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A good night’s sleep is vitally essential for you and your growing baby. However, sleep tends to evade pregnant women when they need it the most. While lying down, your kidneys find it easier to flush excess fluid and wastes from your system, and blood flow to your placenta increases. During sleep, also you secrete more hormones involved in the growth, repair, and regeneration of your tissues. Even though rest is so important, however, most women have difficulty sleeping during pregnancy- especially in the last few months of the third trimester. No wonder, about 8 in every ten pregnant women complain of getting insufficient sleep in the later staged of pregnancy.
Lying on your stomach puts pressure on the womb, and it becomes impossible after the first few months. Your only option is then to lie on your side, although the weight of your stomach can pull you over and make it difficult to relax.
It is advised to start practicing sleeping on the side in early pregnancy. It helps to use a few extra pillows. Put one behind you, so you don’t roll on to your back during the night, or get your partner to snuggle up close. Place another pillow between your knees or fold it in half and place it in front of your legs. You can then roll forwards slightly, with your bent upper leg resting on the pillow. This stops you rolling fully on to your front.
Later in pregnancy, when you produce a hormone (relaxin) that softens your ligaments, backache can be a real nuisance, especially if you are sleeping on a mattress that is too hard or too soft. Special mattresses made from heat and pressure-sensitive viscoelastic polymers naturally mold to your body, so you partially sink into them. This will help to support the natural curves of your back by decreasing the load on your pressure points. The muscles and ligaments will also recover themselves during sleep. Now that the strain is less, the number of times you turn during sleep will also reduce from about 80 times a night to around 20 times. It allows you to sleep comfortably on your side without needing extra pillows; your hip sinks into the polymer just enough to support your tummy and make your bulge feel almost weightless. Read more about sleep during pregnancy here
Here are some tips for dealing with insomnia during pregnancy:
Homeopathy: Take the 6c remedy half an hour before going to bed and repeat every half hour if necessary, as follows:
Please do not self medicate. Do consult your doctor
Aromatherapy oils can also induce sleep. Use mandarin oil during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy. Thereafter, you can use lemon, sandalwood, lavender, chamomile or neroli oils. After the 16th week of pregnancy, try placing a herbal pillow filled with dried lavender flowers at the head of your bed.
Acupuncture and acupressure free blockages in the flow of energy (qi) and stimulate the release of natural opiate chemicals in the brain that help you relax. They are excellent for relieving insomnia linked with stress. Acupressure is similar but stimulates acupoints with firm thumb pres¬sure or fingertip massage (e.g. Shiatsu)
Bach flower remedies are homeopathic infusions of flower essences in brandy. These 38 different essences can treat most negative emotions that lead to difficulty in sleeping. A practitioner will select the one most suited to your state of mind. You should soon be enjoying a good night’s rest through natural, gentle means. Once your baby is born, you will be able to sleep on your front or back again. For at least the first few months, however, your sleep will be broken by night feeds. Interestingly, if you breastfeed, research shows that producing milk hormones help you to sleep better after waking in the night than if you give a bottle feed.
Happy Sleeping!!
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