is sleeping on your back while pregnant okay?
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Experts recommend pregnant women avoid sleeping on their backs during the second and third trimesters. Why? The back sleep position rests the entire weight of the growing uterus and baby on your back, your intestines and your vena cava, the main vein that carries blood back to the heart from your lower body.
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But the truth is, you can relax—your body naturally protects your growing baby. In the early stages of pregnancy, it's actually safe to sleep on your stomach, says Ashley Roman, MD, an ob-gyn and maternal fetal medicine specialist at NYU Langone in New York City. Once your belly (and baby!)
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You sure can — at least for a while. Stomach sleeping is OK until you reach about weeks 16 to 18.
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Bottom line: It's still safest to lay baby down on their back for nap time and bedtime. Putting your little one to bed on their stomach isn't safe at any time in the first year of life — and placing them in a side-sleeping position is unfortunately a quick way to get to the stomach.
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Prone Positioning Restrictions: While stomach sleeping may be a safe, comfortable resting position for the early pregnant woman, the pressure necessary for massage in this position creates an unreliably safe situation.
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Switch to sleeping on your side After 16 weeks of pregnancy, sleeping on your back isn't such a good idea, because your baby is pressing on your blood vessels.
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Although your OB-GYN may recommend sleeping on your left side for optimal blood flow to your heart, a 2019 review of studies actually found that either left or right side is A-OK. However, sleeping on your back is not recommended as it causes your abdomen to rest on your intestines and some major blood vessels.
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Actually, you may sleep more than usual during the first trimester of your pregnancy. It's normal to feel tired as your body works to protect and nurture the developing baby.
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Sleep safety However, sleeping on your back is not recommended as it causes your abdomen to rest on your intestines and some major blood vessels. Pressure from the abdomen can cause a variety of health problems, the most serious of which is a lack of blood flow to mom and baby.
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Do not do any exercise where you lie flat on your back after the first 3 months of pregnancy. Do not use ankle weights, do double leg lifts, or do full sit ups. This strains your back. Do not do any activity that may cause jerking, bouncing, or high impact movements.
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Laying on your stomach, particularly in the early days of pregnancy is unlikely to do your unborn baby any harm. Midwife and Philips Avent Ambassador, Liz Wilkes says, “In early pregnancy, until you have a sizeable bump, lying on your stomach is both safe and generally comfortable.”
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The best advice for moms-to-be After 20 weeks of pregnancy, try not to spend the entire night on your back, Dr. Zanotti advises. She suggests putting a pillow between your back and the mattress as insurance.
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Finding a comfortable sleep position is difficult. You may also experience the following: Back pain. A combination of the hormones of pregnancy that relax the ligaments in your joints and lower back and your growing belly may be causing back pain that keeps you up.
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Some doctors specifically recommend that pregnant women sleep on the left side. Because your liver is on the right side of your abdomen, lying on your left side helps keep the uterus off that large organ.
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In the early days of pregnancy it is fine to sleep on your stomach. Your bump will not start showing until the second trimester and sleeping on your stomach is unlikely to be uncomfortable.
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Very early during pregnancy, expecting women can safely perform prone back extensions flat on the ground, as long as the movement feels good for her and her belly is not showing. She should avoid these movements once she is 12 weeks pregnant or when her belly starts to show (which may be much sooner).
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Sleeping on your stomach is fine in early pregnancy—but sooner or later you'll have to turn over. Generally, sleeping on your stomach is OK until the belly is growing, which is between 16 and 18 weeks. Once your bump starts to show, stomach sleeping gets pretty uncomfortable for most women.