POSTED: Friday, June 17, 2011 - 11:01am
UPDATED: Friday, June 17, 2011 - 2:36pm
NBC NEWS — Pregnant women who sleep on their backs or right sides late in pregnancy might increase the risk for stillbirth.
Researchers from New Zealand compared sleep positions of 155 women who had stillbirths and 310 who delivered healthy babies.
Sleeping on the back or right side doubled the risk for stillbirth, but the overall incidence was quite low: just 4 in 1,000 births.
Doctors say lying on the left side may help blood flow freely to the baby but larger studies need to be done to confirm it.