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Day 101 of 280 · 14 weeks + 3 days

Sleeping on your front, for now

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 5 sources · Plain-text version

Fourteen weeks and three days. Stomach sleeping is fine early on; from 28 weeks your side is safest. Today you mark the date and try the position once.

Size this week
about the size of a kiwi fruit
Length this week
around 8.5 cm from head to bottom
An East Asian woman in a loose t-shirt lying on her side in bed at dusk with a pillow between her knees, eyes open, a paper calendar on the bedside table, warm lamp.

Fourteen weeks and three days. If you sleep on your front and someone has already told you to stop, today is the plain answer: not yet, and a date for when.

Your baby

A whole brown kiwi fruit on a plain white ceramic plate, soft daylight.

Around 8.5cm long from head to bottom, about the size of a kiwi fruit (NHS). The baby is kicking, though you probably won't feel it yet (NHS), and however you lie, the baby is protected by the amniotic sac and the fluid around it (NHS). Your sleeping position isn't squashing anyone.

Your body

The NHS is direct: sleeping on your stomach is fine early on; after 28 weeks, sleeping on your side is safest (NHS). The reason it matters later is a vein. Side sleeping with the knees bent is likely the most comfortable position, and it keeps the baby from pressing on the large vein that returns blood from your legs to your heart (MedlinePlus). Many providers recommend the left side, which improves blood flow to the heart, fetus, uterus and kidneys, and MedlinePlus adds that it is best not to sleep flat on your back (MedlinePlus).

Sleep itself may be good right now. Many people sleep well in the first trimester and may need more sleep than usual (MedlinePlus). The night-time bathroom trips have a reason: your kidneys filter extra blood and make more urine, and the growing baby presses on the bladder (MedlinePlus).

Try today

  1. The sleep-position calendar

    Time: 5 minutes tonight

    1. Find the date you'll be 28 weeks: 14 weeks from today. Write "side" on it. After 28 weeks, sleeping on your side is safest (NHS).

    2. Until then, sleep however you sleep. On your stomach is fine early on (NHS).

    3. Tonight, fall asleep on your side with your knees bent, once, to learn what it feels like (MedlinePlus).

    4. If you wake on your back, roll to your side and go back to sleep. The advice is "best not to", not "never" (MedlinePlus).

    Make it work:

    Don't set alarms to check your position. The point of starting now is that by 28 weeks your body turns over on its own.

Watch for

  • Normal

    leg cramps, on the NHS's list of symptoms this week (NHS).

    Call your provider right away

    for pain and swelling in one leg but not the other, which can signal a blood clot (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    heartburn, often worse at night as digestion slows (MedlinePlus).

    Call 911

    or go to an emergency room for severe chest pain or shortness of breath that does not go away (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    waking to pee (MedlinePlus).

    Call your provider

    for pain when urinating, or a change in the smell or colour of your urine, which may signal a bladder infection (MedlinePlus).

For you

A pillow between the knees helps already. MedlinePlus lists pillows under the belly or between the legs, and a rolled pillow at the small of the back, to relieve pressure (MedlinePlus). You don't need a special one; a spare from the sofa works tonight.

If sleep is the problem rather than the position, the same page has the plain list: limit caffeinated drinks, skip large meals or lots of fluid within a few hours of bedtime, and don't exercise right before bed (MedlinePlus). And don't take any sleep aids, over-the-counter or herbal, without talking to your provider first (MedlinePlus).

If you're the partner: the second pillow is hers now. Get yourself another one.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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