Important Things Pregnant Women Need To Know About Sleeping

Wondering how to improve your sleep during pregnancy? Consider the following tips for sleeping safely and restfully in the months leading up to childbirth:

It’s Beneficial to Begin Each Night on Your Left Side

When your baby bump appears, it provides an inconvenient obstacle to restful sleep. All of a sudden, you’re more limited in the positions you can sleep in.

Obviously, sleeping on your stomach gets increasingly less comfortable as the baby bump grows. Sleeping on your stomach isn’t ideal, but you don’t need to stress about it if you do occasionally happen to awaken lying on your stomach. Your amniotic fluid provides protection for your baby, so there isn’t much danger that your body weight will squish your little one.

Sleeping on your side is not only more comfortable, it is also ideal for ensuring your baby’s safety at this critical time. In particular, some doctors now recommend that pregnant women sleep on their left side – or at least that you begin each night in this position, even if your position changes while you’re sleeping. There are documented medical reasons for this recommendation.

On the outside, your body appears to be perfectly symmetrical – so if you sleep on your side, it doesn’t seem as if it should matter which side you choose. However, that’s a flawed assumption. Your body isn’t actually symmetrical on the inside.

One critical difference between your right side and your left side: Running along the right side of your spinal cord, there is a substantial vein, known as the inferior vena cava (IVC), that carries blood from the lower half of your body to your heart. Sleeping on either your back or your right side could potentially impede the flow of blood through this vein, which could have the undesirable effect of lowering blood pressure to both you and your baby. This is less likely to be a problem when you sleep on your left side.

Furthermore, research indicates that sleeping on your back during late stages of pregnancy correlates with an increased risk of having a stillborn baby. This risk appears to decrease if you sleep on your left side. However, researchers in another study found that there is a negligible amount of difference between results for expectant mothers who slept on their right and left sides; their conclusion was that it’s preferable to sleep on either side rather than sleeping on your back. 

So, bottom line, it’s beneficial to avoid sleeping on your back, particularly in the late stages of pregnancy. You might want to aim for sleeping on your left side when possible; but considering that your position will change as you sleep, it appears to be fine if you sleep on either your right or your left side, or if you shift back and forth from right side to left as you sleep.

There Are Effective Natural Remedies for Pregnancy-Related Insomnia

It isn’t uncommon for people who experience insomnia to take sleeping pills or similar remedies that induce drowsiness. However, it’s best to avoid sleeping pills when you’re pregnant, for a number of reasons:

●     Barbiturates can be habit-forming. When a mother-to-be uses these drugs during pregnancy, the newborn may become addicted to them and exhibit withdrawal symptoms soon after birth.

●     Research indicates a probability that barbiturate exposure in the womb could potentially result in numerous problems for babies ranging from birth defects to decreased IQ and learning disabilities.

Instead of relying on potentially harmful chemical medications to relieve insomnia, consider using natural remedies:

In Iran, women have historically used lettuce seeds as an insomnia remedy during pregnancy. A group of researchers at the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Shiraz, Iran conducted a study to see if there was actually a medical benefit to this remedy. They determined that lettuce seeds are both safe and effective for this purpose. Their research was published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in August of 2018.

Vitamin D may be beneficial for pregnant women who experience insomnia. Research indicates that low levels of vitamin D are correlated with poor sleep quality in pregnant women. Experts at the American Pregnancy Association recommend that pregnant women should get 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily. Their recommendation is based on results from a study in which the researchers determined this intake to be ideal for preventing preterm births and infections. It can be tricky to ensure proper dosage, so we recommend consulting your doctor or a qualified nutritionist for help with this.

Physical exercise at appropriate levels can also help to combat insomnia.

Furthermore, it’s beneficial to ensure you’re sleeping in a sufficiently restful environment. Ideally, you’ll want to sleep in a darkened room on a lump-free, comfortable mattress.

Hopefully these tips will help you to sleep peacefully and safely during your pregnancy.