Marina Fogle Backs Call For Pregnant Women To Sleep On Side To Reduce Stillbirth Risk | HuffPost Life

This could save 130 babies' lives a year in the UK.

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Life editor at HuffPost UK

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A pregnancy charity is urging women to sleep on their sides in their third trimester, after a study found this could reduce risk of stillbirth and save 130 babies’ lives a year.

National charity Tommy’s has launched the #SleepOnSide campaign to raise awareness of how important sleep position is during late pregnancy.

Marina Fogle, founder of The Bump Class, is backing the campaign. She has two children, Ludo, seven, and Iona, six, with her husband Ben Fogle. In 2014, their son Willem was stillborn at 33 weeks.

“Stillbirth is something that sends shivers down the achy spines of pregnant women,” she wrote of her experience in a blog on HuffPost UK.

“But stillbirth does happen, in fact every day, nine babies never get to open their eyes and see the wonderful world they were meant to live in. Nine sets of parents return home from hospital, empty handed and broken hearted.”

PA Archive/PA Images

Marina and Ben Fogle.

Fogle experienced a placental abruption, causing her to haemorrhage and her unborn son was starved of oxygen.

“Three years on, not a day goes by without me thinking about my third child, who we called Willem, the one I never got to know,” she added.

“I wonder what he’d look like and how he would have fitted in to our happy, hectic, loving family.”

Fogle has since worked with Tommy’s to learn about the work their Stillbirth Research Centre is doing to identify “modifiable risk factors” that women have the power to alter.

One of these risk factors is sleep position, so the charity has launched #SleepOnSide, after a study they funded - alongside Action Medical Research, Cure Kids and Sands - confirmed there is an increased stillbirth risk associated with pregnant women going to sleep on their back.

The Midlands and North of England Stillbirth Study (MiNESS), published in ‘BJOG’, is the largest study of maternal sleep position and risk of stillbirth.

It looked into 291 pregnancies that ended in stillbirth and 735 women who had a live birth.

doble-d via Getty Images

The MiNESS study found that women who go to sleep in the supine (lying on the back) position have a 2.3-fold increased risk of late stillbirth (after 28 weeks’ gestation) compared with women who go to sleep on their side.

Researchers estimated that if all pregnant women in the UK went to sleep on their side in the third trimester, 130 babies would be saved a year - a 3.7% decrease in stillbirth.

The study did not find a difference in risk between sleeping on the right or left side.

The advice to pregnant women is to go to sleep on their side for any episode of sleep in the third trimester, including:
- Going to sleep at night.
- Returning to sleep after any night wakenings.
- Day time naps.

Why stillbirth risk increases if a pregnant woman sleeps on her back is not yet known, but researchers from the MiNESS study shared several theories.

“In the third trimester, when the woman is lying on her back, the combined weight of the baby and the uterus (womb) puts pressure on the main blood vessels that supply the uterus, and this can restrict blood flow/oxygen to the baby,” they explained.

“Other possible explanations include disturbed breathing during sleep, which is worse when a woman sleeps on her back and in overweight or obese women, who also have an increased risk of stillbirth.”

Pregnant women shouldn’t be worried if they wake up in the night and realise they have been sleeping on their back as Tommy’s reassured women that they simply need to roll back onto their side before going back to sleep.

Edward Morris, vice president for clinical quality at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), said the study added to a “growing body of evidence” that this sleep position is a risk factor for stillbirth.

“This new research is extremely welcome as a significant number of stillbirths remain unexplained, particularly those in late pregnancy,” he said.

“The impact of stillbirth on parents and professionals is devastating and the RCOG is committed to working collaboratively on research, audit and training for healthcare professionals in order to achieve a substantial reduction in the UK stillbirth rate.”

Tips for going to sleep on your side in the last three months of pregnancy:
- Put a pillow or pillows behind your back to encourage side-sleeping.
- If you wake during the night, check your position.
- Pay the same attention to sleep position during the day as you would during the night.
- If you wake on your back during the night, don’t worry, just roll onto your side.

Fogle is urging people to share the outcomes of the study.

“It is estimated that if we make sure every pregnant woman knows to go to sleep on her side, it will drastically reduce our unacceptably high stillbirth rate,” she wrote in her blog.

“So, this is something we really need to shout about. Tell your friends, even if they’re not pregnant; they might well be one day and this could save the life of their little ones.”

The Sleep On Side campaign (#SleepOnSide) is led by Tommy’s and endorsed by NHS England, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of GPs.

Before You Go

How To Help A Friend Through Miscarriage

Send Flowers(01 of15)

While not everyone is as open to talking about their feelings as I am, I think everyone loves to receive a bright bouquet of flowers –- it’s a nice way to say that you’re there for her, and you care, without forcing her to talk about her feelings. (credit:Getty)

Share Your Story(02 of15)

If you’ve gone through a similar experience, share your story with your grieving friend. While it’s unfortunate that miscarriage is so common, your friend can take comfort in not being alone. Knowing that others in their own network of friends have experienced the same thing makes it easier to work through the grieving process. (credit:Getty)

Pamper Her(03 of15)

There’s no better time for your friend to focus on taking care of themselves. A restful body will help to heal the mind. Gift your friend with a massage or a pedicure so she is forced to take time out to enjoy a little pampering. And if you can, join her! (credit:Getty)

Don’t Try To Tell Her That It'll All Be OK(04 of15)

Unfortunately, there isn’t really anything you can do to reassure your friend that they’ll feel better in a few weeks or months. It’s a grieving process –- one that affects everyone differently. All that you can do is lend an ear, hold a hand and wait it out with them. (credit:Getty)

Don't Pry(05 of15)

While you may be wondering what the doctors discovered or if your friend is going to try again -- wait for your friend to share those details with you. Don’t try to pry it out of her. She might not be ready to discuss the details with you yet, but if you let her know that you’re there for her and available if she wants to talk, then she will come to you when she's ready. (credit:Getty)

(06 of15)

1. Your fertility is mostly determined by genetics, which influences how many eggs you are born with. Doctors believe that the number of eggs you have at birth determines the length of time you will remain fertile. At birth, women have about two million eggs in their ovaries. For every egg ovulated during your reproductive life, about 1,000 eggs undergo programmed cell death. Other things, such as smoking cigarettes and certain types of chemotherapy, can accelerate egg cell death and promote an earlier menopause.

(07 of15)

2. Regular menstrual cycles are a sign of regular ovulation.Most women have regular cycles lasting between 24 and 35 days. This is usually a sign of regular, predictable ovulation. Women who do not ovulate regularly have irregular menstrual cycles. Those who do not ovulate at all may have a genetic condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

(08 of15)

3. Basal temperature charting does not predict ovulation.An older method of tracking ovulation involves taking your oral body temperature each morning before getting out of bed. This is called basal body temperature. This method is used to spot a rise in basal temperature, which is a sign that progesterone is being produced. The main problem with using this method is that your temperature rises after ovulation has already occurred. This makes it more difficult to time intercourse at an optimal time for conception. A better method is to use over-the-counter urine ovulation predictor test kits such as Clearblue Easy. These kits test for the hormone that prompts ovulation, which is called luteinizing hormone (LH).

(09 of15)

4. Most women with blocked fallopian tubes are completely unaware they may have had a prior pelvic infection.About 10 percent of infertility cases are due to tubal disease, either complete blockage or pelvic scarring causing tubal malfunction. One major cause of tubal disease is a prior pelvic infection from a sexually transmitted disease such as chlamydia. These infections can cause so few symptoms that you may be completely unaware your tubes are affected. This is why fertility physicians will order a dye test of the tubes, called a hysterosalpingogram (HSG), if you have been trying and failing to conceive for 6 months or longer.

(10 of15)

5. In most cases, stress does not cause infertility. Except in rare cases of extreme physical or emotional distress, women will keep ovulating regularly. Conceiving while on vacation is likely less about relaxation than about coincidence and good timing of sex.

(11 of15)

6. By age 44, most women are infertile, even if they are still ovulating regularly. Even with significant fertility treatment, rates of conception are very low after age 43. Most women who conceive in their mid-40's with fertility treatment are using donated eggs from younger women.

(12 of15)

7. Having fathered a pregnancy in the past does not guarantee fertility. Sperm counts can change quite a bit with time, so never assume that a prior pregnancy guarantees fertile sperm. Obtaining a semen analysis is the only way to be sure the sperm are still healthy!

(13 of15)

8. For the most part, diet has little or nothing to do with fertility. Despite popular press, there is little scientific data showing that a particular diet or food promotes fertility. One limited study did suggest a Mediterranean diet with olive oil, fish and legumes may help promote fertility.

(14 of15)

9. Vitamin D may improve results of fertility treatments. A recent study from the University of Southern California suggested that women who were undergoing fertility treatments, but had low vitamin D levels, might have lower rates of conception. This vitamin is also essential during pregnancy. At Pacific Fertility Center, we recommend our patients take 2,000-4,000 IU per day.

(15 of15)

10. Being either underweight or overweight is clearly linked with lowered levels of fertility. The evidence in recent years is that obesity is clearly linked with a longer time to conception. Having a body mass index less than 18 or over 32 is associated with problems ovulating and conceiving, as well as problems during pregnancy.

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