Sleep on your side when baby’s inside

29 Sept

Despite great advances in research and care for women and babies, the stillbirth rates have remained relatively stable. Stillbirth has lifelong impacts to women, families, caregivers, communities, and the healthcare system. Therefore, there is now a global health focus on preventing stillbirth. One of the easily modifiable risk factors for stillbirth is sleeping on your back after 28 weeks gestation of pregnancy.

Observational evidence has shown an association between sleeping on your back in pregnancy and stillbirth after 28 weeks of pregnancy. Sleeping on your back during pregnancy increases your risk of stillbirth by 10%, that means that 1 in 10 stillbirths could be preventing simply by avoiding sleeping on your back.

But how does sleeping on your side help?

Sleeping on your back after 28 weeks of pregnancy causes the weight of the pregnancy to compress the vena-cava by approximately 85% and the aorta by approximately 30% (these are the two main blood vessels providing blood flow to your growing baby), meaning that there is reduced oxygen delivery to the baby.

What should I do?

After 28 weeks, it is important to fall asleep on your side as this is usually the longest position held for sleep at night. If you wake up at night on your back, try not to stress and to roll onto your side to return to sleep. During the day, if you are having any naps it is important that these are also on your side.

Left or right side?

It does not matter if you sleep on your left or your right side, as long as you are not on your back and you are comfortable.

How can I stop myself rolling onto my back when I’m asleep?

You can use the Sleepybelly pregnancy pillow to reduce your risk of rolling onto your back in the night. This is because the back wedge prevents you from rolling flat onto your back while you are asleep. This can be adjusted to suit your growing belly, so it is perfect for any stage of pregnancy. The comfort of the pregnancy pillow also means that you will be able to fall asleep much faster on your side, and have a deeper sleep without the fear of rolling onto your back.