insomnia in late pregnancy please help

[iuseantiageingstuff]

I am 36+3 weeks pregnant and I have not been able to sleep during the night or even the day for about 6 weeks. I am averaging 4 hours of broken sleep, and I feel absolutely desperate.It is making me feel ill,I have three older children who have been very understanding and I know the sleep will be bad after the baby is born but this is worse because even though I am exhausted I still cant sleep.

I have tried all of the usual remedies and they dont work.

any ideas??????

[MrsTittleMouse]

I have this too. I don't have any solutions I'm afraid, just sympathy. I have a load of pillows to get as comfortable as possible, but often it's just that I'm not sleepy, just tired, if you see what I mean.
If it's any consolation, I had it was DD1 too, and after she was born I felt much better, even though the feeding-through-the-night thing was exhausting after a while.

[MrsTittleMouse]

Had it with DD1, rather.

[iuseantiageingstuff]

Its nice to know I am not the only one and no one really gets the idea that you are totally exhausted they just say "oh dear"

I think I might just wallop my self over the head with a mallet out of sheer desperation

[MrsTittleMouse]

I get that too - DH is fantastic and has worn himself out picking up the slack, but he still sometimes says "I know that you're tired..." and I want to tell him that he has no idea! I don't though, as I quite like being married.

[fourlittlefeet]

have you tried:
yoga/meditation
sleeping sitting up in a big chair with feet propped up
lavender/other relaxing smellies
Is it insomnia(worrying/general awakeness) or discomfort (nose/loo/bump)? I had it for both reasons (and have again now that I am pregnant again) on and off throughout first pregnancy and after the birth actually for some time. I think knowing why it is helps. I also found that worrying about it made it worse as I'd get to bed and think 'I can't sleep'.

Routine helps; try to get to bed at a regular time and have a wind-down period dinner/bath/milky drink/meditation book etc. journey through the body thing helps too (where you tense and relax each part of the body in turn). If you can't sleep don't hang about in bed, get up for half an hour and read or something, then try again.

good luck, its really awful to go through.

[babybarmy]

Im 36+4 and I am exactly the same,I wake up 3am and can't get back to sleep for hours! I usually end up getting up for the loo,feeling hungry and eating toast,cup of milk, try to read, get heartburn cos ive eaten then layed down..frustrating as I'm knackered the next day.

Ive got a busy little girl of 3 who wants lots of attention in the day and I just want to crawl back into bed.

I think it is preparation for those looming broken nights feeding the new baby.Try to take time in the day to rest and catch up when you can.The bump makes it hard to get comfy and your mind is whirring too.

Not long now and you will have a reason to be wandering around all night! :-)

[aurorec]

You poor thing I had exactly the same.
Funnily enough I am now 40+5 and sleeping better than I was a month ago...

I've also sent hubby off to the spare room, if you have one I can definitely recommend it!

[lollipopmother]

I'm with you guys with this too - I'm 40+4 and I've had insomnia since approx 37 weeks, it's so amazingly frustrating but luckily I have literally just not been tired, so I've not been too zombie-like during the day, but I would still gladly rip all my hair out when I'm awake all night. Maybe we should be the founders of the first Insomniacs Club!

[notcitrus]

You're not the only one! I've been a zombie for the last couple months and not sleeping more than 2 1/2 hours together for the last couple weeks (39+2), mostly because I ache all over. Stupidly I thought the sleep dep was supposed to happen after I got a baby?

I've been trying the relaxation exercises in the Hypnobirthing book, which sometimes help me get to sleep - but last night only relaxed my body enough for it to think some practice contractions would be fun at 2am...

Hot bath before bed sometimes helps me a bit.