This is probably going to sound silly but I have seen a lot of comments about sleeping in a recliner after coming home from surgery. Were you able to sleep in your bed? I don't have a recliner and really don't want to purchase one just for this reason but also need to be able to sleep comfortably. Would pillows propped against my headboard be sufficient? I'm having the sleeve on Nov 7th.

I tried all three (bed, recliner & propped up).

I'm a stomach sleeper, so I knew going in to it that the recliner and propped up don't work all the well for me. Obviously stomach sleeping right after abdominal surgery is problematic as well.

• Day 1 -- I tried the recliner and it was comfortable enough, but I didn't sleep all that well
• Day 2 -- Moved to the bed, propped up. This didn't work for me either because I kept sliding off the pillows and eventually worming my way on to my stomach.
• Day 3-5 -- back to the recliner for a few days
• Day 6 -- With the surgery gas finally gone, I was okay sleeping on my stomach again and have done so since.

I guess my thoughts are:

1. if you don't have a recliner, it would be silly to buy one just for this.
2. I have heard of people renting a medical recliner or even a medical bed from a medical supply house, but this seems like overkill to me. You could always check on the cost of this and decide if it's worth it to you.
3. A bed wedge may work better than just pillows if you have that available?
4. Your overall success here may depend on your preferred sleeping position.

i could not no matter how much i tried to sleep in my bed. Even propped up with a bunch of pillows but that is just me. Took me a month. The issue more came from getting into bed and especially getting out of bed. I could not by myself.

1 hour ago, BlessedMomma91 said:

This is probably going to sound silly but I have seen a lot of comments about sleeping in a recliner after coming home from surgery. Were you able to sleep in your bed? I don't have a recliner and really don't want to purchase one just for this reason but also need to be able to sleep comfortably. Would pillows propped against my headboard be sufficient? I'm having the sleeve on Nov 7th.

I bought a wedge and slept with no less than 5 pillows - that worked for me

I slept in my bed on my back with one of those pregnancy pillows & I was fine. Best of luck to you! 11/07 is right around the corner!!

I sleep on my back and I was fine in my adjustable bed with the back up. Oh can achieve this with a bed wedge. They have them at medical supply or even on Amazon (I think they are cheaper on Amazon but it’s been a long time since I bought one in the store).

I slept fine in my bed.

i took one of my couch's back cushions and brought to my bed to prop myself up on to sleep. Did this for a few months. It took a couple weeks to get used to cuz i was a stomach sleeper prior to surgery.

At first it was for ease of getting out of bed as well as to alleviate abdominal pain from surgery. Later, after i healed, i used it to alleviate any middle of the night regurgitation... i was very susceptible to this in the early months.

Im 4 years out now and i sleep with regular pillows...in every position imaginable lol.

Edited to add, i do sleep with a small pillow underneath my stomach/hips (if im stomach sleeping) now to avoid back pain in the morning though...now that my stomach bulk is gone, i seem to hyper-extend my lower back when on my stomach so the pillow helps.

Edited October 22, 20223 yr by ms.sss

I slept in bed from immediately after my surgery. No need for extra pillows, a wedge or anything. I’m a side sleeper & often sleep with a twist so my bottom half is 3/4 over & slept that way in hospital too. Didn’t have any issue getting in or out of bed either. Was careful though just in case. I do have a high bed which may have helped ??‍♀️ but I could get off my couch without issue too. Was the same after I had my gall removed.

I guess it’s another one of those individual things. Like some find they need a binder & others don’t. It may depend on your surgery & whether you had anything else done like a hernia repair. It could depend on how much weight you carry & where you carry it (like a lot in your abdominal region). Who knows???

I slept in my bed with some extra pillows to prop me up.

Thank you all for your suggestions and experiences. It is much appreciated. I've bought a wedge just in case I need to sleep elevated because I'm not going to buy a recliner just for this. However, I'm hoping I am lucky and can sleep without it in bed. I'm a stomach sleeper now so I'm going to have to adjust to my back so I assume the first few nights are going to be rough anyways.

Ha. We posted at the same time and it looks like you already ordered a bed wedge but I guess I will post this for others who have the same concern.

i wasn’t on this site long enough pre surgery to even realize that the recliner was a potential necessity or I would have probably done more to get prepared (even though like I said I was fine in my own adjustable bed). If you want to be really proactive without just wasting money you could research the two without ordering anything quite yet. Find a bed wedge on Amazon and have it in your cart. I’m sure you can find one that is next day shipping for if the other suggestions don’t work out. And you could even find out where to rent a recliner, if absolutely necessary, and what you need to do to get it if the bed wedge doesn’t work either. I am not sure how long it takes to get that stuff near you but when hospice ordered a bed for my grandma they were delivering it before transport arrived to bring her home from the hospital so apparently near me it’s delivered the same day. Hopefully you don’t need any of it, but if you are like me you will feel better knowing you have a plan in place just in case.

Edited October 23, 20223 yr by ShoppGirl

So I've had three surgeries in three weeks (mini gastric bypass, plus two emergency surgeries for bowel obstructions due to internal adhesions from the gastric bypass...). I'm a stomach sleeper and planned to sleep in a recliner if necessary, but after the first surgery, I was fine propped up with extra pillows for a couple of days, and then within 4 days, I was sleeping on my stomach again. Healing from the last emergency surgery is taking much longer (I don't think I was meant to be cut open THREE TIMES), but I was still able to sleep in bed the first night home (3 days after surgery), as long as I was propped up. It wasn't so much pain, but more that the swelling from the surgery seemed to press more on my stomach when I wasn't flat on my back.

Another stomach sleeper here. I slept in my own bed from day 1, I did have an extra pillow and sometimes one under my belly too, when I slept on my side. Either side was sore at the start, changing position was sore and getting into and out of bed was sore but once I got in a reasonably comfy position I could sleep. I didn't take pain relief other than a little paracetamol either. The pain lasted a couple of weeks, mostly in my left side, and then I was still aware of discomfort in certain positions for another couple of week. From about 6 weeks on I was back on my stomach and I have remained there ever since.

I stayed in a hotel for a few days after - I just did pillows around myself to stay on my back. By about week 2 I was able to sleep on my side again. Sleeping after that surgery was easy compared to Tummy Tuck ? I need to have legs and back elevated, and my back is so sore. (I’m only a week out)

2 hours ago, MistySkye said:

I stayed in a hotel for a few days after - I just did pillows around myself to stay on my back. By about week 2 I was able to sleep on my side again. sleeping after that surgery was easy compared to Tummy Tuck ? I need to have legs and back elevated, and my back is so sore. (I’m only a week out)

omg yes.

sleeping (or ever just sitting and getting up from a seated/laying position) after tummy tuck was the WORST!

congrats on the TT btw, it will get better soon enough and it will be AMAZING!