a lot of surgeries on my hip and major nerve damage. I'm not going to worry about it, what can I do?! There are loads of significantly disabled women who have had children anyway and I'm sure they couldn't follow the rules either. I wouldn't worry about it. It will be one of those things we will tell our daughters about when we're interfering mothers in 30 years and they will just roll their eyes and laugh at us :)

thanks, I've always taken the 'rule' as a guideline and was told my a physio that if i started to black out, by body would automatically roll me over.

I sleep on my stomach at 32 weeks. I can't help it although I do have a leg bent up so not loads of direct pressure. I sleep on my side to when I'm aware of where I am sleeping.

I sleep wherever I feel comfortable. Mostly on my front or back, sides are too painful in the hip and crotch area. I've never felt lightheaded, so far.

I'm 38+2 and I can only sleep on either sides for about half hour before the ache in my hips gets too unbearable and I have to lay on my back just for some relief. Me and baby are fine.

All these things that we are supposed to do and not supposed to do really piss me off (excuse french) I have spent most of my pregnancy worrying about various things that so called medical experts tell me to do and not to do.

Our body's are capable of taking over if something is wrong, if we are on our back and need to move we will move naturally....

Don't worry :)

I am 37 weeks and always wake up to find myself on my back even though I always try to go to sleep on my left side. I have never felt dizzy or undue effects as a result and my baby seems to be developing as it should be.
I really think that some of the literature, particularly small studies, can be given far too much weighting.

I never stayed asleep on my back for long. Mainly as DH would shove me over due to excessive snoring . natural position was on my side with pillow under bump. But I was not big.

So long as your not completely flat on your back it shouldn't be a problem. It's a problem when the braved uterus weighs down the vena cava cutting off / limiting your blood supply, Amd will make you feel faint etc and bviosukt f your blood supply is being cut off it hasa effect on baby.

The further on in pregnancy you are obviously the worse this is.

I miss lying on my tummy. It's just mot comfy anymore.

i have never understood these silly restrictions. even if you go to sleep on the side recommended, how on earth do you stop yourself from reverting to your preferred position when you are sleeping. i agree with what someone said upthread - if it was making you ill, you'd wake up. i had back problems in pregnancy and couldn't lie on my back for even a few minutes because of the pain and the result was that i woke up a lot every night because even just the act of turning over from one side to the other involved lying on my back for a second or two and the pain was too much.

moral of the story? don't worry about it. sleep in whatever way is comfortable for you. sleep itself is far more important than how you actually sleep.

Last time I tried to sleep on my side. I even paid for a stupidly expensive maternity pillow which didn't help. I just kept rolling onto my back, or onto whichever side you're not supposed to lie on (I can't remember which way round it is!).

This time I'm 19 weeks and mainly sleeping on my front because that's how i'm most comfy, but often wake up on my back.

Your supposed to sleep on your left but not your right ?
Really?? Why would that be?
I tend to not read any of this advise so am blissfully unaware of all the 'risky' things I might be doing.

The left right thing is to do with blood flow to the uterus, but again I may have mis-remembered that from my first pregnancy.

I sleep with my hips (not bottom) on a very thin pillow with another between my legs. The one under my hips prevents that ache and the one between my legs eases the SPD.

It's to do with a major blood vessel to your uterus isn't it? But I wonder whether it's not just the side you're sleeping on which would affect that, but surel also your weight and the weight of your bump. So surely if you're a size 8 with a small bump you're less likely to be affected than if you're a size 22 with twins and loads of water? Right?