Snoring during pregnancy

By trimester

Weeks 1–13

1st trimester

New snoring this early is less usual, since the nasal swelling behind most pregnancy snoring builds over months. If you snored before pregnancy, expect it to get louder from here. This is a good trimester to raise it, because there is time to sort out whether a sleep study is worth doing.

Weeks 14–27

2nd trimester

Nasal stuffiness ramps up now and pushes many people into mouth breathing at night, which is where the snoring comes from. Side sleeping, raising the head of the bed, saline rinses, and nasal strips are the low-risk things to try. None of them fix pauses in breathing, so report those separately.

Weeks 28–birth

3rd trimester

Snoring peaks here, in step with peak nasal congestion. Loud nightly snoring, gasping, witnessed pauses in breathing, morning headaches, or heavy daytime sleepiness are the pattern that deserves a formal conversation, since sleep-disordered breathing in pregnancy tracks with gestational diabetes and blood pressure problems. The nose and throat changes driving it are generally benign and reverse after delivery.

What does the evidence show for snoring?

• Habitual snoring was reported by 7.3 percent of women in early pregnancy, and the strongest single predictor by far was snoring before pregnancy, followed by age 35 or older, higher pre-pregnancy weight, and smoking. 1
• Pooling 35 studies, sleep-disordered breathing in pregnancy tracked with higher rates of gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, and preeclampsia, and snoring on its own tracked with the same three. 2
• Sleep-disordered breathing in pregnancy shows up as snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, or both, and it is becoming more common. 3
• Pregnancy rhinitis affects one in five pregnant women, and the simple measures shown to improve nasal breathing are raising the head of the bed, physical exercise, saline nasal washes, and nasal dilation strips. 4
• Opening the nose does not solve the breathing part: across 54 pregnant women tested at home on back-to-back nights, nasal dilator strips did not change respiratory event measures or how well they felt they slept. 5
• NHLBI separates ordinary snoring from sleep apnea by what travels with it: breathing that starts and stops, gasping for air, and by day sleepiness that interferes with learning, focusing, and reacting, plus fatigue, headache, dry mouth, and waking often during the night to urinate, with a sleep study the step that settles the question. 6

When should I call my provider about snoring?

Snoring on its own is common in pregnancy and mostly a swollen-nasal-passage story. The version that needs a provider is snoring with breathing that starts and stops, or gasping for air, which is usually whoever sleeps next to you noticing first. Daytime sleepiness heavy enough to interfere with focusing and reacting, morning headache, dry mouth, and waking again and again at night to urinate all point the same direction. Ask for a sleep study rather than another gadget, since that is the step that settles whether this is sleep apnea. Trust your read on your own body. If something feels off beyond the list above, please consult your healthcare provider rather than waiting it out.