Unable to sleep

[fatpengu1n]

I'm a FTM to DD, 1 week old. Obviously this is all so new to me and I'm getting to grips with being a parent - whole life feels like it's been turned upside down but I'm very grateful to have my baby.

I'm just having trouble sleeping while she's sleeping and it's causing major night time anxiety. She sleeps for around 2 hours at a time but stirs so much in her sleep and makes little noises. I'm having trouble settling near her and feel really silly because I know I need the rest. My husband seems to be able to just fall asleep straight away, but I'm on high alert the whole time. It's like I know I'm going to be woken but it makes me anxious that it could be at any time. I know I've got a bit of anxiety because I've not been able to eat properly since she was born.

I just wondered if anyone else had or has this and if there are any ways you've helped yourself relax a little in the night?

Yes, I had this with my first DS when I had post natal anxiety, it’s so different with DS who is 1 month.

Sorry OP didn’t offer you any help, I spoke to the GP but not until 6 months. I had CBT over the phone to learn to manage the anxiety.

First of, congratulations!

My baby is 13 weeks old now but I had this at the beginning and I remember feeling like this.

For me, I swapped sides of the bed with my husband so my head wasn't right next to the baby (tbh I couldn't lift baby out of bedside crib anyway due to physical recovery) but it really helped in that I wasn't hearing every little whine and grunt that close. He's just nudge and pass baby when he needed feeding. Think we swapped back around the 3 week mark. You do get used to it though, and for me when my baby stared sleeping for longer stretches (3-5 hrs) I found he was less noisy I think because he was sleeping deeper.

I recommend napping when you can, for me I was hopeless at daytime napping and I felt very 'on' in case baby needed to feed (ebf). My husband would keep baby downstairs in the evening sometimes and I'd go sleep upstairs until baby woke for feeding again, even if it was only one or two hours it really helped.

All the best, enjoy your little one ☺️

Download the Calm app and listen to their sleep meditations to help you fall asleep quickly… it really helped me when I had post-natal insomnia.