Sleeping on your side during pregnancy can halve stillbirth risks, researchers find

Pregnant women can more than halve their chance of stillbirth by making one simple change in the final trimester, new research has found.

Women who sleep on their side during the final months of pregnancy cut the risk of stillbirth by more than half, a new study has found.

The impact of sleeping position is so great in the final trimester an international team of researchers found those who lay on their backs from 28 weeks of pregnancy increased the risk of stillbirth by 2.6 times.

About 2200 Australian families suffer stillbirth heartbreak each year and the latest University of Auckland-led international study is hoped to save hundreds of babies.

After analysing all available sleeping and stillbirth data from around the world — including 851 bereaved mothers and 2257 women with ongoing pregnancies — lead researcher Prof Lesley McCowan said switching to a side position can make a huge difference.

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Researchers say switching to a side sleeping position can greatly reduce the risk of stillbirth.

“Stillbirth is a tragedy for families. This study shows conclusively that something as simple as going to sleep on your side can reduce the risk,” Prof McCowan said.

The impact of a sleeping change is thought to be so strong that six per cent of stillbirth deaths — or 153,000 babies a year worldwide — could be avoided if all pregnant women lay on their backs.

Having jointly funded the research, Red Nose Australia welcomed the findings published on Monday in The Lancet.

RNA’s scientific advisory group member Dr Adrienne Gordon, who was also one of the study’s principal investigators, said blood flow to unborn babies could be decreased by 80 per cent in a if a pregnant woman sleeps on her back, compared to her side.

Dr Gordon said the increased risk to babies from sleeping position applies to all pregnancies

regardless of the other factors already known to contribute to stillbirth, however it could be avoided by sleeping on either the right of left side.

“This is a huge breakthrough for the prevention of stillbirth, which remains one of the greatest challenges in modern obstetric practice,” Dr Gordon said.

“Stillbirth is a national tragedy, which has a devastating and far reaching psychosocial impacts on women, families, caregivers and communities; as well as a wide-ranging economic impact on our health system and society.

“But what we are now able to tell pregnant women is that we know that going to sleep on their side halves the risk of stillbirth, and sleeping on their side is something they can easily do themselves at home.”