Sleeping on right, sleeping during day and not weeing at night increases stillbirth risk researchers say

Pregnant women just can’t do anything ‘safely’ and now they are being advised that sleeping on their right side during the last night of pregnancy increases the risk of stillbirth.

The medical researchers who have been published on the British Medical Journal website today stress that the increased risk is small, but doubled compared to women sleeping on their left side.

The absolute risk for late stillbirth for women sleeping on their left was 1.96 per 1000 women compared to 3.93 per 1000 for those sleeping in any other positions.

The same research also finds that women getting up to wee once or less on the last night and sleeping regularly during the day in the last month are also at an increased risk of late stillbirth.

The research comes from the University of Auckland who interviewed 155 women who had suffered a stillbirth from 28 weeks onwards.

The researchers think this is due to restricted blood flow to the baby when the mother lies in positions other than the left for long periods of time.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Lucy Chappell from King’s College London, says given the UK has one of the highest rates of stillbirth in the developed world “any simple intervention that reduces the risk of stillbirth would be extremely welcome.”

Dr Chappell Chappell from King’s Collge London welcomes ‘simple intervention’ to help reduce the UK’s very high rate of stillbirth. But she also warns that more robust research is required, saying: “a forceful campaign urging pregnant women to sleep on their left side is not yet warranted.”