Sleeping positions for hip pain while pregnant

The short answer. Lie on your side, either side, with something firm enough between your knees that your top knee sits level with your hip. Support the bump from underneath so it is not pulling forward, put a pillow behind your back so you are not fighting to stay there, and swap sides when you wake. If the pain does not settle within a week or two, speak to your midwife or GP.

What are the best sleeping positions for hip pain while pregnant?

Four positions, and they stack rather than compete. Side lying with a pillow between the knees, side lying with the bump supported, a pillow behind your back to encourage side-sleeping, and a semi reclined prop if lying flat on your side has stopped working. You may end up using three of the four at once.

Side lying with a pillow between your knees

This is the one that does the work. The pillow has to be thick enough that your top knee sits level with your hip, not below it. Below that line the leg pulls the pelvis round and the hip carries it all night. The POGP network, part of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, lists placing a pillow between your knees for sleeping in its own advice for pregnancy related pelvic and back pain.

Side lying with the bump supported

A second, flatter piece goes under the bump so it is not hanging towards the mattress and dragging your lower back with it. This one does not need to be a special pillow. A folded towel is often the right height, and the right height is whatever stops the pull.

A pillow behind your back

A wedge of pillow tucked along your spine makes the slow roll onto your back less likely, without locking you in place. It is the cheapest part of the whole arrangement and the one people skip. If you keep waking on your back, this is the piece you are missing.

Semi reclined, propped up

If side lying has stopped being bearable, propping your upper body at an angle takes the direct pressure off the hip point entirely. It is not a position anyone recommends for the whole night, but it is a real option at three in the morning.

Why do your hips hurt when you sleep on your side while pregnant?

Because on your side the hip joint carries the whole weight of the leg above it, pressed into a surface that does not yield. Add a pelvis whose ligaments have softened, and a bump that pulls forward whenever nothing is holding it, and the joint is loaded from two directions at once.

It is common enough to be measured. A 2018 descriptive study of 184 women published in Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease reported hip pain in 32.1 per cent of them. That figure gets quoted online as "32 per cent of pregnant women", which is not what the study says: it was one group at one hospital, not a national rate. We would rather give you the real number with its size attached than a rounder one without.

Is hip pain normal during pregnancy?

Common, yes. Tommy’s puts it at around 1 in 5 women and birthing people having pelvic pain in pregnancy, and states that you can get it at any time in pregnancy. The Pelvic, Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy network puts pelvic girdle pain at approximately 20 per cent of pregnant women, and pain in the lower back or the back of the pelvis at 50 per cent.

Common is not the same as fine. Those are the numbers, reported by the people who publish them. What they mean for you is a question for your midwife, not for us.

Which pregnancy pillow shape helps most with hip pain?

The shape matters less than two things: what it puts between your knees, and how much of the mattress it takes to do that. Here are ours, and the second column is the one nobody else prints. A standard UK double is 135 cm wide. A king is 150 cm. A small double is 120 cm.

What each shape puts between your knees, and what it leaves on a 135 cm UK double
Shape	Size	Left on a 135 cm double	Between your knees
Full body U	130 by 70 cm	about 65 cm, narrower than a single bed	a full height arm, on both sides at once
Two piece wing	64 to 78 by 36 cm, length adjusts	57 to 71 cm	a separate mini pillow, included
Straight bolster	about 122 cm long, width not published	not published, so we do not state it	the lower half of the bolster
Two ordinary pillows	whatever you already own	almost nothing	one folded pillow, which is the thing POGP actually describes

Two things worth saying plainly. The bolster width is blank because it is not published, and we are not going to estimate it to fill a cell. And the last row is not a joke: if two ordinary pillows are holding up for you, you do not need to buy anything. The only thing a made for purpose shape adds is that it does not slide apart at two in the morning.

If you want them side by side with prices, they are on our maternity pillows page.

Is a C shaped or U shaped pregnancy pillow better?

For hips specifically, the U does more and costs more bed. It puts an arm between your knees and an arm behind your back at the same time, so turning over does not mean rebuilding anything. A C shape gives you one or the other and you choose which side gets it.

The deciding factor is usually the mattress, not the bump. Ours is 130 by 70 cm, which on a 135 cm double leaves about 65 cm for whoever else is in the bed. That is narrower than a single. On a king it more or less disappears. We compare all our shapes, with the footprint of each, on pregnancy pillow shapes compared.

How do you use a pregnancy pillow to help with hip pain?

Four steps, in this order, because the third one is the easiest to get wrong.

Lie on whichever side you are on. It does not have to be the left.
Bring the top knee forward and rest it on the pillow, not over it.
Check the height. Your top knee should sit level with your hip. If it drops below, fold the pillow end or add an ordinary one underneath until it comes up.
Tuck the remaining piece behind your back, so staying on your side is not something you have to concentrate on.

Getting step three right is worth more than the shape you bought. There is a diagram of it, and the positions for each shape, on how to use a pregnancy pillow.

What else can help at night?

Things about the bed rather than about you. A mattress that is very firm gives the hip nowhere to sink, so a topper sometimes does more than a pillow. A cooler room makes it easier to stay still once you have found a position worth keeping.

Getting up in one piece rather than twisting off the edge is the other one. Swing both knees together, push up with the arm underneath, and let the pelvis stay square. It is the same movement people are taught after abdominal surgery, and it is the thing you will do six times a night in the third trimester.

When should you speak to a midwife or GP about hip pain?

If the pain wakes you every night, if it is getting worse rather than settling, if walking or turning in bed has become difficult, or if it worries you at all. You do not need to justify the appointment and you do not need to have tried anything first.

And the honest part. If a pillow is not helping after a week or two, the answer is not a different pillow. We sell these and we would still rather you spent the money on getting looked at. NHS and Tommy’s both have pages on pelvic pain in pregnancy that are worth reading before your appointment.

Questions people ask about hip pain and sleeping

How to stop hip pain at night in pregnancy?

There is no way to stop it on demand, and anyone promising that is selling something. What you can change is the geometry: lie on your side, put something firm between your knees so the top leg is not resting on the bottom one, and support the bump so it is not hanging forward. If that does not settle it within a week or two, speak to your midwife or GP.

Why do my hips hurt so bad when I sleep on my side while pregnant?

On your side, the whole weight of your upper leg presses the hip joint into the mattress, and if the knee drops forward the pelvis twists with it. A firm surface makes it worse because there is nowhere for the hip to sink. Filling the gap between the knees keeps the two legs stacked rather than crossed.

What kind of pregnancy pillow is good for hip pain?

Any shape that reliably stays between your knees all night. That is the only function that matters here. A full U does it on both sides at once but takes 70 cm of mattress. A two piece wing does it with a separate knee piece and leaves the bed shared. Two ordinary pillows do it too, until they slide apart.

How to help aching hips while sleeping while pregnant?

Change the surface and the angle before you change the pillow. A mattress that is very firm gives the hip nowhere to go. Rolling slightly forward off the hip point, with the bump supported, takes the pressure off the joint itself. Swap sides when you wake rather than staying on one all night.

Is hip pain normal in early pregnancy?

Aches in the hips and pelvis are commonly reported from early on, but early pregnancy pain is not something a pillow shop should interpret for you. The NHS page on pelvic pain is the right place to start, and your midwife or GP is the right person to ask.

When do hips start to widen during pregnancy?

There is no single week. The ligaments around the pelvis soften gradually through pregnancy rather than at one moment, which is why the same sleeping position can feel fine one month and wrong the next. Tommy’s says pelvic pain can start at any time in pregnancy.

Can you sleep on your back with hip pain when pregnant?

UK guidance is to settle to sleep on your side from 28 weeks, on either side. Before that, the NICHD found that sleeping on the back or the side through the 30th week did not appear to increase risk, in a study of more than 8,700 women. If you wake up on your back, turn over and settle again. That is all it asks of you.