Now lying on my right...

[Bellyrub1980]

Ok, it's 3am and I've been wake for the last hour with sciatica in my left leg due to sleeping on my left side. This happens every night. If I lie on my back or my right it alleviates the pain completely.

So I'm now on my right just to get some pain relief.... But I just can't let myself fall asleep here. I feel guilty.

I think the reason I'm over-thinking sleeping positions is because according to the last fundal height measurement my baby is very small, nowhere near the 10th centile. Can't help thinking I've been far too slack about sleeping positions (maybe even sleeping on my back every now and then) and have effected the blood flow to my baby.

Hi, as far as I know, and have been told, sleeping on back is only "bad" for you, not baby. And as for sleeping on right, my NCT instructor said it's more important for getting baby in good position for labour, nothing to do with blood flow.

I have had insomnia for about 7 mo of my pg and just took it however it came tbh. I think it's more important for mother to be rested, relaxed etc.

Those are my thoughts. The other thing would be to see someone for the sciatica but I've no experience of that I'm afraid! HTH

Lying on your back is only a risk because of the chance that you might restrict blood flow. If you don't feel dizzy/faint/tingly anywhere from lying on your back, you're probably fine.

Current advice is that lying on your right is fine. The thinking behind it was that the blood vessels lie slightly on the right rather than dead centre, so could have been squashed. I think this advice has now been retracted and it is ok to lie on your back or right side as long as you don't feel any ill effects from it.

Ask your MW if you aren't sure, but I would have thought relief from the sciatica pain and actually getting some rest would be the main concern