Is it ok to sleep on my back?

Question

I read that it’s bad for the baby and my body to sleep on back during 2nd trimester. I tried to sleep on my left side, but it’s so uncomfortable that I always woke up sleep on back. Any suggestions?

Answer

I hope it's ok. Im also due in July and no matter how hard I try to sleep on my left I can only get comfy on my back or right side

Answer

It’s completely fine to sleep anyway that is comfortable. The reason they recommend left side is because it is supposed to be the best position to have good blood flow back to your heart. It’s the position where baby shouldn’t be pressing on your vein that carries blood back to the heart. However, you can be in any position. If your body senses your blood flow is blocked it will wake you up and have you adjust position. No reason to stress about how you sleep, you’re fine. 
No position is harmful to baby, it’s more just concern of making you uncomfortable. But as long as you’re comfortable there’s no worry

Answer

Later it can wind up cutting circulation to the baby and to your own heart. You have major blood vessels running and your stomach is sitting on top of them when you're on your back but it's  more so important not to as you get bigger not to lay on your back. However I do understand it being very uncomfortable on either side for too long but lately I find myself on my right side more with my girl Some nights I have it bad where both of my hips and both shoulders hurt and I be wanting to cry cause I can't get comfortable and I'll be 20 weeks Sunday. I been thinking about getting a pregnancy pillow. I'd just ask the doctor in case as well to be for sure like at what point second or third trimester exactly is it not safe.

Answer

I couldn't do it until I bought a pregnancy pillow. My knees were literally bruised from hitting each other while I slept on my side. Now, with the pillow, I'm sleeping much better! I still tend to find myself on my back sometimes, but when I am, the pillow keeps my hips crooked so my uterus doesn't push on my aorta.
I know it sucks, but my doctor also told me sleeping on your back can make hemmoroids begin or make them worse, so I'm willing to do anything to prevent them.

Answer

I asked my doctor this question at my 16 week checkup (about 3 weeks ago), because I’m a back sleeper, and read A LOT of research online - which resulted in my attempt to sleep on my sides from 13 weeks onward, causing a lot of hip pain (because I’m not used to it).  He told me to sleep whatever way I felt most comfortable until it became uncomfortable, at which point I would want to sleep in a different position anyway.  At 19.5 weeks, I still sometimes wake up on my back, but do have to turn back over to my side because the pressure is starting to increase.  Speak with your doctor if you’re concerned!  It certainly provided some relief for me, and I plan to check in with him again on this at my 20 week check-up.

Answer

Omg this is my struggle right now!! I am such a back sleeper and side sleeping all night really hurts my hips. I’m thinking of getting a pregnancy pillow from amazon to help me get comfy on my side. 
Normally I wouldn’t worry about this sort of thing but apparently a few small studies found that women who slept on their backs were more likely to have stillbirths. I didn’t see the research articles myself so I can’t confirm the strength of the studies or what % of the women actually had stillbirths. But stillbirth is a serious enough issue that I feel it’s worth it for me to try and force myself to sleep on my side. 
I read online that as long as you try to sleep on your sides that’s good enough (I mean what else can you do?). You waking up in the middle of the night is your body telling you to wake up so you can move 🤷🏽‍♀️ I’ve also heard that if you elevate your head/shoulders/back at 30 degrees, sleeping on your back is less harmful. But who knows, everything is just word of mouth and I never see research backing up claims.

Answer

You will feel when it gets uncomfortable. Sleep where you want until then.

Is it ok to sleep on my back?

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