Pregnant women 'should avoid sleeping on back in last trimester'

Conclusion This observational study suggests a mother's sleep position may influence their baby's activity in late pregnancy. Most mothers sleep on their left side, but babies were found to be slightly more likely to be actively awake if women slept on their right side. If they slept on their backs, babies were slightly more likely to be quietly asleep. These are interesting findings, but there are a few points to note: In all maternal sleeping positions, the foetuses were in a state of active sleep more than 80% of the time. Although there was a statistically significant difference in the amount of time babies spent quietly asleep or actively awake during different maternal sleeping positions, the actual percentage difference was only very small (less than 5% difference in all cases). This was a very small study – a much larger sample size of mothers would be needed to validate these findings. There may be other factors in play, such as mothers' diet and physical activity during the day. The baby's sleep or activity patterns automatically influence their heart rate. All the babies were born healthy. There's no evidence that sleep position puts the baby at risk of harm. Some organisations, such as the American Pregnancy Association, recommend pregnant women sleep on their left side as this will "increase the amount of blood and nutrients that reach the placenta". Links To The Headlines Expectant mothers should sleep on their side towards the en...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Source Type: news