![]() Sleeping on your left side with your knees bent and a pillow under your belly (or between your legs) is considered the most comfortable sleeping-while-pregnant position. Ha! But here’s the thing: While you can’t magically sleep exactly like you did pre-pregnancy, you can greatly improve the sleep quality you’re experiencing now-no matter your trimester. And you thought your sleep changed only after your baby arrived. In fact, 80% of moms-to-be say that it’s difficult to find a comfortable sleeping position, nearly 60% report insomnia-and every single one of the 2,000+ people surveyed say that they experienced frequent night-waking while pregnant, according to a report in the journal Sleep Medicine. ![]() And yet.sleeping while pregnant feels more like a dream than an attainable reality for so many. Your body is working so hard, churning out extra blood, hormones, and more so you can grow an actual human being! You’re achy. Check it out at you’re pregnant, you know that you need your sleep. Sharp: But if they're on their back, they shouldn't lose sleep over it.Īnnouncer: Have a question about a medical procedure? Want to learn more about a health condition? With over 2,000 interviews with our physicians and specialists, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find what you want to know. Miller: So it sounds like women that are pregnant beyond 20 weeks should start out lying on their side, try to sleep on their side, but if they wake up and they're on their back, don't worry about it.ĭr. I don't think it's the end of the world if one ends up on their back.ĭr. I think it's really more of a theoretical concern. Sharp: The worry is that if the blood is not flowing back to the baby, could that deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients. Miller: Well, so one of the things you talked about was compression of the major vessels in the body, but what would potentially be the bad outcome?ĭr. But what you can do, and the truth is even the right side is probably okay, it's mostly just that you're not flat, you could also prop yourself up with wedges, and that helps if you just can't sleep on your side.Īlso, a lot of people get these body pillows where they're able to take this really long pillow and they're kind of able to clutch that, put it between their thighs, and that kind of helps them stay on their side. But I thought, well, that is a dedicated mom. Miller: To keep herself from rolling onto her back?ĭr. I did have a really sweet patient who taped a tennis ball onto her back with duct tape. Sharp: Yes, because this has been happening certainly for centuries and centuries, so probably not a huge deal. Miller: So the key thing is if the woman starts out lying on her side and wakes up on her back, which is pretty common, that's probably just fine.ĭr. ![]() But the truth is everybody wakes up on their back, and there's rarely a pregnant woman that I see who doesn't ask that question.ĭr. ![]() Sharp: Well, there is one study that was relatively good, but not fantastic, that did show improvement in outcomes where patients slept on their left side. Miller: But does that matter or is that just an old wives' tale that you have the sleep on your side?ĭr. It's easier for the blood to get through.ĭr. So if you can have them kind of pressing against the aorta, which is the high pressure side, it's not as big a deal. Ideally, sometimes when a pregnant patient is more than 20 weeks pregnant, there is a little bit more compression against that vena cava. And then on the right side there is the vena cava, which is the return pipe. Miller: The aorta is a blood vessel that brings blood down to the lower part of the body and to the baby.ĭr. Sharp: Well, it is recommended, and the reason for that is the big vessel, the aorta, comes off the left side and it's the higher pressure.ĭr. Do women really need to sleep on their side when they're pregnant? What's the story there, Howard?ĭr. He's a professor of obstetrics and gynecology here at the University of Utah. Tom Miller.Īnnouncer: Access to our experts with in-depth information about the biggest health issues facing you today. Do you really have to sleep on your side? We're going to talk about that next on Scope Radio, and I'm Dr. Miller: You're pregnant and you're uncomfortable.
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