Hips Hurt - Sleeping on My Side

I'm 20 weeks pregnant with fraternal twin boys. I can't stand sleeping on my side. I have a wonderful, cozy bed and a body pillow that I put between my knees... but I keep waking up with awfully achy hips from laying on my side all night. It's the bottom hip that hurts, though, not the top one. And when I switch sides, the new bottom hip hurts too. Sometimes they hurt so bad during the night I have to get up and take some Tylenol. Any suggestions?

 

I have no suggestions, but boy do I remember that! I was a back sleeper before getting pregnant and having to sleep on my sides all of the time drove me crazy. Plus, I was on bedrest for 5 months, so my hips killed me too. I just had to flip back and forth over and over. Hopefully someone else will be able to give you some better advice, but it's definitely a normal thing.

 

I'm a side sleeper anyway, so that was nice for me. I just have to switch sides about every 1-2 hours, which is an Olympic event in itself. I just tell myself that I need to get used to getting up every couple hours for feedings anyway.

 

I had that horrible pain hip pain right around that time. What helped me was time in a pool (easier in summer, obviously), a good chiropractor (yes, my first experience with one was not good, but the 2nd person I saw was great!) who gave me exercises to do every day which helped, and for awhile, a blow up bed. Our bed is not comfortable so by chance I tried a blow up bed on the floor and LOVED it. It was so cushy and nice to be supported with air. Pregnancy massage felt good, too, but after a day I still felt pain. By far the best thing I did was find a good chiropractor.

 

i known what you mean! I don't have any sugestions, sorry!

 

My hips do the same thing, and the only thing that helped a bit was to put a pillow under my hip that I am laying on. But unfortunately, it only works for so long...i have to switch sides at least 2-3times a night, and it sucks because I know it isn't as good to sleep on my right side

 

Ugh, I had that exact pain too! I agree that the pool helps a lot.. it feels good all over to be motionless for a while. Also, I would not sleep on my side directly but sort of bring the top leg as far forward as I could so that I was almost more on my belly (although that was not very far toward the end of my pregnancy!) just to take the pressure off my hips. Sleeping in a recliner also helps too!

 

I had the same thing when pregnant with my twins. I can remember just feeling like I would flip from one side to the other when I was sleeping. The body pillow did help me a bit, but not completely.

 

I slept in a recliner for about 5 weeks when my hips hurt too badly to lay on my side. (I'm normally a side sleeper.)

 

A good chiropractor and a memory foam mattress topper! DH bought ours from Sams. I had LESS back pain with the twin pregnancy than my previous two (maybe because I wasn't working either....) I was seeing the chiropractor once a month.

 

Thanks for the advice, ladies! Last night I propped up on about four big pillows in a reclining position and I slept MUCH better than when I was trying to sleep on my side. Let's hope it works again tonight!

 

Im having the same issue. Normally, I toss and turn and am labled a "violent/restless sleeper" by my husband lol I kick, push, stretch, slap and recently knocked hubby right out of bed LOL Having to be confined to sleeping only on my sides is driving me INSANE. Not only do I have pain now but its taking longer to fall asleep. Ive tried the pillows and it doesnt work.

 

I was like that with all my pregnancies. I just turned over many times during the night. Nothing helped aside from that. I could not sleep well propped up. It caused other aches and pains.

 

That was my biggest sleeping problem too. (I especially remember it around 20 weeks, because DH and I were on vacation, and the variety of sleeping conditions, beds, etc. made it even worse.) Gradually I wound up sleeping mostly on my back (propped up on pillows) until I stopped being able to breathe that way around 35 weeks. Then I moved to the couch most of the time, and slept sort of leaning against the back of the couch, so I was partly on my side and partly on my back.

Another thing that sort of helped was to try to stretch out my hips and glute muscles. I got some PT for sciatica at one point (pre-pregnancy) and she taught me some stretches -- you could probably google "sciatica stretches" and find them. Even though the pain is not really sciatica, my hips always hurt more when my butt muscles are tight. I did those stretches until my stomach got too big around 25 weeks.

 

Thanks. Yea, the prop up trick only works every now and then. I think I'm just destined to be uncomfy. ardon: I'm a personal trainer and stretch technician, so I know a lot of stretches for the glutes, etc. I'll have to try that and see if it works!

 

I had this too, especially when I was on bedrest. Have you tried massage therapy?

The hospital I was in had massage therapy students come in 2x a week and massage the people on bedrest and it helped me tons.

 

I found that a 1.5 inch thick memory foam mattress topper was a HUGE help.

 

I slept in the recline position pretty early on. Then each month it seemed that I kept adding pillows to support each side of the belly b/c it got so big! I never could sleep on my left side when I was pregnant with the twins, I always had a lot of pressure in my chest & I felt like I couldn't breath. Recline position till the end was what worked for me.

 

Last pregnancy I slept on a recliner from about 24 weeks until I delivered. It was impossible to get into bed because the SPD was so bad. This time, at only 19 weeks, I sleep the way you described, sort of on my belly, but with my leg forward. I don't know how long I'll still be able to do that though.