I just can't sleep, except on my back

[Anonymous]

I had the same problem and talked to my doctor about it. He said back sleeping presses on some artery, and the decreased blood flow might make the baby less comfortable, in which case he'd probably kick me awake and I could roll over to my side. As it turns out, my baby kicks whenever I lay down, no matter whether it's on my side or my back, so that's not super helpful, but I know lots of people who slept on their backs for their entire pregnancy with no problems, so I really wouldn't worry about it.

If it makes you feel any better, though, when I reached about 30 weeks I started actually feeling the circulation getting cut off when I was on my back -- it was sort of a feeling like I had a choker necklace on too tight or something -- and it made me feel lightheaded. Some nights, but not all, I get the same thing, but to a lesser extent, when I'm lying on my right side. It's better if I'm on my left side. I think that's a pretty good indication that your body will tell you if you're doing something wrong, and supports the HMS article an earlier PP posted that says the whole back-sleeping thing is only an issue for some people, not everyone.

Unfortunately my hips and ribs have not taken well to the side sleeping, so I'm pretty much just not sleeping, but that's for another post. And re the snoogle, I'd recommend laying down with it for a bit before you go to sleep to see if it actually works, so you can return it (before you've slept on it) if it doesn't. Those things are expensive, and I knew as soon as I put it on the bed that it wouldn't do any more for me than a pillow between my knees (which helps some, some nights).

[Anonymous]

I definitely feel it when I'm on my back for any length of time. My heart rate goes up, my breathing gets crazy... badness all around. But I'm also carrying up front and center, so it's pretty much all my extra weight pressing on my vena cava when I'm on my back.

I'm a side (and belly) sleeper anyway, but once the belly started getting heavy, I started propping myself up with all these pillows. One under the belly, one between my knees, one under head. It was a huge ordeal to roll over and I kept losing pillows off the side of the bed. My mom sent me a snoogle, and at first I wasn't sure it would work. But like any pillow it flattens out after a bit, and now it's a life saver. I'm almost 38 weeks and am still sleeping through the night once I get settled.

[Anonymous]

I just hit 35 weeks and am a back sleeper as well. When I lay on my back in bed I get a very tingly, heavy feeling from my naval down all the way through to my back and butt. Every thing feels very heavy and I do start to feel short of breaht. No doubt I am pressing on my vena cava or some large artery/vein that is making me feel this way. I then have trouble rolling over. My baby is sitting very low and I am a very petite person so right now there is a lot of baby and a lot of weight in a small area.

If you can tolerate it though go for it, I have never heard of someone having pregnancy issues because they slept on their backs.