Lay or sleep in your left side rather than the right?
I'm just curious
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I believe it has something to do with better blood flow to the uterus. Also, your liver is on your right side, so lying on your left side will keep your uterus off of that organ.
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It has to with how your organs sit in your body. But i don't go by it. There's real research showing that late in pregnancy, back sleeping is associated with increased risks of problems, but I think the difference between left and right side is much less and may not really even be significant.
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It has to do with blood flow from your "lower" body back to your heart (through the inferior vena cava). The vessel is more to the right side of your body, so theoretically lying on your left provides the least obstructed flow. My understanding though, is that day-to-day, it's more important to avoid lying flat on your back (and only in the 3rd trimester). You are likely to wake yourself up/change positions long before doing any long term damage to your baby!
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I was just reading about this, because right side is so much comfier! It won't have much effect either way, because you aren't going to be lying in one position for hours and hours anyhow (if you are, lucky duck!). But the vena cava is on the right side, so left side allows for better blood flow.
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In the words of my OB "if you can find a position where you're comfortable to actually get some sleep, then go with it!"
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@babycanuck: better blood flow to the baby! It is actually pretty important.
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It's for better blood flow, but if you end up rolling to the other side (or on your back) your body will wake you if you need to move back
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I'm only 18 weeks, but sleeping on my back (or even leaning back on the couch on my back) is causing me dizziness and a shortness of breath feeling. right hand side is not so bad, though I do get the yucky feeling sometimes. left is by far the best.
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From a personal perspective, I find that if I lie on my right side for longer than 10 minutes it hurts anyway, which does correspond with the pressure on the liver. I do wake up in discomfort if I have been lying wrong, so I don't think it's a problem if you accidentally switch positions. That said, my snoogle prevents me from switching positions very much when I use it.
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My OB said it was even fine to sleep on my back as long as I was propped up on pillows.
Everything was so uncomfortable during the second half of my pregnancy that I had to roll over every couple of hours anyway. After a few hours in one position I would be in pain -- sleeping on my side resulted in hip pain -- so every time I woke up I would rearrange my bazillion pillows and roll from one side to the other or onto/off of my propped up back.
There is no way I would have survived by only sleeping on the same side all night. It would have been agony.
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I've always been a side sleeper. I mostly sleep on my left side but definitely flip back and forth throughout the night. My midwife says that's totally fine!
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Same as PP, it has to do with superior blood flow on your left. And also unrelated to pregnancy but still helpful I think your digestive system is more "open" when you lay on your left side do to how it's aligned in your body. So I've found that pregnant or not, if I have a stomach ache or gas, laying on my left side helps a lot.
But my doc also said that laying on my right is perfectly safe so I just alternated between the two. And laying on your back is ok, you will wake up if it's time to readjust.
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thanks everyone
I find I tend to prefer my right side, and I do wake up during the night on my back to adjust. Will do my best to get used to laying on the left for the baby.
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I've been wondering the same thing! Thank you!
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14 comments