Does Sleeping on Your Back Hurt the Baby

PhotoAlto/Ale Ventura / Getty Images

Pregnancy can be exhausting. Plus, you lot demand sleep now more than ever. But finding a comfortable position can be a challenge, especially when y'all are plagued with concerns over which positions are safe and which should exist avoided.

If you are a back sleeper, you may have heard that sleeping on your back is a pregnancy no-no. Naturally, y'all may be concerned, peculiarly if you wake to find that you have spent most of the night on your dorsum.

Turns out, back sleeping is fine during the get-go and second trimesters. Only during the third trimester, it increases your gamble of having a stillbirth and other issues, so information technology is all-time to cull another position.

"Sleeping on your back during pregnancy should be avoided in the 3rd trimester to avoid compression of the vein that returns blood to the center," says Kim Langdon, Dr., an Ohio-based OB/GYN with more than than 20 years of feel.

Sleeping on Your Back During Pregnancy

Previous studies indicated that sleeping on your dorsum during pregnancy puts you at take a chance of preeclampsia and your baby at risk of low birth weight, reduced fetal growth, and stillbirth. However, the latest enquiry says that slumber position is non an result during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.

When the babe, placenta, and uterine fluid abound heavier, slumber position becomes an important consideration. As you get closer to the 3rd trimester, this weight may shrink important blood vessels, leading to problems like low nascency weight, preeclampsia, reduced fetal growth, and stillbirth.

The weight of the contents of your uterus is what determines when dorsum sleeping becomes unsafe. This may vary from person to person, and so y'all should always talk with your healthcare provider to empathize exactly when and whether back sleeping is safe for you lot and your specific pregnancy.

Effectually 28 weeks gestation, choose a sleeping position other than supine. But if you practice wake upwardly on your back, merely resettle yourself on your side or stomach.

Every pregnancy is different. Be sure to consult with a healthcare provider about your circumstances if you have whatever questions about sleeping on your back while pregnant

Is Information technology Safety for Baby?

Dorsum sleeping during the get-go 28 weeks of pregnancy volition not likely touch your babe. After well-nigh 28 weeks, sleeping on your dorsum may increment the baby's take a chance of being born at low birth weight due to reduced fetal growth, or stillbirth.

Why You Should Non Sleep On Your Back Past 28 Weeks

Lying on your dorsum during pregnancy becomes problematic when your uterus becomes heavier, effectually 28 weeks. The contents of your uterus, which includes your baby, the placenta, and amniotic fluid, make up most a third of your pregnancy weight gain.

When y'all prevarication in the supine position, the weight of your uterus falls upon a vein called the inferior vena cava. The inferior vena cava returns blood from the belly to the heart. Compressing this vein may lead to low nascency weight, preeclampsia, reduced fetal growth, and stillbirth.

Risks of Sleeping On Your Dorsum By 28 Weeks Gestation

In that location are a few risks to be aware of when information technology comes to sleeping on your back later on on in pregnancy. Here are some of the risks associated with sleeping in a supine position.

Preeclampsia

Also much force per unit area on the vena cava may increment your risk of developing preeclampsia, loftier claret pressure during pregnancy. With preeclampsia, yous may experience headaches or abdominal hurting, and your baby is at adventure of preterm delivery or stillbirth.

Reduced Fetal Growth and Low Birthweight

Sleeping on your back past xxx weeks gestation can compress the junior vena cava, potentially restricting blood period, leading to reduced fetal growth. Reduced fetal growth too may result in low birth weight, which is defined as less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces. Babies built-in at low birth weight face increased risks, including animate problems and jaundice.

Stillbirth

Studies found a threefold increase in stillbirth risk when pregnant people slept on their back later 28 weeks gestation. Back sleeping increases the hazard of fetal growth brake and fetal stress, both of which contribute to the risk of stillbirth. If comorbidities are nowadays, these factors further increase the hazard of stillbirth.

When Tin I Resume Sleeping on My Back?

If you prefer to sleep in the supine position, it is fine to resume doing so after y'all give birth. When you lot deliver your infant and placenta, the vast majority of the weight in your uterus exits your trunk. Then, you no longer have the effect of compressing the vena cava to worry about. And one time your infant is dozing in a bassinet, your sleeping position will not affect their evolution.

Pregnancy-Rubber Alternatives

Back sleeping is no longer rubber subsequently 28 weeks gestation, but there are a few other comfortable positions for you to safely doze in.

Belly Sleeping

Sleeping on your stomach does not put pressure on any major blood vessels and is considered safety for your baby. Using a donut pillow like a Boppy may help you lot balance comfortably in this position.

Lateral Decubitus Position

If y'all sleep all-time on your dorsum, sleeping almost on your back but not quite might exist your about comfortable pick towards the third trimester.

"A skillful position for sleeping while meaning is what the medical community calls the lateral decubitus position," notes Alan Lindemann, MD, an obstetrician and maternal bloodshed expert and co-writer of "Modern Medicine: What You're Dying to Know," a consumer action guide about how to navigate the The states healthcare system. "This position is halfway between flat on your back and totally on your side."

Pillows and bolsters may assistance yous get into this position and stay in information technology while you slumber. When reclining in the lateral decubitus position, y'all tin can be on either side.

"The important point is to non be fully on your side or fully on your back," explains Dr. Lindemann.

Left Side Sleeping

Later 28 weeks gestation, sleeping on your correct side may have like risks to sleeping on your back because this position tin can shrink the aorta, a major avenue. Sleeping on your left side is a safe culling.

A Word From Verywell

Sleeping on your back during pregnancy is condom during the get-go two trimesters. During the third trimester, information technology is best to avoid back sleeping because it has been associated with some risks to both you and your baby.

If you wake to notice yourself sleeping on your dorsum, simply reposition yourself. Y'all also can place a pregnancy pillow backside your back to keep you lot from rolling into that position. Talk to a healthcare provider if you take any questions or concerns about slumber positions during pregnancy.

Does Sleeping on Your Back Hurt the Baby

Source: https://www.verywellfamily.com/can-pregnant-women-sleep-on-their-backs-5198522

Share :