Did you manage to sleep well in pregnancy?

[dortisa]

Just wondering if it’s inevitable that you will be exhausted and sleep terribly in pregnancy, my sister claims her sleep was awful as soon as the first trimester has finished and this is really worrying me! Tia

I slept well and never really used my pregnancy pillow. Baby was 8lbs 2 so not small but never had an issue.

First and third pregnancies I had no issues sleeping. My second I had horrid horrid insomnia the whole way through. All girls all similar in birthweight. Luck of the draw I think.

This is reassuring, thank you. Would you say you slept similarly to how you would when you’re not pregnant for most of it?
My sister likes to exaggerate sometimes (she would even say this about herself) but she was telling me at one point that she was up every 15 minutes!

No.

First trimester I was up and down all night needing to pee or with nausea.

Beyond that I never woke up feeling rested, no matter how much I slept. It didn't help that you're only allowed one cup of coffee per day as well. And your body is working around the clock growing a baby, so you don't really get a respite.

I started snoring around the second trimester and woke up because of that.

Then in the third trimester I was huge and had trouble breathing and was just very uncomfortable.

Then I had the baby and was up all night but managed to sleep 6am-noon while my partner was on paternity leave.

Then there was a lovely sweet spot of a few weeks where baby slept 5-8 hours per night. Then the 4 month sleep regression hit and we're still in that.

Soooo I haven't really had a good night's sleep in over a year 😬 but I have stopped snoring, thank God.

I'm 27+4 and big & I sleep like a log! Friend of move on the other hand has barely slept since she was about 16 weeks, she's now 38 weeks. Depends on the person entirely & I think probably which position you sleep in.

I came on to say no, I think pregnancy (lack of) sleep is a cruel joke, but why on earth was your sister up every 15 minutes? I was just uncomfortable at the end. Bump and heartburn. Bit of insomnia. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t that bad.

God, no. I didn’t sleep when I was pregnant. Then my DC1 was a terrible sleeper until around 18 months, when I got pregnant again. So I didn’t sleep for another nine months (DC1’s sleep was bombproof by this point), and I’m still waiting for DC2’s sleep to properly settle. I haven’t slept properly since 2019

I think she was just trying to make me feel for her tbh!

No, I didn't sleep well at all but it was great preparation for the next four years of sleep hell 🙃

Hopefully not the experience you will have!

Same!!!! Although not to brag but I think I had about a month between DS finally sleeping through and falling pregnant 😉
I’m currently feeding 18m old DD back to sleep because she’s up for the second time tonight.

We will sleep again one day! Maybe.

I had chronic insomnia from the first few weeks, it's how I knew I was pregnant the second time. Wake up every day at 4am, watch the shite that was on TV before streaming services, mainly shopping channels. Before nodding off at 6 and getting up at 7 to a high pressure job.

Sorry if that sounded shit OP. On the plus side both my babies slept through to 6am by 3 months.

Don’t worry! Appreciate the honesty. I think I’m just worried it’s all downhill from here as all people ever speak of is that it’s crap, physically, emotionally difficult and changes your life for the worst! Maybe mumsnet and such sites are a bit skewed in that direction or just the threads I’ve read have been anyway. That is definitely a huge positive haha x

@dortisa I completely understand, reading the OMFG posts would put any sane person off child rearing.

I liked to know the worst of it rather thinking it was going to rainbows and unicorns. It helped me to be utterly prepared for the worst. It was a pleasant surprise in the end that it didn't totally suck. It wasn't easy but much easier than I was expecting.

The thing to remember OP is that people who had easy pregnancies, slept well, and who's babies sleep well don't tend to post about it, do they? It would just be bragging. So you don't see that side of things.

With babies you just have to expect the unexpected and accept that you'll get what you're given.

I didn't sleep well - I was itchy and up wee ing a lot and got cramp in leg most nights!

One thing that helped was being strict with myself about not looking at phone when I woke up. If I did I was awake for hours

But there is so much nice stuff ahead! Baby sleeps well now and I absolutely love maternity leave instead of working- walks, baby groups, lunches with mum friends, park picnics. It's such a nice life!

Ps don't do what I did and get COVID and flu and whooping cough vaccine all on the same day in different arms - I couldn't sleep on my side or back or front for two nights

Hi @dortisa
I slept really well in my pregnancy, i even got in afternoon naps 😁 x

We have the same life! DC2 also 18m. Sleep has been a bit better, she sometimes sleeps through. But it’s still really hit and miss. I just keep telling myself, it’ll be better this month…!

@dortisa But you know even if you don’t have a great sleeper (and you might!) and even if you don’t sleep well in pregnancy, it all flies by so fast, ultimately. It doesn’t feel like that sometimes. But it is so fleeting and magical, I promise there are many highs to come.

Yea for the most part I slept like I normally do until I was near the end for babies 1 and 3 minus weird dreams but that’s hormonal apparently. Baby 2 I just couldn’t sleep. But we survived and it wasn’t that bad in the big scheme of things. Lots of people live large parts of their lives with chronic insomnia. It went away the second she was born. Defs wasn’t up every 15 minutes think your sisters trying to scare you 😂

I didn’t have the best experience with my sleep during all of my pregnancies. My first was probably the easiest, as I wanted to sleep every minute throughout my first trimester, unfortunately had to work and could not afford that much sleep. Then it worsened and I would wake up during the night not being able to go back to sleep. With my second - similar story only that in my first trimester with DS I had some morning sickness from week 6-11, then covid hit, homeschooling etc, just couldn't sleep. Third trimesters are always the worst in terms of sleep, as I get so uncomfortable, I remember crying how I couldn’t find the right position with all those pillows etc. Knowing after that very little sleep would follow for the next 3 years I felt very sorry for myself 😂. Now being 8 weeks pregnant with our third: terrible nausea all day and all night, insomnia, backache- all the good stuff that keeps you awake at night. Both of my kids were terrible sleepers up until 3yo. So no high expectations on that part with number 3.
Sorry for unloading 🙈 Everyone is different, I hope it wouldn’t be that bad for your sister and everything will normalise soon. 🙏🏼

Sleep was one of the highlights for me! As someone who has always had insomnia, to be able to put my head on the pillow and be asleep moments later was a revelation. I also managed to nap in the afternoons, I’ve never been able to fall asleep during the day before pregnancy or since!

Insomnia all night every night first pregnancy and 20 weeks pregnant with baby number 2 and same again so far!