Getting good, uninterrupted sleep after breast surgery is essential for allowing your body to heal and adjust to the breast implants. Yet it can be challenging to find comfort while also abiding by recovery instructions. This blog discusses sleeping positions during breast augmentation recovery, including the safest options and tips for achieving better sleep.
5 Min Read:
Table of Contents
- Breast Augmentation Recovery
- How to Sleep After Breast Augmentation
- Tips for Sleeping After Breast Augmentation
- Learn More About Breast Augmentation in Ontario, CA
Breast Augmentation Recovery
Many patients are aware that rest is crucial after breast augmentation, to help the body heal and adapt to the alterations made during surgery. However, it can be tricky to navigate when to rest and how to lie down without putting pressure on your newly augmented breasts. After breast augmentation, it is essential to avoid pressing down on your implants and incision sites, as this can cause complications that delay healing and affect your results.
Dr. Troy Andreasen provides all patients with specific aftercare instructions to help support their breast augmentation recovery. These instructions will include information on how to care for your incisions and how to sleep without harming your healing breasts.
How to Sleep After Breast Augmentation
One of the most important things to keep in mind regarding sleeping positions after breast augmentation is to ensure that you are not placing unnecessary pressure on the implants or incision sites. In your day-to-day life, you may be used to sleeping on your stomach, sides, or even regularly shifting positions throughout the night. It is important to understand that you’ll need to make some adjustments to your usual sleeping positions, in the best interest of your breast augmentation recovery and results.
We recommend that breast augmentation patients sleep on their backs, with their upper bodies slightly elevated. This position helps reduce fluid buildup and protects your chest from additional pressure. Additionally, sleeping with the upper body allows for easier mobility while recovering from surgery. When you sleep flat on your back, it can take more upper body strength to lift yourself up and into a sitting position—which can put unwanted tension on your incisions and potentially strain them. The elevated position allows you to get out of bed with more ease without needing to excessively use your arms or chest to lift yourself up.
To prop your upper body up, you may opt for a specially designed wedge pillow or choose to use a stack of pillows you already own. Some people even choose to sleep in a recliner chair to help them comfortably achieve the elevated position. Whichever way you choose, make sure that you’re prioritizing safety and comfort.
When Can I Sleep Flat on My Back?
For some people, sleeping with the upper back elevated can be uncomfortable, and they may long for being able to sleep regularly, flat on their back. Sleeping flat on your back too soon into the recovery process may cause some complications, such as fluid buildup and increased swelling.
Some patients can comfortably return to sleeping flat on their backs after a few weeks, once swelling and bruising have significantly subsided. However, this will vary from patient to patient. Dr. Andreasen will let you know when it is safe to resume sleeping in a non-elevated position.
When Can I Sleep on My Side or Stomach?
Many people regularly sleep on their sides or stomachs. Both of these positions should be avoided during the duration of breast augmentation recovery, as they put pressure on the healing implants and incisions, which can compromise the quality of your results. Typically, patients are able to sleep on their side or stomach after week six of recovery and beyond. However, it is important to get clearance from Dr. Andreasen before resuming this sleeping position.
Additionally, it is important to prevent shifting onto your side or stomach while sleeping. This can sound intimidating since you’re not in conscious control of your body while asleep, yet there are some preventative measures you can take to ensure a safe sleeping position throughout the night. We recommend placing extra pillows around you when you sleep to help your body stay in the same space. It can be helpful to place pillows under your arms and knees to ground you in the proper position.
Tips for Sleeping After Breast Augmentation
As your body adjusts to the surgical changes and the new sleeping position, you may find it difficult to get a comfortable, restful sleep. This is understandable, but we want to make sure that patients are as comfortable as possible during recovery, especially while resting, since this is a crucial part of the healing process.
Below, we’ve listed some tips to help you get better rest during recovery:
- Try out the elevated upper body sleeping position before surgery to help your body get adjusted.
- Participate in light physical activity (if approved by your surgeon) throughout the day, such as short walks around the block or even just around the house.
- Avoid consuming coffee and other caffeinated beverages for at least the first few weeks of recovery, since caffeine can hinder the body’s healing process and make falling asleep more difficult.
- Arrange for someone you trust to stay with you for the first few days of recovery to ensure you always have someone to help you in and out of bed if need be, and to help bring you anything you may need.
- Stay in close contact with your surgeon and reach out with questions to help them get a better idea of how to assist you during your recovery.
Learn More About Breast Augmentation in Ontario, CA
Want to know more about breast augmentation recovery and how it affects your sleeping positions? One of the best ways to learn more about the procedure and what recovery entails is to schedule a personalized consultation with Dr. Andreasen in our Ontario, California, office. He’ll assess your body and goals to help you determine the best plan of action.
Call our office at (909) 291-4900 today to schedule a consultation or complete our online contact form.
