Sleeping positions

[RevoltingPeasant]

So I'm 26 weeks and I know sleeping on your left side is ideal and backs are not good, but what about your right side?

Last my body realised I had been sleeping on my left for weeks and it's getting sodding uncomfortable so I rolled over on my right - and woke up with what felt like pins and needles in the bump

Is that even a thing?

Have I brain damaged my baby by depriving him of blood and oxygen??

Argggh!

My midwife says that I shouldn't stress too much about left or right side. I have been alternating because if I sleep too long on the left I get earache and hip ache. There is some TINY risk factor for right-side sleeping (something perhaps to do with compression of major blood vessels) but I think it's probably smaller than the risk of stress and worry and so on caused by telling mothers they Must Not Sleep On Their Right.

There's also the overall aim to have your baby position itself with back on the left, head down, legs etc on the right for optimum escape strategy, but at 26w you shouldn't worry about that yet.

I mentioned this to my DM when I was last pregnant. Her response: 'goodness, I do to know how we ever managed a healthy pregnant in my day without all that scientific evidence'

Don't worry, sleep whatever way you are comfortable. I was still part tummy sleeping when I was 25 weeks. Now at 33 I'm barely sleeping at all because after an hour max I am waking up with horrible hip ache, and then I have to turn, and drag the pillow between my legs with me, then get comfy again which takes far too long no sleep is worse for you and baby than sleeping on your right side for a limited time until you have to move again.

I slept on my stomach to the day ds was born at 42 weeks!

Sleep whichever way you want to

my mw said your body will wake you up long before you do any damage to the baby and its true that im no longer comfortable on my back because i feel like im being squashed. fwiw i think the studies about sleep position were women who always slept on their right, left, etc. Just do what you must to get some sleep!