Can pregnant women sleep on their backs?

Everyone has their own favorite sleeping posture. Some expectant mothers like to sleep lying on their backs when they are preparing to become pregnant. Whether they can continue to sleep lying on their backs after pregnancy depends on the actual number of weeks of pregnancy and the length of sleep time. In early pregnancy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with sleeping on your back.

However, as the pregnancy progresses, the baby will gradually grow. When lying flat, the enlarged uterus will be compressed by the inferior vena cava, one of the largest veins in the body, which may cause low blood pressure and lead to supine hypotension syndrome. In severe cases, it may even cause placental abruption, seriously endangering the lives of mother and baby. Therefore, after the 20th week of pregnancy, it is recommended that expectant mothers sleep on their side as much as possible. Many pregnant women know that sleeping on the left side is the best sleeping posture, but in fact, it is not necessary to sleep on the left side throughout the pregnancy. Sleeping on the right side is also possible. In addition, there is no problem with lying flat for a short period of time, such as less than half an hour.

The best sleeping position during pregnancy is sleeping on your side, and it is best for pregnant women to sleep on their left side, keeping their legs and knees bent. This posture can improve the right rotation of the uterus, relieve the compression of the inferior vena cava by the pregnant uterus, increase the blood volume returning to the heart, ensure adequate blood supply to the embryo, provide the fetus with the nutrients needed for development, and also help the pregnant mother's kidneys detoxify. Sleeping on your side can also relieve the mother's feet from getting wet. You can start to develop the habit of sleeping on your side in the early stages of pregnancy, and it will be easier to fall asleep when your belly gets bigger in the later stages.

You can change your sleeping position appropriately, and lying flat is also fine, but you don't have to maintain the lying flat position all the time, especially when entering the late pregnancy, it is not recommended for expectant mothers to sleep lying flat for a long time, because the weight of the fetus's large uterus in the late pregnancy will compress the large veins in the back, slowing down the blood flow from the feet back to the heart. But most people cannot control their posture after falling asleep. If they wake up lying flat, it is mostly because the body needs to change posture!