Why pregnant patients need to sleep on their sides
Public health campaign pushing a shift in bedtime habits could help babies' weight, say researchers
2nd October 2019
Pregnant women who go to sleep on their backs in the final trimester deliver smaller babies than those who favour other sleeping positions, a New Zealand-led study shows.
In light of their findings, a public health campaign encouraging pregnant women to settle on their sides may have potential impacts on birth size, the researchers say.
“This study found that supine maternal going-to-sleep position is associated with reduced birth size in late pregnancy,” the authors wrote in JAMA Network Open.
In their study — analysing data from 1760 women at 28 weeks'