Postpartum Insomnia

[Megegg]

Has anyone suffered with postpartum Insomnia? My DD is 7 months old and it’s been going on since she’s 5 months! I’ve tried melatonin which worked for a week or so then didn’t! Also tried sleeping tablets and Xanax but I don’t want to be taking them as I know they can be addictive and don’t want to become reliant on them. I have tried everything from meditation to sleep podcasts! I am getting very anxious going to bed now which isn’t helping! I am very active gym 3/4 times a week and lots of walking wit DD. I’m debating asking my gp for anti depressants as I read somewhere a small dose helped them for a short period of time! It’s getting me very down and I feel like I don’t know what to do about it anymore. I’m so angry and agitated when I can’t get any sleep and it’s so unfair to my partner and people around me. Someone please tell me this goes away! I never had insomnia before only in my pregnancy which started as I had Ivf and one of this meds caused it.

Yup! It was the worst part of having a baby. What resolved it for me was seeing a sleep specialist long term who did CBT for insomnia. Short term, lorazepam + very low dose anti depressants make you really sleepy. The lower the dose, the sleepier you are. I was also spending way too much time in bed to try & get enough sleep (insight from dr sleep specialist) so she had me shorten the period which was almost immediately effective. Recommend reading “say goodnight to insomnia” as it covers a lot of the CBT/strategies etc.

very long term knowing I have the medication is what helps, I never use it but by knowing I can just get up and take it I don’t get anxious about sleep and this sleep better.

I had it in very early post partum partly due to anxiety. I found herbal teas which contained valerian root really helped.

Later on at 5 months I had horrific insomnia. I would literally be dropping off to sleep and it was almost like a voice would say "you're falling asleep!" And snap I was wide awake again. Turned out to be tablets that I was on for blood pressure that caused it. Side effect was listed but I hadn't noticed it before. So check your meds if you're on any.

I've also heard magnesium deficiency can cause issues with sleep.

@Happyhappyday thanks for your reply. The doctor prescribed me amitriptyline 10mg so far they’re working had a few bad nights but I suppose that’s to be expected. I will get onto a sleep specialist and try the CBT also😊

@Ardmano thanks for the reply. I tried valerian root made me tired but didn’t work unfortunately. It’s not any medications as I wasn’t on any at the time it started. Sleep
anxiety definitely didn’t help. It’s not a nice thing at all wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. Doc put me on the lowest dose of anti depressants so far they’re working.

What blood pressure tablets were you on?
I'm suffering with insomnia at the moment and also taking blood pressure tablets so I'm now wondering if it's them?

Snap! Did it get better?

@W1ll0WLouise im not too sure if that reply is for me but yes It got better. The doctor put me on Amitriptyline which is an anti depressant but it’s used for diff things one of them is insomnia! Started on 10mg (lowest dose) and taking 20mg at night now and I can’t keep my eyes open past 10pm thank god! I’m on them 3 months now I will go back soon after 4/5 months and I will go off them. They really did help me and my sleep pattern is back. I exhausted every other option that was my last choice but it’s definitely helped me get my sleep rhythm back. How long have you had the pp insomnia? I do hope you get sorted as it’s absolutely horrendous with a new baby 🥹

I have had it on and off for about 4 weeks now :( I started taking fluoxetine 20mg to help with the anxiety regarding sleep. It’s been 4 weeks I’ve been on it now and my mood is definitely better but I’m still having bad days and still find as bedtime approaches I start getting anxious about not sleeping. It’s so fustrating and boring!!! I had the same problem with my first baby at the 3 month mark and it went away eventually- I was prescribed sertraline back then but would not want to take that again as I had horrific side effects. My GP prescribed me amitriptyline 10mg about a week ago to take for two weeks to help correct things but I ended up sleeping ok for a couple of nights so didn’t end up taking them. I’m just still hoping it settles on it’s own but it’s so awful :(

@W1ll0WLouise awh it’s horrendous I went through 4 months of it I couldn’t take it any longer. I had exhausted every other option! I find now I’m falling asleep before 10 even before taking the Amitriptyline. I will be going off them soon. The anxiety about sleep really makes it worse it’s horrible. The less you sleep the more you worry. Do try the Amitriptyline and see how it goes no harm it’s only 10mg so no weaning off them! It has really helped me. A month or 2 and your sleep rhythm will be back and you’ll feel more like yourself again with sleep.

I had this for 3.5 years and was absolutely in bits, also my marriage fell apart (not the only reason). Mine was a combination of a non-sleeping baby, very noisy location, xh being worse than useless (spending all my savings), and a fear of not being a good mum.

I'd stay awake through all sleeping tablets. I learned that if adrenaline is high enough nothing can overcome it. What helped was moving to a quieter area, both dc finally sleeping through, and realising the panic was what was keeping me awake.

Post Natal Insomnia Cured
I just needed to post on here as I remember experiencing this last year and I was frantically googling for answers everyday hoping there was a light at the end of the tunnel and there was.
At around 6 weeks post partum, I started waking up randomly in the middle of the night wide awake feeling warm and tingly and sometimes sweaty. I would struggle to go back to sleep and became very anxious about this. The anxiety about sleep really made things worse and the sleep deprivation only fuelled the anxiety which was a huge toxic cycle. I did a hormonal test which came up fine and I did a cortisol test which showed high cortisol in the evening. My body was on fight or flight mode. I noticed I would also struggle to deal with any slight bit of stress- I would get slight palpitations and anxiety. At the time, I didn’t think I was anxious but now that i’m out of it I realised I was struggling with anxiety especially around sleep. My brain would tell me I would never sleep normally again. I was constantly stressing about what it was going to be like when I went back to work sleep deprived. I’m a teacher and I get up early for work and it’s a pretty stressful job. The nurses had no clue about post natal insomia at my check up.
I didn’t have this with my first child so I don’t know if it had something to do with having a csection.
I tried everything to get rid of this naturally: ashwaganda, celery juice, magnesium, lavender sprays, baths. Every vitamin I could take. Valerian root. Nothing worked. I was prescribed diazepam to help me sleep if I knew I needed the sleep for the next day. I only took half a tablet a few times a month
just to take the edge off. However, I didn’t want to rely on this and became anxious I was going to be addicted.

Here is what did work:
TIME- when my son was 4 months things started to get better. I would notice I would only have a few bad nights a week this reduced even more so as time went on. It soon became a few bad nights a month.

Stress management- I worked on reducing stress. Yoga nidra helped with unwiring. Going for walks. Deep belly breathing. Do this in the day to calm your cortisol and stress. Don’t do it to try and fall asleep as it will just cause more frustration when you can’t.
Confidence- the more I was able to sleep the more confident I became about sleeping again naturally and I knew if I had a bad night the next night I would be tired and would sleep earlier and knock out straight away.
Running/exercising in the day especially in sunlight.
Tackling new situations and surviving them- my first holiday with the baby was stressful but once it was done and I knew I could get some sleep in. It lessened the insomnia.

When he was around 9 months it was a lot better. However, I would really struggle in new places or sleeping over at my parents. I would also get really anxious about going to sleep late. This was all part of the sleep anxiety that took over and when I was anxious about sleeping in a hotel room I would be awake that night. I knew I would make up the sleep the next day.

I have to say I think a big part of this is hormonal. I did do CBT and that helped and I also went to see a naturopath to work on my diet as well as cupping and acupuncture. However what really helped me was going on Sertraline when he was 1. I did everything I could to do things naturally but the slight anxiety and insomnia would still be there. I was back a work and still struggling with stress
the insomnia wasn’t too bad but I was waking up earlier than I needed to be and that was annoying.

I spoke to my GP and when he turned 1, I went on Sertraline but an extremely low does (25mg half a tablet) worked for me. This is lower than the normal starting dose and it’s not addictive. I felt a sense of shame at the beginning for caving in and going on AD but i’m so glad I did and wished I did sooner. Id didn’t get any side effects being on it and found that after 2-3 weeks the anxiety disappeared and I felt normal. The sleep was a lot better and normal. He’s now 18 months and for the past 6 months i’ve probably only had one bad night. I’ve now tapered off to (25mg half a tablet every other day) and I still feel the same. I think the tablet at this stage is a placebo but I’ll eventually come off it completely. I can honestly say I look forward to sleeping now and feel like like myself. I’ve been promoted at work and managing stress a lot better.

I know it’s hell but this too will pass. See what works for you and don’t be afraid to get the help you need. Happy mother= happy baby.

@Noddy90

I loved reading your reply! It was literally me in a nut shell when it was happening to me! The vicious cycle part is so true!
I am now off any medication I was on amitriptyline for 3 months. I’m sleeping fine now thankfully. I’m not too sure what changed whether I became less anxious or I just settled into the new mum role eventually. I do hope that anyone suffering from this sees this post and comes across your reply 😊

I am so glad I've just found this thread 😭😭
I'm 6 weeks postpartum with my 3rd daughter, I breezed though my other 2 pregnancies & the pp stages. But this time around I'm really struggling with sleep.
The first 3 weeks was absolutely fine, she was sleeping I was sleeping everything was great, then the odd few nights come where she was being really fussy and unsettled, I could feel anxiety building up around bedtime praying 'I hope she sleeps tonight' I then started to feel like I was putting a ton of pressure on myself to get to sleep, which then became a vicious cycle & now I'm dreading bed time, the less sleep I'm having the worse it gets. Last night I put her to bed at around 10pm, I fell asleep around 11.30pm she woke up at 2.30am for a feed, after her feed and nappy change she stayed awake till gone 4.30am (first time she's done this) my alarm is set for 6.30am to get us all ready and be out the house for the school run. So ive literally been awake since 2.30am when she eventually fell to sleep my anxiety was raging at this point and I couldn't drop back off.
I'm finding getting to sleep to be the problem because I'm stressing I won't sleep which results in me not sleeping. Last week was the worst week, I probably had no more than 20hrs sleep in 5 nights. I'm stuck in that horrendous cycle.
I'm also so scared to take any tablets but I can't go on like this, it's unbelievably frustrating not being able to sleep when you actually have the time too sleep. What also fuels my anxiety around sleep is that I get so scared of not being able to cope and potentially developing postnatal depression so this fear is just adding fuel to the fire.
This morning was the first time I broke down to my fiancé, I asked him to take the children to school for me and I just broke down in tears out of frustration.
I genuinely don't think I have PND because I do feel ok in myself I definitely have anxiety going on but I've always suffered with anxiety and I know my triggers I've just never had anxiety postpartum. The biggest trigger for me was the pressure I was putting on myself to get to sleep. I'm really hoping it eases as I start getting in a better routine. Bedtime routine has been so staggered since she was born. When I actually have a full stretch of 5hrs sleep I feel so good like I've got this, but when I've had a few bad nights I genuinely think my life is ending and I'm going to crumble. Its ridiculous.

I do think it’s quite common!! Your post literally sounds EXACTLY like me- except my babies actually slept ok lol! It was just me that was the problem. I too didn’t have PND, as I felt fine in myself except for the sleep situation. I would find myself dreading it getting dark and thinking oh god here we go, am I gonna be able to sleep tonight? Then I wouldn’t as my heart would be racing! And it turned into a viscous cycle. As I was BFing that also added to the pressure for me as I would think there is nothing I can take to help me even if I’m desperate if you know what I mean?

But anyway- I would search frantically for posts similar to mine and success stories of people getting over it. And I am bloody glad to say I did get over it and am back to my normal self! As will you! I think a lot of mine was just anxiety about having another baby and whole life changing etc and I deflected it onto something else. I did go on Fluoxetine, not for the feeling low, but to just stop me obsessing about things and worrying! Hang in there babe xx

You sound like me 18 months ago. I would google post natal insomnia and things about PND would keep cropping up but I knew I wasn’t depressed. I was definitely very anxious about (not) sleeping but I thought surely that can’t be anxiety either because i’m not anxious about the baby. Looking back now though, I definitely had anxiety and a hormonal imbalance. I think after a few months your body begins to settle itself especially after the baby begins sleeping longer stretches.

I was adamant that I didn’t want to go on ADs because i was scared of the side effects. The dr offered me sleeping tablets but I definitely didn’t want my body to get used to something putting me to sleep because I thought I’d definitely forget how to sleep again (irrational thought). I went about 10 months without medication and the problem definitely improved a lot. It really is time. I ended up on a very small dose of Sertraline just because I began having anxiety about going back to work which kicked started the insomnia. The meds definitely improved my sleep for sure. I could have done it without the meds but the anxiety was still lingering and Sertraline just helped knock it on the head.

Back then, I was also really anxious about napping in the day because I wanted to be tired enough to knock out in the night. If I could go back in time, I would have just spent more moments relaxing and napping (if I could) as relaxation definitely helped me unwind so that when it came to night time the cortisol wasn’t so high because I hadn’t been working so hard during the day do tire myself out. Yoga nidra or meditation for 15 minutes in the day whilst the baby was asleep can really help. I also found that lack of sleep promoted constipation and deep belly breathing and long exhaling can also trick your body in to rest and digest mode. Keep your bowel movements as regular as possible because emptying your bowels is a good way of excreting excess hormones.

Your body is in fight mode so you need to train your mind and body that you can relax and that there isn’t a threat. I think it’s something primal as mothers we’ve been programmed to be on high alert to protect our babies.

what helped me was going to sleep early too so there was less pressure on me to fall asleep quickly and if I was up in the night at least I banked some rest. Me and DH did shifts. It gets easier naturally when baby is sleeping longer stretches. I noticed a big difference around 4 months and things got a lot better. I kept reading stories and thinking well it worked for them but it won’t for me i’m going to be like this forever. That’s just the anxiety talking and THIS TOO WILL PASS! x

I thought this was my message honestly. I have a 7 month old baby and I have been on xanax too and anti-depressants but to be honest it was more the anxiety and insomnia. It is the worst. I feel like my baby triggered the on switch- like a call to action 24/7.

I have always been a bit of an anxious person, but it peaked when he was born. I am sleeping in better blocks, but there have been nights of hell where I just could not sleep ANY TIME and spent all night awake. Terrible terrible feeling when you know you have to be awake all day to care for them :(

I found that I am trying to cut caffeine to the morning, take walks in bright light, exercise sometimes on my cross trainer, cuddle my baby to bond. Take him out each day- and I have just started taking magnesium 375g- will report back if any use. I did not want to stay on xanax or Anti-Dep tablets also and came off them to try natural.
I wish I had time for yoga as I do think that is a good natural remedy as well as eating good.

You need support too, I tried a bit of counselling. Try take care of yourself as best you can and know you are not alone. Try every natural suggestion you can. But i am starting to think this could be unfortunately a thing that time passes and hopefully it will get better. I struggle like you and wish I had more tips!

x

Sorry this was meant for a new thread I’ve asked for it to be deleted