Is it safe to sleep on my back?

I’m 29 weeks pregnant. Is it okay to sleep on my back?

You can sleep on your back, your side or even upside-down if it’s comfortable! What’s behind the old wives’ tale that a pregnant woman shouldn’t sleep on her back? When you do so, the growing uterus can press on the large blood vessels that bring blood from your legs and pelvis back to the heart. In turn this would reduce the amount of blood available to pump back into circulation. The most common symptom in this situation is feeling lightheaded. If this were to happen, consciously or unconsciously, you would roll onto your side. In all my years of practice I have yet to find a patient who has suffered ill consequences from sleeping on her back. Before all these helpful pregnancy books were around, women managed to survive pregnancy just fine, even while sleeping on their backs. Perhaps we should learn a lesson from them and stop worrying so much. However, I would caution against exercising while lying on your back.