Lying on a real risk of stillbirth

NEW RESEARCH has found that sleeping on the back during the late stages of pregnancy can increase a woman’s risk of suffering a stillbirth.

Carried out by an international team of researchers including the universities of Manchester and Leeds in the UK, the study looked at more than 1,000 women in England – 291 women who had a stillbirth 28 weeks or later into their pregnancy, and 735 women who had a live birth and who acted as the control group.

The women were interviewed about their sleeping positions among a number of other factors.

The researchers found that women who had a late stillbirth were 2.3 times more likely to report going to sleep on their back on the night before the baby died.

They estimate that if no pregnant women slept on her back, late-stage stillbirths could fall by 3.7%.

Although the study didn’t look at how sleeping positions were impacting on the unborn baby and increasing the risk, they suggested that in the late stage of pregnancy, a woman lying on her back has the combined weight of the baby and the womb puttting pressure on the mother’s blood flow.

This can restrict blood flow and oxygen to the baby, in addition, to disturbing the mother’s breathing patterns.

Commenting on the findings, researcher Dr Tomasina Stacey said: “A stillbirth is a devastating experience. The message that emerges from this research though, is that women can modify this particular risk factor themselves.

“When they go to bed, they should try to settle to sleep on their side and not their back – it doesn’t matter if it’s the left or right side.

“They should not worry if they wake up and find themselves on their back. The important thing is to commence sleep on their side.” – AFP-Relaxnews