Pregnant women who sleep on their backs are at greater risk of having a stillbirth, a new study suggests.
Mothers-to-be in Ghana who slept in this position were found to be five times more likely to have a baby with a low birth weight, and for some women this resulted in a stillbirth, the researchers said.
The researchers also claimed that more than a quarter of cases of stillbirth might be avoided simply by ensuring that women change their sleeping position.
The study was conducted in Ghana where between 20 and 50 of every 1,000 babies are stillborn, compared with just 3.5 per 1,000 in the UK.
But a recent study in New Zealand suggests that supine sleep — the technical term for sleeping on your back — is linked to higher stillbirth rates in high income countries, too.
The study’s senior author, Louise O’Brien, from the University of Michigan, said: ‘If maternal sleep position does play a role in stillbirth, encouraging pregnant women everywhere not to sleep on their back is a simple approach that may improve pregnancy outcomes.
‘In Ghana, inexpensive interventions are urgently needed to improve pregnancy outcomes.
‘This is a behaviour that can be modified — encouraging women to avoid sleeping on their back would be a low-cost method to reduce stillbirths in Ghana and other low-income countries, Daily Mail informs.
‘The data in this study suggests that more than one-quarter of stillbirths might be avoided by altering maternal sleep position.’
