New Zealand study has suggested that sleeping on the left side during late pregnancy could help women avoid still-birth risk. Researchers from the University of Auckland compared 155 women who had late still-births with 310 who had healthy pregnancies.
Sleeping on the right side or back doubled, but only to almost four in 1,000, the risk of left-sided sleepers. Left-side lying aids blood flow to the baby, as the mother's major blood vessels are unimpeded by a heavy womb. "There are many factors which are linked to still-birth including obesity, increasing maternal age, ethnicity, congenital anomalies and placental conditions. A significant number are unexplained," the BBC quoted Daghni Rajasingam of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, as saying.–Online