How to Get Comfortable When Pregnant

The average length of pregnancy is around 268 days, or 38 weeks and 2 days. This is a long period, especially when you consider that you’re growing a life inside of you.

While you’re majorly excited about having a baby, this excitement certainly isn’t enough to overshadow the aches and pains you might get during this time. Thankfully, there are many ways to get pregnancy comfort!

In this article, we’ll discuss how to get comfortable when pregnant so the 9 months are as smooth as possible for you!

Eat Small Meals and Snacks

Heartburn is a common thing pregnant women get, and it can be really bothersome throughout the day, especially if you have morning sickness as well.

Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, consider switching to 5 or 6 small ones. Make sure your stomach’s not grumbling between any meals, but also take care that you don’t overeat during meals either.

As far as snacks go, keep it to crackers and bread, especially if you have morning sickness. These foods can help calm your stomach whenever it starts acting up.

Get Regular Exercise

This might sound counter-intuitive, but regular exercise can actually be good for eliminating discomfort. We don’t mean you should go out and run a marathon, of course! Even just walking around the neighborhood every night can be great for you.

When you exercise, this can help strengthen your body and increase your flexibility. In addition, it can help tire you out so you can fall asleep better at night.

Rest When You Need To

Your body is doing something incredible: creating new life! This will take a lot of resources, which is why fatigue kicks in.

You might’ve been a caffeine hound before getting pregnant, but you shouldn’t be having coffee now. Don’t feel guilty about taking naps throughout the day. Your partner can certainly handle taking care of the household while you’re replenishing your energy!

Drink More Water

Most people already don’t drink enough water on a regular basis. Now that you’re growing a life inside of you, you need to make doubly sure that you’re hydrating your body adequately.

If you’re thirsty when you drink a glass of water, this means you’re already dehydrated a little. Carry around a water bottle and take sips from it throughout the day, refilling it whenever you need to.

By keeping yourself well-hydrated, this can fight off much of the pregnancy discomfort many women feel, such as swelling and bloating.

Get Massages

It’s inevitable that you’ll feel lots of aches and pains during your pregnancy. So make sure you spoil yourself with regular massages during this time.

If you have a partner, get them to learn the proper techniques to give decent massages. There are lots of tutorials out there, including ones for pregnancy massages.

If you don’t have a partner, aren’t comfortable having them give you massages while you’re pregnant, or just want an excuse to get out of the house, then book one! The majority of professional places have staff on-hand that know how to safely give pregnant women massages.

This, in addition to taking nice and long warm baths, can ease joint and muscle pain.

Sleep on a Good Mattress

That mattress that has a few springs poking through might’ve been acceptable, but that was before you got pregnant. Now, you’re sensitive to all sorts of things, especially since your body is constantly aching.

What you need to do is invest in a decent sleeping setup, such as a hybrid innerspring mattress. When you can get a better night’s sleep, you’ll be able to tackle the day better.

What’s great is this will be an investment that’ll pay for itself for years to come. Not only will it give you better rest during pregnancy, but also after. Plus, your partner will sleep better too, which means more help for you!

Sleep in the Optimal Position

In the earlier stages of your pregnancy, you might be able to sleep in your regular positions. That can be on your back, side, or stomach. But once your belly gets big enough, not all of these positions are feasible anymore. And even if they are, they might cause lots of discomfort and unnecessary strain.

The best position to sleep in when you get into the later stages of pregnancy is on your side.

You might think that sleeping on your back is ok as well, but it’s actually not good for you. This is because your uterus can block the inferior vena cava, which is a vein. As a result, this can restrict blood flow to both you and the baby.

Sleeping on your back can also cause a variety of other health issues, such as low blood pressure, backaches, hemorrhoids, and breathing issues.

When you sleep on your side, this ensures that your uterus doesn’t put stress on your inferior vena cava. You’ll also decrease the chances of all the other above conditions.

Get Extra Support While Sleeping

In addition to sleeping on a better mattress in the right position, you should also add extra support. A great way to do so is to get 1 or 2 extra pillows to put in between your legs.

By doing this, it can provide extra stabilization. Plus, it’ll decrease the stress on your back, which means you’ll be able to wake up with less pain in the morning.

You should also consider placing a pillow behind your back. That way, if you do accidentally roll over to sleep on your back in the middle of the night, the pillow elevates your back a little and will decrease the pressure you might potentially put on your inferior vena cava.

Know How to Get Comfortable When Pregnant

By knowing how to get comfortable when pregnant, you can fully enjoy this special time. While your aches and pains certainly won’t go away 100%, at least now you know some effective methods to get comfortable, especially at night when you need some valuable shuteye.

Are you planning on breastfeeding? Then make sure your partner reads this article on how they can help you out!