Stomach sleeping

[LadyVeteran1 1]

ATTN: Stomach sleepers!!

I sleep on my stomach… I have my whole life.

How did you sleep at the beginning of your healing process and how soon were you able to return to sleeping on your stomach?

[SpartanMaker 1,282]

I slept on my back in a recliner for the first week or two. If you don't have a recliner, i don't know that I'd go out and buy one just for this, but I found it really helpful during the early recovery period.

I don't really know, but I'd think it would be a bit longer for sleeve patients to recover to the point that stomach sleeping was comfortable again? Your profile doesn't seem to have that info, so I'm not sure which surgery you're planning to have.

[Arabesque 7,574]

It just depends upon your healing. I’m a side sleeper with a twist (so like an 3/4 side sleeper) and I was sleeping like that from when I got home. Yet others, like @SpartanMaker, sleep on their backs on a recliner for a while. After I lost weight I thought hey I might be able to sleep fully on my tummy now my breasts are smaller but no. I developed lower back pain when I tried. And I’m not the only one who experienced this. Apparently tummy sleeping puts undue stress on your lower back and causes an unnatural arch hence the pain. And without having a belly anymore I didn’t have any extra ‘pillowing’ to support my back arch from underneath.

So it may be a case, like many things after surgery, of simply trying at random times and seeing how you go…. Unless your surgeon has specific requirements of course.

[buildabetteranna 19]

Body pillow for the win here. I am still using it over a month later because i missed having one after i moved in with my bf lol. I have always loved them because they help a lot with back pain too. But if you are on your side and lean into it it's almost as good as a tummy sleep

[Spinoza 1,503]

Ah - such an interesting topic!

Also a stomach sleeper through my whole life (including pregnancies with wedge pillows). I had to change to sleeping on my side for many weeks after my sleeve because of horrible draggy pain, with pillows wedged into various places, especially initially. I wish I had had a body pillow.

About 3 months post op I was able to sleep my stomach but by then actively preferring my side, and now I sleep only on my side.

One of the many random changes I've experienced post op.

Welcome to your new life 😍

[c945105 18]

At the start of my healing, I had to switch to sleeping on my back, which was tough. It took me about 3-4 weeks before I felt comfortable enough to sleep on my stomach again