Giving sleep position advice in pregnancy: Will we make women anxious?

Background: There is now robust evidence that when women settle to sleep on their back in late pregnancy (>28 weeks) they are at increased risk of stillbirth. Therefore, there are several stillbirth prevention programs worldwide that have begun advising pregnant women to adopt a side position when settling to sleep in late pregnancy. However, some hold concerns that giving women information about sleep position and stillbirth risk may make them anxious.

Aim: This study aimed to determine what influences how 'safe sleep' messages are perceived by pregnant women and if there is anxiety associated with receiving this message.

Materials and methods: An online survey of 537 Australian women (n = 97 were 'currently pregnant'). The survey examined participant's views regarding sleep position messages, type of information source as well as participant characteristics such as general anxiety and their fetal health locus of control (FHLC).

Results: Our findings suggest that the FHLC may influence how health messaging regarding sleep in pregnancy is perceived and acted upon. We have also shown a subset of pregnant women may feel anxiety associated with the sleep position in pregnancy message. This may not be related to history of anxiety, but rather to their higher 'internal' FHLC, ie those who reflect a greater sense of personal agency over fetal health.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest most women will perceive information about settling into sleep position as informative rather than anxiety provoking. Therefore, maternity care providers should not be overly concerned about provoking anxiety when providing this information.