Use Pillows And Cushions

Using pillows and cushions to get you into a more comfortable position, and keep you there, is a great way to help you sleep better. The problem isn’t usually that you’re not tired (far from it, especially late in your pregnancy), but that you simply can’t find a spot in the bed or a position that will allow you to get relaxed enough for sleep. A curved pregnancy pillow is a great investment, and Parent Guide has useful information on which ones are best. You can use one of these specially designed pillows to wedge between your legs or behind your back. They’ll give you extra support and allow you to elevate your bump a little, which can help get you more comfortable.

Wear Loose Clothing

Try to avoid tight nightwear as much as possible. It’s best for you and your quality of sleep to wear comfortable, loose nightwear. Ideally, it should be made of cotton so that it is breathable and can help you doze off more easily.

Bed? Not Necessarily

When you think of sleep, you think of bed, but that isn’t necessarily going to be the best place for you to rest when you’re pregnant. If you find that you are more comfortable in a chair or on a couch, stay there. You need to be somewhere that sleep comes easily, not somewhere you’re going to be tossing and turning in all night. Make sure you have a blanket nearby so that if you start to feel sleepy, you can cover yourself up to keep warm (or someone can cover you up if they notice you’ve gone to sleep).

Eat Light Meals

You’re going to find that you’re super hungry during the last few months of your pregnancy – your baby needs a lot more nutrients to finish their growing. However, eating a heavy dinner before heading up to bed is going to be a problem when it comes to getting to sleep. You’ll be uncomfortable, and you’ll probably suffer from heartburn too. The best idea is to eat the heavier meals during the day (assuming you want them) and then eat a light supper. Plus try to stay away from spicy foods as this will aggravate your heartburn even more.

Exercise

When you are heavily pregnant, it’s likely that the last thing you’ll want to do is do any exercise. However, light, careful exercise (ideally in a class that is supervised) can really help when it comes to getting to bed and getting to sleep – and staying asleep. You’ll be more tired, but you’ll also be more relaxed due to the hormones being released into your body, and this will help sleep come a lot more quickly.

In order to make sure that you are avoiding problems and keeping up with what it takes to have a healthy pregnancy consider the following tips along your journey.

Plan Ahead To Avoid Stress

When you first find out that you are pregnant there is an initial wave of excitement as you plan for your new delivery.  This can quickly evolve into stressing over what you will need and all of the details that go along with that.

Some people stress so much about it that they end up putting it off entirely.  Putting off what needs to be done only leads to feeling more stressed and pressed for time at the last minute.

Try to plan ahead as much as possible.  This means making a list of everything that you will need and start purchasing it used or new as soon as you can.  Consider buying maternity wear, toys, and other things you will need as soon as you find out you’re pregnant. This way you won’t be pressed to meet the deadline for your projected birth expectancy date.

Practice Healthy Habits

One of the biggest frustrations of pregnancy can be excess weight gain.  While it’s normal and healthy to gain between 35 and 40 pounds during a pregnancy, some women gain more than this and have a hard time getting it off again.

Rather than putting yourself through extra stress and worrying about having to work it off again, try to avoid the excess gain altogether.  This means trying to eat as healthy as possible.  Not holding yourself back when you’re hungry but rather eating things which are derived from a natural source.  

Additionally, you should make sure to get in moderate exercise like walking or swimming.  These low impact exercises will make a big difference in your overall physique during your pregnancy.

Get Plenty Of Sleep

As your pregnancy progresses you may find that it becomes more and more difficult to sleep.  It’s important to get as much rest as possible during pregnancy since this will ensure that you have all of the energy that you need in order to host your baby inside of your womb.

Try to go to bed early and buy whatever items will help you get better nights sleep like a pregnancy pillow or white noise machine.

A review of studies found that babies whose mothers were prescribed drugs to deal with acid reflux in pregnancy were more likely to be treated for asthma in childhood.

Heartburn is caused by stomach acid passing from the stomach back into the oesophagus, the tube that connects the stomach to the throat. It is a very common condition in pregnancy because of hormonal changes and pressure on the stomach from the foetus.

Drugs called H2-receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors can help to block the acid reflux. They are considered safe to use in pregnancy because they do not affect the development of the baby.

Researchers, led by the universities of Edinburgh and Tampere, in Finland, reviewed eight previous studies that had examined health records involving more than 1.3 million children.

The team found that children born to mothers who had been prescribed acid-blocking drugs during pregnancy were at least a third more likely to have visited a doctor for symptoms of asthma. The scientists said that advice for expectant mothers should not change based on the findings but that further studies were needed.

Aziz Sheikh, co-director of the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Our study reports an association between the onset of asthma in children and their mothers’ use of acid-suppressing medication during pregnancy.

“It is important to stress that this association does not prove that the medicines caused asthma in these children and further research is needed to better understand this link.”

Samantha Walker, director of policy and research at Asthma UK, said: “We don’t yet know if the heartburn medication itself is contributing to the development of asthma in children or if there is a common factor we haven’t discovered yet that causes both heartburn in pregnant women and asthma in their children.

“The study points us towards something that needs further investigation, which is why we need to see more research carried out into the causes of asthma, a condition that affects 5.4 million people in the UK alone.”

The disorder — which affects about 15% of mothers — is known to start during pregnancy, and early detection is key in successful treatment. Women who have a previous history of psychiatric illness are more likely to suffer from PND.

As part of the National Maternity Strategy, all pregnant women who come for their first visit to hospital will have details of their past history and medication put on their electronic patient health record.

The Maternal & Newborn Clinical Management System is already in use at Cork University Maternity Hospital and University Hospital Kerry, and will be introduced at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin in November, followed by Holles Street in January. The Coombe will follow later next year, and the remainder of the Republic’s 19 maternity units will have the system in place by 2020.

Kilian McGrane, national director of the National Women’s and Infants’ Health Programme (NWIHP), said: “Perinatal health features strongly throughout the national maternity strategy. We are trying to capture a woman’s mental health status or their risk of it, and making sure supports are in place to follow them through their ante-natal and post-natal journey.

“It will note if there are any reasons for concern, and whether or not there is a referral path. The core objective is to identify women at risk at the earliest point of interaction with the service, and to give them the support they need.”

John Sheehan, consultant psychiatrist at the Rotunda, said depression is just as common in pregnancy as afterwards, with both at a rate of around 15%.

“For about a third of women, the symptoms of PND begin in pregnancy and, of those who score very high on our questionnaire before going home, about 75% became clinically depressed. Those with bipolar disorder are particularly at risk of developing PND and its more severe form, post-partum psychosis,” he said.

“This is about standardising care. It’s about early detection and raising awareness. If we believe a woman is at risk, we will link in with the GP and the public health nurse.”

Obstetrician Peter McKenna, a former master of the Rotunda and now clinical director of the NWIHP, said suicide is now recognised as a common cause of maternal death.

“Between 2009 and 2012, five women died by suicide while either pregnant or within 42 days of delivery.

“Prevention of suicide is extremely difficult, but the potential for stopping it can be put in place.

“There are a range of mental-health adjustments in the wake of pregnancy, that goes from almost normal to the most profound psychotic episodes.”

Digital Rights Ireland said it would be important to control access to such sensitive data.

The HSE said it takes the confidentiality of patient information very seriously. “Only authorised staff who have a duty of care and confidentiality to patients have access to patient records,” it said.