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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Original poster

Pregnancy insomnia

29 replies

MsChanandlerBong · 13/06/2011 11:48

I'm 26+4 and for the past few weeks seem to be suffering from insomnia. I'm not particularly worried or stressed about anything, but I do have mild pgp which means I am uncomfortable most of the time.

Currently averaging 4-5 hours sleep a night and am struggling to get to sleep before 2.30-3am - so I am exhausted and am worried that if this continues I'll be rung out by the time baby arrives! Luckily I'm not working at the moment, so being a zombie during the day isn't too problematic, but it is doing my head in nonetheless!

Any advice?

OP posts:
KatyN · 13/06/2011 19:37

I've had insomnia in the past but not (yet) in pregnancy. My only advice would be to try and sleep when you can.. ie can you squeeze and hour in earlier in the evening, over lunch etc. Then during the night when you can't sleep it's not as panicy because you don't HAVE to sleep then to function the next day.
Although it's really lonely and grim being awake when everyone else is asleep remember there's nothing threatening and you can just get up, do ordinary things until you fall asleep again.
katy

CrazyAlien06 · 13/06/2011 19:47

ive had insomnia for ages.. currently 24 weeks . It is soooo bad, I am a full time teacher and need to be awake all day and until late at night :( I am waking up loads and taking ages to get back to sleep then struggling to get through the day. Feel like a zombie and on my way to a physical breakdown!
I have 4 weeks left at work but they are so stressful that I have no idea how I am going to get through them.... sorry for the rant :(

Bumperlicioso · 13/06/2011 19:54

It's awful. If you search the archives you will find a lot of my desperate posts from last year. If you are not working and have no other children I would say just sleep as and when you can. But I actually had sleeping tablets in the end, although they werent as effective as co-codamol which I also had on prescription.

My one other tip is to try and go to bed later rather than earlier. I found that stopped the middle of the night waking, partly anyway.

Original poster
MsChanandlerBong · 13/06/2011 22:23

I think I might be making it worse for myself as I now get panicky about going to bed. For example, DH just said "time for bed I think" and I have basically begged him to stay up with me for a bit as I know I have 4+ hours before I am likely to go to sleep.

I did manage a 30 min powernap this afternoon though... I seem to get to sleep easily in the daylight but struggle so much at night.

Katy you have hit the nail on the head when you say it is lonely and grim being awake when everyone else is asleep. I keep thinking when I am up with the baby at least I will be up for a reason!!

OP posts:
terf · 15/06/2011 19:40

Just thank the stars you don't have a two year old toddler who wakes up at the crack of dawn to also contend with!

Janey2012 · 13/09/2012 15:07

Hi,
I know this is an old thread but am having real difficulties sleeping in the night and can't seem to sleep in the day either. I'm 5 days away from my due date and find I'm awake from 1am-5am every night for the past couple of weeks. I feel just MsChanadlerBong that I dread going to bed and find it very lonely reading/pacing about the house at 4am while my husband sleeps soundly!
Does anyone have anymore tips?
Thanks

BadgerFace · 13/09/2012 21:27

I think that acupuncture is supposed to help in some cases so worth having a go if you can find a specialist near you.

I can empathise as although I can get to sleep okay I've been waking up at 4 or 5am nearly every day since March with fertility treatment and then pregnancy - it's pretty much my only "symptom" but it's exhausting!

RecklessRat · 14/09/2012 03:35

I've got it too! (hence 3.30am post......)

It's a nightmare. I haven't slept through the night once since Day 1 and am now 28 weeks.

I'm not a good sleeper anyway, when not pg I have an occasional sleeping pill if I'm going though a bad patch and that can shift my sleeping patterns back to something approaching normal.

Obviously, that's not an option now. I normally fall asleep quite quickly, as im knackered, but then wake up anywhere between 1am and 4am. I can then be awake for 2 hours plus. I work full time and have to get up at 6 so it's pretty bad.

Nothing can "make" you sleep unfortunately, but things that sometimes help me a bit are:

  • exercise - I generally sleep better if I've had a swim after work. Even a walk should help a bit
  • yoga and deep breathing helps - you need to try and calm your mind so it's not racing at night, so even if you don't do yoga try looking up some breathing and relaxation techniques online
  • not eating too late
  • not drinking too much fluid before bed so you don't have to pee so much in the night
  • sleeping mask & earplugs
  • if you wake up in the night, don't stay in bed, get up and go and read
  • bowl of cereal when I wake up in the night
  • catch daytime catnaps if you can. Even 10 mins can help get you through
  • there's relaxation apps you can download that I sometimes use, but not sure how helpful they are really.

I can't see it getting any better for me, so am just resigned to it. No prospect of sleep when pg over either.... Sigh.

monsterchild · 14/09/2012 03:46

I am 25+4 and I've been waking up every night. I think mostly I wake up to pee, but can't get back to sleep. However, (here comes the smug) I have found it's a nice chance to just lie quietly and think about stuff, or nothing.

When I'm stressed about something at work, it is of course horrible. But I find that I am not tired during the day, I think because I am not stressing about whether I'm asleep or not.

For me, lying quietly in the dark is a good as sleeping, really, even though I'm only getting about 5-6 hours of sleep it seems to be enough.

I have also read about something called "second sleep" that seems to have been pretty common before electricity was invented. that has also helped me not worry so much that I'm awake in the middle of the night.

HTH!

RecklessRat · 14/09/2012 03:54

What's the theory re "second sleep" monster?

terrywoganstrousers · 14/09/2012 03:56

24+5 here and wide awake! Just had to take a paracetamol for a banging headache too Sad

RecklessRat · 14/09/2012 03:57

Morning (?) Terry! Hope the paracetamol does the trick

terrywoganstrousers · 14/09/2012 04:09

It does seem to have worked, yes. I just hate this lying awake when I'm actually really tired! And DP snoozing away beside me, so frustrating!
I've just googled second sleep, looks fascinating. Who knew?!

monsterchild · 14/09/2012 04:10

Reckless, it is that when people go to bed when it's dark (no electricity) you wake up in the middle of the night for a while (and lie there or go do something) and then go back to sleep for a bit til dawn.

I can't link well, but: second sleep

it helped me not be so stressed about being awake!

whatsoever · 14/09/2012 05:21

Awake now at 5.18 and have been for over an hour. Got a mug of hot water, still awake and stomach felt rough. Got some Gaviscon - now stomach rumbling obnoxiously.

Don't want to wake DH by putting a light on to read a book so surfing the net on my phone.

Nothing useful from me in the way of tips I'm afraid. I've had this on & off from second trimester onwards (now 37 weeks). Had about 3 good nights so this seems to be my payback.

RecklessRat · 14/09/2012 07:30

Thanks for the info Monster - really interesting and hadn't heard that before.

I can really identify with that as I often only get 4 hours in the first stint.

Hope everyone managed some zzzzzzs in the end. Maybe see you again tonight!

Janey2012 · 14/09/2012 19:39

Hi all,

Hope you got some sleep in the end. I actually slept through the dreaded 3-5am slot because I was sooooooo tired. I seem to have 3/4 night's bad sleep and then catch up on the other nights.

Thanks for the tips RecklessRat! My midwife yesterday also recommended putting on radio 4 really quietly so your brain has something to listen to and you don't just sit there thinking about how you're not sleeping. She also said it is a symptom of late pregnancy so just have to put up with it really.

terrywoganstrousers I agree - whilst husband is sleeping soundly it's hard not to resent him while I'm tossing and turning! At least when the baby's here I'll be up at that time for a reason!

With 4 days to due date we'll see what I'm saying the other side of it all>

Good luck to you all x :-)

Marmiteisyummy · 14/09/2012 20:30

Don't know if it'll help any of you at all but I used natal hypnotherapy with my DS and found it really helpful for getting to sleep at the start of the night and resettling later. A friend also used it at night for insomnia in late pg and just listened to it with ear phones before sleep and she found it very helpful too. (it was also great in labour!).
Hope you all get some sleep tonight.

terrywoganstrousers · 15/09/2012 03:28

Argh am up again! Went to bed at midnight and still awake now Angry

monsterchild · 15/09/2012 03:40

Well I'm up too, but I'm about 7 hours behind you. I do expect to be up around 3 my time.

Do you have a headache again?

RecklessRat · 15/09/2012 03:41

Morning Terry.......

No headache tonight?

terrywoganstrousers · 15/09/2012 18:19

No headache last night but luckily i dropped off just after posting that!
I thought I'd been up for hours but DP tells me I was merrily snoring away shortly after 4 so can't have been as bad as I thought. Every second feels like an hour though when you're tired but awake!

terrywoganstrousers · 16/09/2012 02:43

Well ladies I have just consumed an entire jelly in the name of research. Will it send me to sleep? I have gaviscon at the ready Blush

shouldIbecrossaboutthis · 16/09/2012 05:54

Jelly?! Will that help? Keep us posted.

I don't know if I have insomnia as such, but for the last 2 weeks I keep waking up at 5ish and not being able to fall back to sleep! Instead of lying there, feeling really annoyed with my sleeping peacefully DP, I decided to just get up and embrace the early start Grin.

newby2 · 16/09/2012 07:11

Hi ladies!

Weird, I'm 26 weeks, usually sleep like a (settled) baby and have started waking and doing the second sleep thing and was about to post about insomnia. Thanks for putting the link- I had no idea it's normal. It's a killer though when you've dropped off to be woken by the toddler but my partner gets up luckily but then I'm awake again.

When I wake early hours, the only thing that settles me off again is sorting out the new baby things- how strange is that. And some-times waking the old man up :)

Let us know about the jelly- may try Angel Delight tonight in the interests of all you lovely ladies.

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