AIBU to ask how you resolved post partum insomnia?

[User27392]

My baby is 6 months old and sleeping reasonably well - he’ll do 6pm til 5am with one or two quick resettles and occasionally a night time feed.

I, on the other hand, do not sleep. At all. I simply can’t turn off my brain while I know I’m waiting to be woken by the baby. I lie awake all night, then my husband gets up with the baby at 5am and I can sleep from 5-8. At that time, when I know my husband in charge, I can sleep.

My husband is amazing and would do all the night wakings if necessary, but the baby simply will not settle for anyone other than me at the moment. It’s something we’re working on, but right now it’s all on my shoulders.

Is there any solution to this? I breastfeed so can’t take sleeping pills. My baby is mostly night weaned but still needs a feed to settle him every few days. I’ve tried audiobooks and the calm app, but it’s like my brain just doesn’t have an off switch.

Did anyone else go through this, and did anything fix it for you?

Hmm, I have never slept the same since becoming a Mum. Mine are all teenagers now. I just think you are permanently "on Mum duty" even when you are asleep. Interesting that you can sleep when your husband takes over - you know someone else is on duty so you can switch off.
I would persist with getting your DH to settle baby at night so that you can get a break. There is no reason Baby won't settle for your husband- let him crack on with it. Good luck x

Thanks @CheshireCats. My mum said the same about her sleep. Tbh I don’t mind if I don’t sleep as well as I used to ever again - I would settle just for sleeping a bit!

We definitely need to resolve the settling issue. It’s so hard though. During the day my baby absolutely adores his dad - totally happy to be with him, no issues at all. And my husband does 90% of nappies, plays with him all the time, does meal times etc., so it’s not like they aren’t bonded. But for some reason at night if my husband tries to settle him, my baby arches his back, screams, and ends up very distressed very quickly. I think it’s because even though he is mostly night weaned, he needs the comfort of knowing he could have milk if he really needed it.

We will keep working on it and hopefully he’ll start settling for his dad soon!