Lying on the left side?

[NeuroticFox1]

Hiya, I have read that you should only sleep or lie on your left side when you sleep, during late pregnancy.Midwife's not mentioned this. I'm trying to get into this habit and worried about lying on the right. I'm only 18+3 so think it's probably nothing to worry about now. But is that right? How strictly should I be treating this? Trouble is I find it really difficult to fall asleep on my left or at least stay asleep on my left. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

It's only on the left as this has something to do with increased blood flow. I fall asleep on my left and wake up on my back (28weeks) after rolling round and have sometimes woke myself up from lying on my front
Sleep how you feel comfortable.

Apparently........ In particular, sleeping on your left side may benefit your baby by improving blood flow – and therefore nutrients – to the placenta. It also helps your kidneys efficiently eliminate waste products and fluids from your body, which in turn reduces swelling in your ankles, feet, and hands.

Lying on your right won't do any harm.

I agree with PP though, sleep however you are comfortable. I probably spend 50% of the night on each as hips and ribs hurt (34wks) so I constantly switch.

As you get bigger, you'll find you can't sleep on your back (also not recommended) as you become out of breath - bodies way of telling you to move / something is being restricted by the weight of the baby!

No, its yet another one of those nonsense things you read on the internet that have only the barest grounding in reality.
You can sleep in whatever position you like, that you find comfortable. It's not even possible if you wanted to make yourself sleep in a certain way, you'll move in your sleep.
Forget about it.

I'm not sure that it is nonsense actually. I'm sure someone with better k&u than me will be along soon to advise you with the facts.

I got into the habit of lying on left side although at first it did seem odd. And yes, I'd often wake up on my back, no harm done! My midwife who I did yoga with also said that later in pregnancy you should avoid lying flat on your back if you can as it puts pressure on your organs or spine or something. That said, women and babies have coped fine for hundreds of years sleeping in any position they like! Be comfy and sleep well.

It is, in that while it might be the optimum position for blood flow etc, it's very rare that anybody actually needs that. Our bodies are pretty good at getting on with creating babies without all our ideas about it, and if it was necessary to sleep in a certain position we'd all be in trouble.

A good rule of thumb is: if you come across advice on the internet, but a medical professional has never mentioned it, you can mostly ignore it.

Thanks everyone! Feel much better about it now :)

i think it's mildly preferable, but so long as you're not flat on your back after a certain time, anything that gets you to sleep is fine. you could try and stick to the lying on the left if you wanted to when you are awake and can control it, eg watching tv on the sofa??

Absolutely - it's a recommended but not an essential.

It's all to do with where your main arteries and veins travel through your body. These essentially travel close to your spine at the back of your abdominal cavity, slightly to the left or right of your spine depending on which vessel you're interested in.

Lying on your left side reduces the pressure on your main arterial vessels, improving their efficiency. So if you can always sleep on your left side without hip/back ache or moving into other positions during the night then that's gold standard perfection. However, get past 20wks and it becomes an uncomfortable impossibility for most people! Lying on your right side does put a tiny bit of pressure on your vessels, but really does not compress them that much at all, so it's perfectly acceptable as well.

Not lying on your front is because after a certain point, you obviously can't, something kinda gets in the way!

Lying on your back does not affect your baby, but it can affect you. What essentially happen is the weight of your uterus puts pressure on the main arterys and veins which supply your legs which, as I mentioned earlier, travel close to your spinal column at the back of your abdomen. What happens then is like when you get a dead leg from crossing them for too long, but on both sides and your whole leg length. You essentially reduce the blood flow to your legs significantly enough that they can start getting numb, tingly and when you do move from your back you can feel very light headed from the sudden rush of blood again. It can also increase chances of fluid accumulation. Therefore recommended no more than 10 - 15 minutes on your back once you get past 16wks.

So overall - left side gold standard but difficult (impossible!) to always do, right side is still absolutely fine, front is uncomfortable but not an issue until you can't do it anymore and back can have some effects on yourself, but not your baby

Hope that helps!

Why would you recommend no lying on your back for more than ten minutes after 16 weeks....unless people had experienced problems from doing so? It's silly. If they are comfortable doing so and have no problems at all from doing so, there is no reason at all to recommend they don't do it.
It's just one more thing you're telling people they are doing wrong, for no good reason. You can lie on your back all you bloody like, if you find it comfortable and it doesn't bother you!

It's good practise. They tip you onto your left when you go into theatre for a c-section. And smarter dentists will ask you to twist left rather than fully recline you to stop you passing out. So yes it's based on anatomy rather than folklore.

Yes, but thats for an operation where blood flow might matter. Lying at home on your sofa it really doesn't.

Seriously, 99% of pregnant women will never come across this "advice" and it will make zero difference. Telling women this matters is just more scaremongering.

Big balloon of heavy water on top of smaller elastic vessels kept open only by your blood pressure = sometimes experiencing dead legs and light headedness when instantly corrected if that position is maintained for lengths of time

Again not dangerous to babies, but not pleasant for you if you get that happening.

The 16wks is because at that point your uterus is typically big enough and weighs enough to cause those effects on your vessels.

Propped up on your back so you're angled, like I would guess you would be doing on your sofa, reduces the impact due to the angle so that's ok

You might be lucky madreloco to not overly experience this but not everyone is. It's not scare mongering at all, it's just simple anatomy! And knowing that you might have this effect, why it's happening, that it's not dangerous to babies but can be avoided is surely only a good thing? As opposed to the overall "never lie on your back and only allowed to lie on your left" without any explanation as to where this line comes from at all?

I tried to only lie on my left and ended up with horrendous hip pain that I still can't shift even though I swap sides now.....

Bex, what I said is IF it causes you problems, then of course its good advice not to do it. However if you are comfortable sitting or lying a certain way then you should do it all you like. IT is terrible advice to tell people not to lie down on their backs for 5 months, regardless of whether they are comfortable or not!
It's also unecessary and irresponsible, and could actually cause women problems, not to mention the worry that they are doing yet another thing wrong.
Any blanket advice like this is bad advice.

What Bex said!

You're not expected to lie ONLY on your left, it's just the best position, so it's best to sleep on that side most of the night.

Pillows pillow pillows. Pillow between knees, one under bump and one behind back. Bolster pillows are the best thing for this.

I sleep mostly on left but I have to turn onto my right every so often to relieve pressure/ get comfy. I get a sore ear from being on it. I BLOODY HATE SIDE LYING. I can't wait to be able to lie on my back or front again.

After a while you'll know when you shouldn't be on your back. I get really uncomfortable if I lie on my back more than about 10 minutes, it feels wrong, but when I have backache I HAVE to lie flat on my back with knees bent for a little while just to straighten my back a bit, it sorts it out.

You're missing the point. The only time not to lie on your back is if you personally are uncomfortable lying on your back. It is idiotic to tell a woman who feels very comfortable on her back to stop doing it!

I wouldn't worry about it. My midwives didn't mention caffeine, soft cheese, bagged salad, moving heavy things, chemicals, xrays, all sorts of stuff that it would appear you're supposed to avoid when pregnant. I only slept on my left after passing out at the dentist's. Each to their own !

You don't need to avoid bagged salad - just wash it!

Lie on your front until it is uncomfortable. Then stop.

Lie on your back unless it is uncomfortable. If so, stop.

Lie on your right or left and hopefully it will be the most comfortable (though don't bank on actual comfort at the end )

Job done.

Sleep how you want to sleep!

I slept on my front whilst being induced with DS!

28+5 and still sleep on my front with DS2

I found that I got really bad acid reflux if I lay on my right side, but not at all on my left.