Ask the Pros
Birth Plans
Birth Stories
Bookstore
Boy or Girl
Cesareans
Chat Room
Complications
Doulas
Educators
Episiotomy
FAQs
Feeding Baby
Fertility
Finding a Class
Health
Interactive
Labor
Message Board
Monitoring
Newborns
Postcards
Postpartum
Pregnancy
Reviews/Awards
Search
VBAC
Week by Week

Ask A Childbirth Educator
Questions and Answer

Q. What are the dangers of sleeping all night on your right side or stomach. I am 20 weeks pregnant and find myself more comfortable on my right side as opposed the left.

A. There is no danger to sleeping on your right side as opposed to your left. The reason why left side is so often recommended is that in that position your kidneys and circulation work more efficiently, it is not because the right side is dangerous. If you can sleep on your stomach that is fine too---the baby is well-cushioned. I used to half lay on my stomach and half on my side with a pillow supporting my belly. Until I was in my last trimester of course, when I slept in any position I could stay comfortable in!

Karen Klimsak-Ungar, CCE has been a certified childbirth educator for Birth Works® since 1996. She is currently Managing Editor for the Birth Works newsletter, sits on the Birth Works Board of Directors, and serves on their National Trainee Review Committee. A happily married mother of two, she also continues to teach Birth Works classes as well as private classes.

Karen will answer your questions on fertility, pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and babies. Her advice does not take the place of your practitioner. Personal answers will not always be possible.