Sleeping Tips for Pregnancy, Postpartum and Beyond
Nature is funny. We get time to prepare for baby, and some of the challenges we’ll face during this time are great practice for the biggest challenge: postpartum.
OK, I know, getting up to pee three times a night, struggling to find a comfortable position, and staring at the ceiling because your energy is jumping up and down doesn’t feel like a wonderful opportunity to get better at sleeping.
But if you do develop your skills by incorporating the sleeping tips that resonate with you, you’re giving a gift to the future mom you.
As a new mom, I remember lying next to my baby in her co-sleeper after breastfeeding, knowing she was just going to wake up again in an hour and a half, and wondering why I should even bother trying to sleep.
And of course, just as I was finally dropping back to sleep… I’d hear her breathing change. It was like a dragon demanding to be given its sacrifice. I was miserable. And then… I’d pull her out, and have the most beautiful experience… and go through it all again.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to drop right to sleep – or back to sleep when you wake up?
I learned these sleeping tips after the fact – I hope they help you get a longer and deeper night’s sleep, now and down the road.
Sleeping Tip 1: If you’re pregnant, it’s ok if you wake up on your back.
Yes, circulation is optimal when we lie on our left side. But if your weight is going forward, then even when you rest on your right side baby is probably fine, as baby is not pressing on the vena cava (the vein that returns blood to the heart). You can also lift your heart slightly above your pelvis and circulation will be optimal. If you stress out when you wake up on your back, there might be more risk of affecting baby with stress hormones than the possibility of a circulation problem because of your position.
When I worked at Kaiser Permanente, leading group prenatal visits and yoga with doctors and nurses for 6 years, they would say the same thing to pregnant women each time: ‘listen, we put you where we want you during labor. It’s not a big issue if you wake up on your back.’ Talk to your doctor to find out what’s ok, rather than believing everything you hear, so you can stay calm even if you wake up on your back.
Remember, educate and meditate. What’s right for YOU?
Sleeping Tip 2: Find the right sleep props
Some people like lots of pillows, others purchase a big pregnancy pillow Personally, I didn’t like how high they were on my neck – I like a very low pillow – even a folded towel with a little roll on the end to support the curve of my neck.
Definitely try a pregnancy wedge for under your belly as you lie on your side, especially as your belly grows. You might not even notice the discomfort caused by gravity pulling your belly down, but I loved my wedge.
And a yoga bolster is wonderful for so many things – including putting between your legs to keep your hips stable.
Sleeping Tip 3: Kick your partner out for the rest of your pregnancy
Sorry, partner, but you might have to sleep on the couch to support your growing family. Mama, you’re doing the work here – if you need more space, ask for it.
Sleeping Tip 4: Meditate before sleep for 2 minutes
This is so helpful. Sit up in bed and become as spacious as you can. You might want to ask your partner to do it with you – it’ll help melt away any tension and create a heart connection again.
Move your awareness into the spaces between the thoughts.
Spend two minutes letting the thoughts float by like clouds in the sky. That’s it – keep it simple.
Or, focus on your breathing. Try to make your exhales be twice as long as your inhales. This grounds your energy and initiates the parasympathetic nervous system response, calming the body down.
If you lose track of the breath and feel like your floating in awareness, great.
The space of meditation is similar to the space right before sleep. You can get skilled at getting there.
Plus, it can set the tone for the whole night to sleep deeply.
Sleeping Tip 5: Align with the day/night cycle
For hundreds of thousands of years, humans went to sleep at dark. 200 years ago we started staying up later because of electricity. Our body is still deeply programmed to go to sleep with the sun.
According to Ayurveda (and our honed down version of lifestyle routines called “Mayurveda”), sleep is easier and deeper if you get to sleep before 10pm. The hours between 10 and 2 are when the body digests the day.
If we’re up, we just get a second wind and we develop an appetite, and that same energy is spent on digesting food.
Developing a habit of getting to bed by 9:30pm will give you a nice long stretch once baby’s here – and allow you to be awake earlier in the morning, energized and ready to go.
Un-plug from working – especially on electric screens – by 6 pm. Do relaxing activities with your family instead.
Make sure you’ve completed your dinner 3 hours before sleep, so by at least 7pm.
If you have to snack, eat lightly steamed veggies or some light soup – something that’s easy to digest, so your body can do its natural cleansing processes while you sleep – instead of breaking down the food.
Dim the lights at 8. You’ll love waking up early and energized!
Sleeping Tip 7: Use a hot water bottle
Put a hot water on your abdomen (available at any pharmacy). It’s an amazing way to shift to warming, cozy, sleep energy.
You can also put it on your thighs – this grounds your energy (“Vata”) and tells your nervous system it’s ok to relax.
Do Yoga
Yoga lowers your blood pressure, heart rate, and even decreases the firings of the neurons of the brain.
Doing a few forward bends in the evening, or even a sun salute in the morning will help you sleep better, as it helps keep the nervous system more steady.
Ways to Get Back to Sleep
Become aware of your body as energy
Once you’ve woken up to pee or feed, you can visualize your chakras (energy centers) releasing and opening.
First try to lie perfectly still. Bring your awareness to your legs and relax them.
Allow them to become heavy – picture bones returning to earth.
Then move up to belly.
Imagine opening up space all around baby with your breath.
Move up to your heart and imagine connecting to all those you love from this place.
Move to the 3rd eye, right above the eyes in the middle.
Open up this place that allows you to see clearly all that is – your deepest vision and wisdom.
Go up to the top of your head, and open this place up to receive the energy of the universe, full of wisdom and power and freedom.
When you do this and just lie there, you are deeply nourishing and replenishing your body with consciousness, even if you aren’t sleeping quite yet.
Get into Child’s Pose
This is a funny one. To me, Child’s Pose is super relaxing in class (knees wide, feet together, rest your head on your hands), but in the middle of the night it feels like an intense hip opener. It’s hard to get there without waking your partner, but once you’re there, stay there for a while and feel your energy begin to settle downward through the hips – rather than spinning around your head.
Breathe only through the left-nostril
The left nostril is connected to the “Ida Nadi,” a subtle energy channel associated with feminine energy, cooling down, and the moon.
Breathing primarily through the left nostril is believed to promote relaxation and activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest response).
The practice of breathing primarily through the left nostril is sometimes called “Chandra Bhedana” (moon-activating breath).
This REALLY works. Use the sheet or pillow to gently cover your right nostril, close your mouth and breathe.
Try to make it past 5 minutes of this. I rarely can.
Tap and Breathe
Tap on any part of your body as you breathe in.
Tap as you breathe out.
Then, begin to slow both your tapping, and your breathing.
Slowwwww it all down.
Search for Sleep Videos
If you’ve tried everything yourself, there’s always help out there.
Search on youtube for sleep meditation or Tibetan bells.
Problem is you have to turn your phone off again when you get sleepy… but sometimes it’s worth it.
If You Have a Partner, Touch Him or Her
I love this one. When he’s asleep then any part of my body touching him is like a channel for sleepy energy. Sometimes I spoon to get the full flow of sleepiness. Focus on your partner’s energy and you will soon join them in relaxed slumber.
If all else fails, get up and meditate
Go into the living room, put on dim light or a candle, and try this meditation.
The time from 2-6am are considering the most powerful for meditation – we have access to great clarity and subtle awareness. And in the early dawn, we are said to be more available to transformation on the deepest levels.
If you’d like to receive a 5-minute audio guided meditation for 5 days, click here.
