Severe Postpartum Insomnia

[weedie]

Has anyone experienced postpartum insomnia? My baby is 17 weeks old and a good sleeper. Until a couple of weeks ago I would have no problems falling asleep at night, even after multiple wake ups and even after "bad" nights I would feel quite good the next day. However, about two weeks ago I had a night where I was unable to get back to sleep after the night feed and since then my sleep has been getting worse and worse. I either can't sleep until my baby feeds at 3.30/4 and then manage a couple of hours in the early morning, or I'm awake all night. Needless to say, I feel absolutely exhausted and frustrated that even though I have a baby that happily sleeps all night, I'm not getting any of the benefits of that as I feel like a shell every day. Could this be a hormonal thing? Anyone else suffered from insomnia and have any tips? I've looked into sleeping pills but looks like they're not a good idea while breastfeeding. Please help, I'm desperate!

My sympathies, insomnia is awful at the best of times. I've had it pp too - it started on one particularly unsettled night (baby NOT a good sleeper) and then I think I started putting too much pressure on myself to fall asleep quickly to 'make the most' of the time I did have, that it didn't happen.

What worked for me was breathing exercises (in for four, out for eight), white noise, magnesium supplements, and just letting go and thinking, my body will take the sleep it needs. I also found unwinding by watching TV for 30mins helped - something mindless to focus on which is not about the baby. If you can, try a warm bath before bed. But the main thing I think is to try to stop worrying about it, which of course sounds simple but is very hard when your in the midst of it. Oh, and I found a small glass of red also seemed to help...

I do wonder if something hormonal is going on (I'm at s similar stage to you) because my hair also started falling out in clumps at the same time. It's just a blip and you WILL get through it.

Hi,
I had this, my baby is 11 months now. He slept through from 3 months and not long after that I stopped being able to fall asleep. I had a short course of zopiclone but it didn’t fix anything once I had had a weeks worth. I ended up on Amitriptyline for 4 months to reset my sleep a little. I’m now sleeping well. Normally wake once or twice but back to sleep quite quickly. PM me if you want anymore info x