Sleeping Right in Pregnancy

Auckland University researchers have found a link between sleep position in the final hours of pregnancy and the risk of late stillbirth. Women who did not sleep on their left side on their last night of pregnancy had twice the risk of late stillbirth compared with women who did sleep on their left side, the study, published online by BMJ, found. The findings were a surprise to the scientific community. “This is a new observation and given that stillbirth rates in New Zealand have not changed in 2 years, it is a dramatic result,” said child health researcher and study co-author Ed Mitchell of Cure Kids, which funded the study. The researchers interviewed 155 women in Auckland who experienced stillbirth at 28 weeks or later, between July 26 and June 29; 31 women with ongoing pregnancies were also interviewed as controls.