Painfree sleeping?

[polarpercy]

I've read a lot of great advice already on the pregnancy board so I thought I'd try my luck! I'm nearly 18 weeks pregnant and for the last couple of weeks I've been in pain during the night. It seems to be a mix of hip pain, sciatica and cramp. I've tried a regular pillow under my hip, one under bump and one between my knees. But I still wake up about 5 or 6 times in pain.

I wondered if anyone had any tips or advice about what I can do to prevent or minimise this?

I just experiment with pillows based on which areas are hurting that day - sometimes I can jusy have my normal pillow under my head, sometimes I'm propped almost upright surrounded by three ordinary pillows and a long maternity pillow! As I'm getting bigger I find I need one to support my nack as well as my front, and also to stop me rolling on my back.

Also I find a nice warm bath helps to soothe the aches and pains so I have one just before bedtime. Massages from DP are also good if you can get one out of him :)

Hope that helps!

Thank you ever so much. I haven't tried a long maternity pillow, I think I am definitely going to have to invest in one! Will also try a bath before bedtime I think, as I spend a lot of time on my feet I don't think that is helping. I think propping myself up higher also sounds like a good idea.

DH has been gently grumbling about getting woken by me moving about, but did feel sorry for him when he got very short change from my mum and the midwife when he complained to them! So may try the massage suggestion for both of us!

Thank you again for your help, really appreciated.

Get some satin pjs! I am waiting for mine to come out of the wash as I luff mine that much. Cuts down the friction so that you can slide around a lot easier.

Although now at 35 weeks the benefits are minimal tbh!

I hadn't thought of anything like that! Sounds like an excellent excuse to go shopping. My old pjs are irritating me anyway, I can't decide if I prefer them over or under bump! So perhaps trying out some different ones might not be a bad idea anyway.

Thank you for your help.

Hi.
What a shame that you're finding it painful to sleep already.
Maybe not the best tip but I found that sleeping on the sofa helped a lot as I could stay on my side and rest my back against the back of the sofa. That was with my pg and I'm 32 weeks now and getting hardly any sleep at night. But now I am between my bed and dd's so it's really tough.
Hope you mamage to get it sorted.

I feel your pain! 37+5 and been the same for weeks

Have you tried sleeping on your back with a sofa cushion propping you up so you're kind of sat up and another pillow under your knees?

Def second baths, totally makes a big difference.

Also colleague recommended a chillow pillow which I've found works quite well. It's a thin foam pillow that gets cold. You can lie with it under your hip which kind of numbs the ache or if you can bare it you can drape it over your other hip - sometimes I find the weight of it makes it worse though.
www.chillow.co.uk/ not the cheapest thing but I reckon it'll be useful to cool me down when my milk comes in too.

Thank you both, BettyFlutterbly and drawohamme, I think it's not helped by the fact that I used to have sciatica and recently had shingles in the nerves at the top of my leg on that side!

Will definitely try propping myself up tonight I think, as I've found I can fall asleep comfortably enough during the day propped up in a chair! The Chillow pillow sounds amazing, I've never heard of anything like that before.

Thank you both again for your help. I've already found people on here so helpful and I've barely been about!