Please help - Numbness at night

HI guys I need some advice... I am a back sleeper always have been but in the Iast few weeks I have been getting quite bad back pain on my left hand side when I get up to go to the toilet....SO have trained myself to sleep on my sides ( i say plural cos I often wake in the opposite side to which I go to sleep on)

Anyway the last couple of days I have been woken in the night with a dull ache in my left bum cheek, which slowly becomes a dead leg. It happens which ever side I sleep on and always on my left side.

Please help I am running out of options in bed, has this happened to anyone else?...my dh thinks it might be sciatic related but I cant find how to prevent it.

Thanks Lis

it certainly sounds like nerve compression from laying on your side

oh the joys of sleeping in pregnancy ;)

I have a few yoga poses, free to download, on link, and these will certainly help to free up the pelvis, promote blood flow and hopefully reduce the pressure on the nerve that is causing your numb bottom :)

x

Hi Lis,

Yep it definitely sounds like you are compressing a nerve in your pelvis (sounds like your sciatic nerve but impossible to say for sure over the net!!).

As you might know, when you enter the later stages of pregnancy your body releases a whole lot of hormones to prepare the body for labour and delivery. One of these is called Relaxin and it (surprise surprise) relaxes your ligaments to allow your greater movement of your pelvis during birth. Unfortunately it's not selective and it works on ALL of your ligaments, not just the pelvic ones, so you may have a bit of laxity in your lower back too.

The other thing is, as bubs grows your centre of gravity moves forward and places a bit more pressure on your lower back. So when you are upright during the day your back muscles are working harder, and when you are lying down at night to sleep things start to play up.

Do you have an osteopath or physio who can help you out?

HTH xo

You probably are compressing a nerve when you sleep making your leg and hand numb and tingly in the morning. I would suggest sleeping with a pillow behind your back and leaning back against it (a tilt to the left or right instead of all the way over on your sides). That way you are not fully on your side and you are not all the way on your back. Also I would suggest placing another pillow between your legs to help with lower back pain.
Good luck.

I had the same problem when I was pregnant with Charlie...and the pillow between the legs definately helped. I even had a massage done a couple of times didnt solve the problem though :(
I also found it more comfortable if i slept on the couch when it was bad...dont know why that made is better, but i slept better! lol

Good luck!

Hi Lis,

I get this too... I have a pillow between my legs and try to roll over to the other side once I wake up with the pain... also if you want to sleep on your back, you can put an extra pillow or two under your head/neck so you are a little more upright, and a pillow under your right side, this will move baby of the blood vessel... see how you go!