How to fall back asleep after being woken up?

[LuLuLimon]

I'm an extremely light sleeper with a 2 year old who wakes 1-2 times a night and one of the times tends to be between 4am and 5am. When they wake I normally just put their dummy in or reassure them that I'm there and they fall back to sleep right away.

I'm however then awake for either an hour at which point I'll fall back asleep, or sometimes I'm awake until my child wakes up at 7am so sometimes that 3 hours before I'm due to get up. I don't want to start my day at 4/5am.

Does anyone know how I can fall back to sleep right away after my sleep has been disrupted? The lack of sleep is really affecting me.

I have white noise and black out blinds already

This happens to me so much! When I’m recounting stories of DCs’ night wakings, DP says ‘oh, so they went back asleep again quite quickly?’ And I have to shriek ‘yes, but I DIDN’T’

I’ve found it helps me a bit lately to really try not to wake up properly while I’m sorting them out.

Then definitely no looking at phone.

The alphabet thing a PP mentioned above really helps me when I’m stuck.

Let myself get quite cold, with the covers off, then put them back on. For some reason, the warming up makes me sleepy.

Calm app is fantastic for sleep stories x

I feel for you op. I have 3 dcs and two had sleep issues for years , one very severe sleep problems, absolutely nothing worked. They all now sleep as older, my youngest is 6 but even now they will wake the odd time but obvs v easy to settle.
However I’ve been left with huge problems with sleep, if I’m woken it’s quite possible I won’t get back to sleep at all, so if one of my dcs has a bad dream or wakes when ill I can actually basically be awake for the whole night. It’s really awful. People ask for example why can’t I sleep in and my dh gets up or just nap as kids are older, I can but my body can’t just sleep even though I’m exhausted.
I just try and not get stressed about it , what can I do? The more stressed I get , the less I will sleep so I just tell myself it’s a phase and in a night or two I will crash or at least I’m resting . Can you change rooms, I have a spare room and sometimes it helps to change location.
You have my sympathies though, I slept like a log pre-kids , ironically I’m a v high sleep needs person and the last 11 years I’ve really struggled with that side of parenting, it’s also frustrating as everyone assumes once your kids are older you won’t be tired anymore or it’s only newborns who keep parents awake..

I’m rubbish at trying to get back to sleep. At bedtime I fall asleep really quickly but if I wake up during the night I’m awake for between 1&2hrs. Thankfully I don’t start work till midday so can sleep on.

I’ve tried, meditation, podcasts, breathing techniques, counting, nothing works.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor pillow speaker? Please explain would it disturb dh or is it only audible if your head is on pillow, I need one, where do I get one?

I'm the same. I put my eye mask on and ear plugs in and listen to a sleep story on the Calm app. Also helps if there is another person in the house who you know will get up with them at 7 or whenever they wake up- I feel like that truly allows me to relax. Otherwise I'm basically just lying there waiting to be woken up again!

I think it's called box breathing. Breathe in (through your nose) for 4, hold for four, breath out through your mouth for 4....and repeat

Does anyone else find that the silence keeps them awake ? It does me thats why I need some narrative as I find it soothing I suppose that’s why children have bedtime stories or when you fall asleep on the sofa then wake when the television is switched off !

@@2pinkginsplease
my mum was convinced that Midsomer Murders was so boring it was the answer to the most severe insomnia ….

I always put something on TV that I'm mildly interested in, but not enough that it would keep me alert. Usually a documentary that I've already seen or am really familiar with the topic. I love anything with Brian Cox as it's usually quite a dark programme (space!) and his voice is so soft.
I know some people don't like him though.

Counting back from 100 is ok but 1000 I find myself feeling more wakeful as I need to concentrate too much on the numbers. It becomes a bit too much like maths and I can feel myself getting stressed.

I will put a podcast on or watch a YouTube video. I find it’s better to actually be actively doing something rather than just getting worked up over the fact I’m still awake. Depending on how imaginative you are sometimes I will just lie and think about everything I would do if I won the lottery or something like that, something fun I can get lost in.

I take high dose antihistamine before I go to bed and it keeps me drowsy enough that I can get back to sleep

Just post marking so I can read back some of these excellent ideas!

Lots of sleep meditation tracks on Spotify and the like. I also find wearing a silk eye mask helps - something about the light pressure on your eyelids.

I lie perfectly still and imagine I'm lying on a beach listening to gentle waves, and really focus on breathing in and out.

@AriettyHomily
there are 8 hours long YouTube videos of waves on a beach - I like the pebble one, it reminds me of chesil in the summer, there’s a steam trickling as well but it made me want the loo i never got as far as hearing any infuriating adverts either, sea noise is lovely, and i like the rain and storms ones

I also do the thinknof a subject and gobthrough the alphabet -fruit beginning with a, b etc. Seems to work. Don't usually get past elderberry!

Try to remember the names of all the kids in your y7 class - that is boring and kind of hard to keep track of. You'll have to keep going back to the beginning - Jennifer, Erica, Doug, wait did I say Jennifer? - and if that's too easy, then do last names as well. Also pretend you won 10 million pounds and you're not allowed to keep it, so you have to decide how to give it away. One million to mum, a sportscar for DH, pay for so-and-so's education, etc.

This - if you can keep your mind focussed it works

its definitely not horrible! ASMR does feel like getting tingly goosebumps I guess is a good way to describe it, I don’t get it anymore but still find the videos really relaxing. I like things like ASMR skincare consultations for example, someone will pretend they are examining your skin and talk about products and stuff but it’s all very relaxing, quiet and calming. It sounds weird but I watch or listen to it every night without fail and sleep like a baby!