Mother hopes tip will spare others
Sleeping on side in late stages of pregnancy halves risk of stillbirth
Amother who lost two unborn babies is speaking out about the importance of sleeping side-on during the final stages of pregnancy.
Tania Cornwall is sharing her story as part of a nationwide campaign called Sleep on Side that aims to reduce the number of stillbirths in New Zealand after research revealed the dangers of pregnant women sleeping on their backs.
At 31 weeks of pregnancy, Cornwall lost her first child.
“Being told that they can’t find a heartbeat was devastating . . . it made for very scary pregnancies after that.”
Sadly, her horror didn’t end there.
“About seven months later I was given the all clear and fell pregnant to my second child, but after 10 weeks I
tmiscarried,” Cornwall said.
She said losing two unborn babies shattered her and her husband Dan’s dreams and they wondered if they were capable of having children.
Then, in 2008, Cornwall was invited to participate in the Auckland Stillbirth Study, interviewing mothers who had had stillbirths to identify risk factors during the pregnancy.
University of Auckland professor Lesley McCowan, who led the research that was followed up last year, said the study backed up international research that showed stillbirth was linked to pregnant women going to sleep on their backs.
Last year’s research showed that pregnant women who slept on their backs from 28 weeks pressed on a major blood vessel which reduced blood flow to the womb and oxygen supply to the baby.
Cornwall said finding this out was life-changing. Tania Cornwall suffered a stillbirth before Paige, 8, and Amber, 6, were born.
“There wasn’t a lot of control we had within the pregnancy with Mia [her first child] but the research empowered me with a bit more control over something I could physically do that was easy to help improve my chances of a normal pregnancy.”
Since then, the 39-year-old has had two children who she credits to McCowan’s research.
“I hope that by sharing my
story it will help prevent other parents from going through the horror we went through,” Cornwall said.
Each year, about 160 New Zealand babies are stillborn in the last three months of pregnancy.
The education campaign, developed by the University of Auckland and Ministry of Health in partnership with child health research charity Cure Kids, aims to save at least 16 of those babies every year.
About one in 20 women in New Zealand go to sleep on their back in the late stages of pregnancy.
McCowan said going to sleep on your side halved the risk of stillbirth compared with going to sleep on your back.
“We’re hoping this new information will have significant impact in changing habits.”
I hope that by sharing my story it will help prevent other parents from going through the horror we went through. Tania Cornwall