Technically speaking, there is really no harm in sleeping on your belly when you are pregnant since your baby is safely floating around in a liquid bubble that cannot be compressed. But, I doubt you’ll see any woman in her second or third trimester try it. Would you want to sleep on top of a beach ball? It’s far from comfortable! Some women are so used to sleeping on their tummy, though, that they find it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep in any other position. Personally, it took me months to get used to sleeping on my side. Ironically now I can’t sleep on my stomach anymore and I’ve have converted to sleeping on my side for good.
There are ways to manipulate this sleeping position so that you can still feel like you are a tummy sleeper, without the discomfort of actually putting all your weight on your baby belly. Up until a certain point, you’ll be able to stuff a pillow under your right or left side, so that you’re laying on your tummy, but at an angle. This shifts most of your weight off your belly and onto the pillow, but still feels cozy. Once your belly reaches a certain size, however, you’ll have to add a few more pillows. Make that several more pillows. Create two stacks of pillows, one to support your chest and neck, and one to support your hips, allowing your belly to fill the space in between and lightly rest on the mattress. It looks ridiculous, I’m sure, but there were nights where this was the only way I could get comfortable. Another perk is this position encourages baby to drop out of your rib cage!
The neat part about (partially) sleeping on your stomach when you are expecting is how easy it is to feel your baby move around. The baby responds to the light pressure by moving around (just like if you were touching your belly) and sometimes they kick the mattress. One time my son was particularly active, and he was kicking about so much that he was making the whole mattress shake a little bit.
How did you get comfortable at night during those last weeks and months?