When does your sleeping position become really important?

[thehappydeer]

Hi there! I'm moving into my second trimester now and am wondering if its too early to really be concerned about sleeping on my left side all night.

My first babe was a surprise breech, so I might be extra cautious about topics related to the this little ones positioning, and was just wondering if I need to confine myself to one sleeping position for the next several months, or is it really most important during the last trimester?

Thanks for any input!

[sanguine_speed]

Uh, I hope it's never important because I can't control my body while I'm sleeping, and I cannot confine myself to any one sleeping position. This is especially true in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters when my back and hip pain dictate my sleeping position at any given hour or minute.

[JorgieGirl]

It's only important when you wake up feeling tingly or otherwise numbish anywhere. Then the easy fix (hopefulyl) is to adjust yourself.

You really can't control your sleeping positions and worrying about it wont help. Your best plan is to do your best during your waking hours to encourage a good position.

[sewcool]

i never knew the left side was a problem i alwasy thought is was dont sleep on your back ... why not th eleft side and how would the right be better?

[RedOakMomma]

I think sleeping in bed is fine...for breech concerns, it's sleeping in a recliner you want to avoid. (Or sitting reclined, really.)

[sostinkinhappy]

Originally Posted by sanguine_speed

Uh, I hope it's never important because I can't control my body while I'm sleeping, and I cannot confine myself to any one sleeping position.

Me too!!!

[steph66]

I know last pregnancy (4 yrs ago) my doctor said that after the fourth month the weight of the utuerus and baby might start to get uncomfortable sleeping on my back, he said that the left side was optimal but no problems at all about sleeping on your right. I was further along, maybe about 7 months or so when it started to hurt to sleep on my back so I became very mindful about that. This time around I am 15 weeks and a lot of days it hurts to sleep on my back. Last night I woke up crying b/c it hurt and I simply rolled to my side. Something about being on my back compresses my nerves and makes my sciatic nerve and both of my legs ache and hurt. I'd say just to do what feels comfortable for you and don't worry too much about sleeping in any one position, baby will be just fine

[mamaspirit]

Sleeping positions can affect the position of the baby, but I would be more worried about sitting positions than sleeping positions as long as you are not sleeping on your back. When you are sitting, make sure that your belly button is either pointing straight out or down towards the floor and not up at all. Also crawling on hands and knees and swimming belly down can help with position. Spinning babies has some great info on good fetal positioning!

[TheGorge]

The reason to avoid sleeping on your back is because of possible compression of vena cava, a major vein. Never heard of fetal positioning being influenced by the sleep position. My doctor said, sleep however you like, you'll feel uncomfortable & move if something's wrong, and no harm to the baby either way, only to you possibly.

[mamaspirit]

Sleeping on your back can also make a baby posterior (face up)... and can make a baby not want to stay head down.

[Jelinifer]

Originally Posted by mamaspirit

Sleeping on your back can also make a baby posterior (face up)... and can make a baby not want to stay head down.

My midwives and Chiropractor (Webster-Technique trained) have all strongly recommended against sleeping on my back for that reason, even if it isn't uncomfortable to do so.... I kept waking up on my back so I eventually piled up enough pillows on either side of me while I sleep so it's nearly impossible for me to roll over without waking up

[mediumcrunch]

When should you be really concerned about how you sleep? Um, never. The quality of your sleep ie. how comfortable you are has more impact on your babies health then the negligible benefit of increased cardiac output from lying on your left side all night.
If you are on your back and putting too much pressure on your inferior vena cava you will probably start feeling light headed and/or short of breath which is more than enough signal to tell you to roll over.

[TheGorge]

My husband's co-worker who's also pregnant is a stomach sleeper, and they invented some kind of a contraption of mattresses and pillows to allow her to sleep on her stomach. I can't visualize exactly how that works, but sounds interesting.

I myself used to sleep on my stomach almost exclusively, but almost since the beginning of the pregnancy, even though my belly was always on the smaller side, I completely lost the desire.

May I ask, what's up with chiropractic woo & pregnancy? Don't take offense, I'm just curious how people get the idea to go use chiropractic during pregnancy.

Again, my husband's also-pregnant co-worker goes to hers, so there must be more than a coincedence.

[TheGorge]

Originally Posted by mediumcrunch

When should you be really concerned about how you sleep? Um, never. The quality of your sleep ie. how comfortable you are has more impact on your babies health then the negligible benefit of increased cardiac output from lying on your left side all night.
If you are on your back and putting too much pressure on your inferior vena cava you will probably start feeling light headed and/or short of breath which is more than enough signal to tell you to roll over.

[jennica]

Originally Posted by TheGorge

May I ask, what's up with chiropractic woo & pregnancy? Don't take offense, I'm just curious how people get the idea to go use chiropractic during pregnancy.

Hee hee, do you know where you are? This is the site of woo And chiropractic is probably the least wooiest of it all. I think the idea is that keeping everything aligned helps with pain, discomfort, positioning of the baby, nerve issues, etc. If chiropractic helps you in general, then continuing to go while pregnant will probably be really beneficial. I go to the chiro because it makes me feel better and keeps me aligned, which means I avoid my lower back going out and not being able to move for weeks. I didn't get chiropractic when pregnant with DS because that was before my back problems and I didn't see the point of it then. Perhaps if I had gone then I wouldn't have developed the back problems? I somehow got a twisted pelvis somewhere along the way, probably from the pregnancy or birth they think, so regular treatments are a must for me. I think it's a good idea for all pregnant women, but I'm a big believer in chiropractic in general.

[mamaspirit]

Chiropractic care can also help with optimal fetal positioning, which can make a big difference in the kind of labor you have. And how you sleep, sit, stand, etc, can also make a difference. This is not just woo woo stuff. It has been researched and documented even by mainstream birth medicine.

[TheGorge]

Originally Posted by jennica

And chiropractic is probably the least wooiest of it all.

You know what's weird, I complained about lower back pain to my OBGYN back like 3 months ago, and she gave me a prescription for massage sessions... So what do you know, as soon as she did, my lower back pain ceased. That prescription is now in my fridge collection, which is growing.

There were 2 prescriptions I got for my knee pain that I brought on myself last summer, one for some PT sessions and another one for an anti-swelling ointment. The latter one is still on my fridge, but I did go to a PT... Made my knee hurt so much more! And I felt like the treatment/philosophy was sort of... woo-ish The sensible parts of it were all covered in The Anatomy of Stretching. And that's not even chiropractic, LOL.

My husband had his one and only experience with chiropractic about a year ago. Here are his words: "I thought I'd give it a try and see how it fares, since it's at worst ineffective. It's when I realized that he can actually hurt me that I decided the experiment wasn't worth the risk."

So, I'm skeptical of "manipulators", to say the least.

[MaerynPearl]

As for sleeping... Im a stomach sleeper, Im about 3 1/2 months, nearly 4, so stomach sleeping is slowly becoming uncomfortable, what I found with both of my previous children is a body pillow or two on one side of my body allows me to have the stomach-sleeping support while being on my side and not trying to manipulate my body around the stomach to get comfortable. I know it wont hurt the baby but it is starting to hurt me to do it without that support!

As for chiropractors... I don't go to them on a regular basis. As a matter of fact Ive only gone once but I can tell you from that experience and those of close relatives its more than just psychosomatic. I went in after a car accident, totally unable to move without pain because of what it did to my back. I left still a bit sore but nowhere near what I was and within a day I was completely better. I had the same thing happen early in this pregnancy but was unable to afford to go to a chiropractor, it took me almost a month to get completely better.

[mamaspirit]

It also really depends on the chiropractor you see. And for pregnancy relief it is important to see someone who is specially trained in pregancy chirpractic and webster technique.

[sanguine_speed]

I am wary of Webster as I went last time at 33 weeks...and my water broke. I ended up with a preemie after two full-term healthy babies.
Coincidence? Maybe.

Too close for comfort? Definitely.