Sleeping on my back

am0138

Hmm...woke up this morning with numb hands and arms though I wasn't laying on them, and a weird headache-ish sensation. I realized I was on my back. Could that have been some of the circulation-getting-cut-off I've heard about that's associated with sleeping on your back this far along? I constantly wake up in the night on my back and have to force myself to roll over on a side. It's driving me crazy because I'm a back sleeper!!

COgirl29

My hands and arms fall asleep while I'm sleeping ever since I started sleeping more on my sides (I'm a stomach sleeper). So it may just be since your body isn't used to it. My doc said that your body will wake you up if you are on your back when you no longer should. My best friend told me that when she slept on her back later in her pregnancy she would wake up super Nauseas and almost have to throw up - she said it was a pretty violent response from her own body.

blue_elle

Could be unrelated. The same used to happen to me frequently years ago and I thought it was neck related, but the doc said it was due straining the ulnar nerve (runs down the arm across the elbow). Learning on your elbows or bending them severely (talking on the phone) strain the nerve over time, then while sleeping I was squeezing my arms up to my chest. My husband had to tell me that I was doing this since I don't ever wake up that way. The pressure on the nerve for an extended time can cause numbness from hands to upper arms. 

Doc gave me some soft elbow braces (just a pull on tube basically) that kept me from bending so far and the numbness stopped right away. I only rarely wear them anymore as I think it's "trained" me not to sleep that way for the most part and I'm more careful about leaning and such. 

tesskerr

I had the same thing sleeping with my arms above my head, we had a new kitten who slept on my tummy and I didn't want to knock it off. Stretched my nerve and hands/fingers went numb.
I know we are more prone to carpel tunnel, so maybe other nerve stuff too?

Jmattis

That happened to me this morning- numb hands and legs. I was always a belly sleeper so its very difficult for me to sleep on my side. I constantly wake up on my back and then have to go back on my side. Nothing seems to work! I'm sure its fine and if it was bad, we would naturally wake up and feel a lot worse like PP said.

megngregk

I'm not sure if it's related to back sleeping or not. I have always been a side sleeper, but in the last few weeks I've found my arms falling asleep/getting very heavy when I'm laying down.

Maybe a body pillow behind you to keep you on your side?