Tag: discomfort during pregnancy

Tips For Getting a Good Night’s Sleep During Your Surrogate Pregnancy

Tips For Getting a Good Night’s Sleep During Your Surrogate Pregnancy

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During your surrogate pregnancy, you may encounter all kinds of sleep disturbances – nausea, heartburn, leg cramps, snoring. Bad sleeping habits from before your pregnancy may accentuate them.

Common sleep problems during pregnancy can start in the first semester, a period when you’ll experience frequent bathroom trips during the night, to urinate or vomit.

Sleep deprivation is not helpful for you or your baby; during your surrogate pregnancy, it’s important to get as much rest as possible so that the baby can develop healthily. Here are some tips for getting a good night’s sleep:

1. Avoid caffeine. When you get pregnant, it is important to watch your caffeine intake – stay away from caffeinated substances like coffee, tea, soda and even chocolate during the afternoon and evening to help you sleep better at night.

2. Don’t smoke or drink. Studies show that the effects of nicotine and alcohol are harmful to you and your baby. They can also make it hard to get a good night’s sleep. Nicotine is a stimulant, and it’s been determined that smokers get less deep and restful sleep and would normally feel less rested than non-smokers. Even though alcohol can make you sleepy, it tends to disrupt deep and restful sleep at night.

3. Exercise regularly. It is best to follow a light program of exercise during the day or early evening. Remember to first consult your doctor for the specific best exercise program. Exercising at the proper times can help you burn energy and get a better night’s sleep.

4. Take a warm bath before going to bed. The soothing and relaxing effects of a warm bath can help you get a good night’s sleep. Aromatherapy while taking your bath can also help you feel more relaxed.

5. Drink less during the late afternoon and early evening, and more earlier in the day. This helps reduce your need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

6. Avoid heavy meals and spicy foods before bedtime. Spicy foods such as chili, and acidic foods such as tomatoes, can cause heartburn and indigestion, which can keep you up at night. So can eating a big meal too close to bedtime. If heartburn is a problem, eat lighter meals and eat them earlier. Give yourself two to three hours to digest your food before you head to bed.

7. Use enough pillows when you sleep. Remember, there’s no such thing as too many pillows. Use them to prop you up, rest body parts on, place between your knees, whatever you need them for to help sleep better at night.

By following these simple yet effective tips, you can sleep better at night during your pregnancy. A lot of surrogates complain of fatigue in the day; this is partially because they don’t sleep well. When you take naps during the day, it is best to take them during the morning or early afternoon, so that you will still feel sleepy when it’s time to go to bed.

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Best Sleep Position During Your Surrogate Pregnancy

Best Sleep Position During Your Surrogate Pregnancy

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During your surrogate pregnancy, it’s normal to find yourself wrestling in bed, uncomfortably trying to get to sleep. Unfortunately, regular sleep positions may no longer be comfortable – they won’t necessarily work for you during pregnancy.

Several factors are behind this new discomfort in pregnancy. Your body goes through several changes – an increase in the size of your abdomen, muscle pains, back pains, heartburn and shortness of breath. But there are some recommended positions that may help you sleep more comfortable.

It’s best, during your surrogate pregnancy, to sleep on your side. In particular, sleeping on your left side may benefit the baby, by improving blood flow and circulation. As the baby grows, the abdomen has to harbor an ever-increasing uterus; this rests flat on the inferior vena cava, the main vein located on the right side of your spine – it drains the entire lower half of the body.

Sleeping on your left side will avoid compressing this vein, thus increasing your blood flow and circulation, and resulting in more nutrients to your placenta and baby.

The same sleeping position also helps your kidneys to efficiently eliminate waste products and fluids from your body, which in turn may reduce swelling in your ankles, feet and hands. So it’s a good idea to start training yourself early in pregnancy to sleep on your left whenever possible.

Of course, staying in one position all night is not likely to be comfortable, so changing between sides – while favoring your left – may be the best sleep strategy.

It can also be a good idea to keep your legs and knees bent, and a pillow between your legs, while you sleep on your left side.

As for sleeping on your back – that’s a position you need to avoid during your surrogate pregnancy, especially in its later months. This is because when you’re sleeping on your back, the weight of your uterus presses down on your spine, back muscles, intestines, and a number of major blood vessels.

This results in muscle aches and pains, hemorrhoids, digestive problems and impaired circulation – things that are uncomfortable for you, and can reduce circulation to your baby.

Back-sleeping can also lower your blood pressure, causing some expectant mothers to experience dizziness. (Although on the other hand, it can actually raise the blood pressure of other pregnant surrogates.)

It can also cause snoring and, as the baby grows and gains weight, could lead to sleep apnea or problems in breathing while asleep.

Remember, lying on your left is better than lying on your back, but lying on your left side is by far the best of all, because this position will put the least amount of weight on critical veins and organs.

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