So, I just passed the 15 week mark a few days ago, and have started to have one of those nagging questions. Can I sleep on my back now or is that somehow going to cause all kinds of terrible things to happen?
I always fall asleep and wake up sleeping on my back, even though I change to my side during the night. I really like sleeping on my back. And not only do I like to sleep on my back. I like to sleep! Like, all the time. This has nothing to do with pregnancy. I have always thought, my god, if the USA had an Olympic Sleep team, I could vie for captain.
So trying to actually change my sleeping habits is a royal bitch. Because I don’t want to. But I don’t want to squash my babies’ brains or anything either, so to find out what I should do I turned to that valued repository of ALL KNOWLEDGE IN THE UNIVERSE, the Google. And I came up with all manner of answers.
Answer 1: Don’t sleep on your back after the first trimester. I can’t remember exactly where I read this and I can’t find the source now. Shup!
Answer 2: Don’t sleep on your back after 16 weeks. Same deal – I’m sorry. One of those things I saw on the innernets someplace before I started to write this article and not can’t find it.
Answer 3: Sleep in whatever position is comfortable. (source) (My favorite answer, but not necessarily the one I go with.)
Answer 4: Sleep on your left side to increase the amount of blood and nutrients that reach the placenta and your baby. Keep your legs and knees bent and a pillow between your legs. (source)
What’s the deal with this? Well, apparently, if you sleep on your back the nugget(s) in your belly can squish a major artery and impede the flow of blood to your heart and to the placenta (or in my case, placentas). That really doesn’t sound so good to me. Damn. Double damn.
Last night I slept on my left side with a pillow obnoxiously wedged under my back so I wouldn’t be able to roll. It actually worked, though I wasn’t terribly happy to sleep on my side all night. Tomorrow I go to the doc and will get the definitive answer to this mystery from her, and will update appropriately.
*Update! 9/9/09
So I asked the nurse yesterday if I can sleep on my back, and she reiterated the “sleep on your left side” advice I’ve heard a few places. She also told me that when the babies were big enough for this to be a big deal, I wouldn’t want to sleep on my back anyway because it’ll feel way too uncomfortable – which is good to know! Here I thought I’d unknowingly do something that might squish their heads or something, when all along it seems my body will tell me how and which way I can sleep. Seems like my body is really bossing me around these days…
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