Sleeping comfortably during your third trimester of pregnancy is pretty much a pipe dream, thanks to a wild assortment of ailments including leg cramps, heartburn and the frequent need to pee.
As producer Patrice Poltzer puts it in the above Today New Baby Basics video, “Trying to get a good night’s sleep in your third trimester is a whole other level of terribleness. The only way to sleep marginally comfortably at this stage in the game is to sleep on your side.”
According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleeping on your left side can improve the flow of blood and nutrients to the fetus and to the mother’s uterus and kidneys.
While Poltzer isn’t the first to recommend using a pregnancy pillow ― a large s-shaped pillow that you wrap around yourself in a myriad of ways ― she gives a tongue-in-cheek demonstration of ways to get mildly comfortable while very pregnant.
“It’s kind of spooning you and you’re spooning the pillow all at the same time,” Poltzer explains.
The pregnancy pillow (or your own combination of pillows that make you feel comfortable) helps support your back and belly and can relieve pain.
Watch the video for more tips ― including Poltzer’s genius solution for relieving leg cramps.
Sarah DiGiulio is The Huffington Post’s sleep reporter. You can contact her at sarah.digiulio@huffingtonpost.com.
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