Advice? 29wks and low back pain at night?

[MtnBikeChick]

Hi there. I am just over 29 weeks pregnant and my bump is very small. I have been lucky and not had any aches and pains during my pregnancy - I am sporty and have kept up my running and personal training sessions/swimming/yoga a few times a week up until now. I have however started to wake up during the night and in the morning with horrible lower back pain. It is not like period pain or anything like that but more like ache/muscular pain across the bottom of my back. I have quite a curved lower back and I am often finding myself moving onto my back in my sleep which I don't think is helping. I have got a dream geni pillow but I am not getting on very well with it, does anyone have any advice?! I do find it hard to sleep on my sides sometimes as I have a recent history of shoulder problems (rotator cuff impingement) so my shoulders sometimes hurt at night. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

I was just the same (except my bump was not especially small, sadly). Sleeping on your back is probably the culprit and you may just have to steel yourself to sleep on your side. I jammed myself in with pillows and DH would roll me back on my side when necessary and it then gradually improved. I had to use one of the very long pillows with the end tucked between my legs (important for supporting my hips, and made a real difference).

I exercised until 34 weeks but my trainer was v v clued up about pregnancy training. Perhaps cut back a bit until your back has improved? I did find running and too much walking caused back pain.

My sister found that it was sitting that caused her back problems when pregnant, but using a Swiss ball helped.

Wishing you luck with it, because back pain is miserable.

I'm just coming up on 31 weeks and think I've been experiencing the same back pain. It's only a night when I'm trying to sleep - once I'm up and moving during the day then my back is fine!

I tend to start the night on my side, but inevitably wake up at some point during the night splayed out like a starfish and whacking my poor DH in the head.

Anyway, the back pain hasn't been so bad for the last few days after I got annoyed on Sat night before bed and tried the following things:

-DH rubbed some oil into my lower back and massaged it while I was slumped over my exercise ball.
-Then I took a nice warm shower and let the water run over that part of my back for a time.
-Lastly I brought an additional small pillow to bed with me and used it with my DreamGenii.

I'm not a huge person and was finding that my bump wasn't really resting on the side cushions of the DreamGenii overnight, I was snuggled/splayed between them! I tucked the little cushion under my bump then snuggled up inside the DreamGenii as usual.

Touch wood, the last couple of nights I haven't had any problem with my back and have managed to sleep a bit better. Can't say for sure which trick fixed it though, and for how long...

I wonder whether, as Eldritch suggests, the sort of exercising you're doing might be contributing to your back pain; I know you've got a small bump but your spine is still under extra strain as it's going to be compensating for the weight you're carrying out front. Running, for example, won't be helping. I'm exercising regularly too (at 32 weeks) but sticking to low impact stuff: exercise bike, cross trainer, pilates, yoga, and haven't had any probs with my back other than after long walks out with my daughter.

Thank you so much everyone for your advice! I think I have to accept that my running days are probably over, for the next 3 months anyway! That probably hasn't been helping. My personal trainer is very experienced with pregnant clients so I think everything else I am doing exercise wise is OK. I am going to try some extra pillows to keep me in one place! Thanks again