Insomnia - please help

[Rrrob]

I am tired beyond belief and can’t see how to carry on like this.

DTs are 20 months. I didn’t sleep well at the end of pregnancy and T2 still needs feeding to sleep in the night, meaning I’ve not had more than 4 hours consecutive sleep in over 2 years. That’s ok but recently things are a lot worse.

T2 won’t settle for DH so as soon as she wakes up in the night he brings he into the bed (where she then stays) for me to feed. This is usually around midnight/ 1am. From this time on I am awake and can’t fall back asleep.

I am 10 weeks pregnant and feel like I can’t survive like this for another 7 months plus having a newborn. It seems like termination is the only option.

Any tips at all to help me sleep? I am so tired I feel like I’m floating during the day (similar feeling to a uni hangover!!).

No advice but feeling this too so some solidarity.

My 2 year old still wakes multiple times a night to be fed back to sleep! I'm also 8 weeks pregnant and once I've been woken after 2am I can't get back to sleep.

It's so hard! I'm also working full time and I currently have a horrible infection in my sinuses. No doubt because I'm so run down.

I don't think termination is the option if you otherwise want the baby. A lot can change in 9 months and like all childhood issues they're usually just a phase. It's likely your toddler will wean come the 4th or 5th month of pregnancy and this may lead to them waking less frequently or being more receptive to your husband settling them. Sleep is really up and down in this toddler phase I've found but generally by 3 most children are sleeping better. There's light at the end of this tunnel.

I had this hideously with first baby. For second I saw a top London pregnancy psychiatrist who is 100% happy to prescribe venlafaxine to address the anxiety causing my insomnia (and also help with any depressing thoughts), while that medication got up to full effect, she gave me zolpidem sleeping tablets to take to ensure I slept and didn’t lie there in a fretting help. Within one week I only needed the venlafaxine for great sleep. Enormous relief. So my advice is to hit this hard….she is very well known in this space and both the medication I used. Are safe in pregnancy and in breastfeeding. most GP know nothing about this and just say no. To any meds during pregnancy. That is not good enough, you need help here. Get help before becomes a wild phobia every night. Good luck!

Thanks for the solidarity and the hope @kittykat33! I’m also working FT and have some important meeting today/ tomorrow that are making my stress about lack of sleep even worse.

@LHReturns I didn’t realise I could take anything. THANK YOU! I’ve taken sleeping pills in the past and they worked like a dream. Do you have the name of the person you saw? I’m in S London.

I cried when she told me she could it immediately. I was absolutely desperate.

Claire `Capstick
www.healthpad.net/profile/267/claire-capstick/

She will explain why the risks to your baby are minuscule, but the risk to the baby in a non sleeping stressed unhappy mother is far greater.

My baby was perfect and I took venlafaxine for the entire 39 weeks.

If you’re breastfeeding and and co-sleeping then they won’t prescribe sleeping tablets as it’s not safe. Breastfeeding will limit what anti depressants you can take but there are options.
Could you try CBT or mindfulness / meditation. There are lots of sleep ones about to help you sleep. This may stop your mind worrying enough to drift off.

Ultimately if you hit breaking point then your partner needs to step up so you can sleep. Even if your DD is upset about it as you need to protect your MH too.

My DH takes my 2 year old out on one of the weekend mornings just the two of them and I have a morning off. I usually catch up on sleep or just relax. It’s really important to carve out some time for you. Particularly when you’re sleep deprived.

Hope you find a solution.