Pregnancy is a very critical stage for mothers alike for the reason that they do not only carry their lives, but they also bring with them the lives inside their bellies. Recent studies have shown that lying on one's back during late pregnancy increases the risk of stillbirth.
March of Dimes reports that statistically, around 24,000 babies are stillborn every year and that is just in America alone. There are varying unclear causes of stillbirth, but most of them include congenital disabilities, and problems with the umbilical cord.
According to the study conducted by the researchers, lying on one's back lowers the oxygen supply of the baby as it altered the heart rate and activity of the child. Professor Stone, one of the researchers of the study, explains that lying flat on the back compresses the central veins which are responsible for bringing blood back to the heart of the mother leading to a reduction of flow to the womb.
Medical News Today has suggested that mothers should lie on their left side especially those who are already in their third trimester. The evidence gathered from the study shows that babies are more responsibly favorable when mothers lie on their left side.
However, the flaw of the survey is that it only examined responses on positions for only 30 minutes, and thus it may be difficult to conclude for the effects of sleeping overnight such as how the bodies of mothers subconsciously place themselves or how the baby adapts to these positions overnight. Such topic shall be the study of future research that they plan to conduct.
Mothers should very well be aware of how they position their body as it can directly affect their babies. Especially during the later parts of the pregnancy where it gets extra sensitive, mothers should align their bodies in ways that they feel comfortable and ways that it feels safe for the baby.
