Painful ribs at night, any tips on ho... - Pregnancy and Par...

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Painful ribs at night, any tips on how to ease this?

Dozymum profile image
5 Replies

I'm finding it really hard to sleep at night due to pain in my upper rib cage whenever I lie on my side -the pain is a lot worse on my left. I've tried wearing a sports bra in bed, propping myself up with pillows but don't know what else to try. The pain is barely noticeable in the day when I am upright, but for the last couple of weeks I've been waking up 10 times a night or more in quite a lot of pain. It's a fairly localised almost burning sensation in the bone beneath my breast. I'm 22wks 1 day today. This is not something I remember happening in my previous two pregnancies. Any tips on how to ease this and allow me and hubby to get some sleep?

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Dozymum profile image
Dozymum
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5 Replies
Allyemo1985 profile image
Allyemo1985

Oh bless you... Your really feeling it at the moment. I have a stupid pillow that's hardly worth calling it that its a really puff less side sleeper. I'm not sure if its recommended but there is a pure oil like tiger balm that radiates heat into the area. I used this on my ack at 18/19 weeks when that was severe. Something else is hot water bottle and some paracetamol. All else fails have a chat with the midwife or chemist se if they recommend anything for you. Hope it gets sorted nots nice topped with hormones and sleep deprivation xx

Dozymum profile image
Dozymum in reply to Allyemo1985

Thanks for your reply. I hadn't thought of trying a hot water bottle and may try paracetamol and tiger balm. I have a midwife appointment next week, so I will tell her if it's still a problem then. Hopefully it's one of those transient things that will soon be forgotten. Even as I type baby is wriggling about and reminding me to be happy :-)

Allyemo1985 profile image
Allyemo1985 in reply to Dozymum

Orh no better feeling. We go through a lot to help grow our baby's one big miracle :-)

georgiepinkfeet profile image
georgiepinkfeet

This is called rib flare, I've had the same thing since 16 weeks... I wouldn't recommend putting anything on the area that increases heat. I've been advised to use an ice pack or frozen peas 2-3 times a day. The burning sensation is the muscles that support the ribs inflaming, so anything cold will draw the blood away from the area and will help reduce the inflammation & pain. The other thing that will be helpful is doing exercises to stretch the area.. Hope that info helps! X

hey I had this up to about 23 weeks, my midwife said as above use something cold, also I went swimming couple of times a week, ur able to move so much more freely and it helped loosen me up, I even did summersaults in the pool and it really helped. xx

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