Desperate to sleep, please please help me...

[vix1980]

This may sound stupid, im only 5 weeks but for the past 2 weeks ive been waking up at 4.30am every morning, its got the the point now where i worked out i've missed nearly 4 full nights of sleep so my bags are currently touching my chin.

I cant go on like this, its making me so depressed, i keep crying constantly with pg hormones and no sleep its not a good match, i cant sleep through the day and go to bed around 10pm, ive tried going later but i just wake up the same time so loose even more sleep.

Ive tried hot baths, warm milk, bach flower remedy but nothing has worked, i asked my doctor for help but he didnt want to know and said it was too early to be concerned about not sleeping, i dont think it is, im seriously desperate for help to sleep and just feel like downing some sleeping tablets and going to bed for a week. Any ideas????

You poor thing vix! I also had this in very early pregnancy and it is exhausting. I think it's the hormones and I found it did pass after a while.

I found the best thing for me was to drag myself out of bed when I woke up and have a camomile tea and a couple of slices of toast while listening to odd early morning radio. Usually I would then be able to get back to sleep again rather then just lieing in bed going mad.

Also try and nap during the day if you can. I even ended up taking a couple of days off work and just sleeping at one point in the first trimester as I was so exhausted and couldn't seem to manage more then a few hours sleep in one go. I know someone at work who put mysterious meetings in her calendar and then went and napped in an empty room at work, so just do whatever gets you through :o

This might sound a little wacky, but give Reiki a go. A full session lasts about an hour - even if you have no truck with the chakra / energy theories behind (I'm quite a skeptic, even though I trained to Reiki 1) it is super relaxing. Most people just pass right out on the bed after about 5 minutes. It is completely harmless, just gives you a bit of time to empty your head of worries and zone out. It might be enough to go once and get out of the sleepless rut and calm yourself down, but a good practitioner will have more experienced recommendations about it. A lot of practitioners do a special cheap price for first timers.
Otherwise, there are loads of relaxation techniques you can do in your own head that help you sleep. Have a google for breath relaxation techniques.
I'm quite prone to insomnia, hence having found out this sort of stuff. If you can have a bit of patience with the mumbo-jumbo, there is genuinely useful stuff underneath it.
Good luck !

Yeah...I've had this too over the past 10 days or so (just 5 weeks) but on and off. 430 is pretty much exactly my wake up time as well but I've only experienced it maximum 3 days in a row.

Dr Google says it's rising progesterone levels (normal for early pregnancy) that cause this in some people (I sometimes had the same trouble some months in the few days leading up to AF, another time of rising levels)

Though it's hormonal I think there are a few things you can do -- or at least these are things that have worked for me. I would suggest playing around with a few variables; time you eat at night, what you eat for dinner, when you last have something to drink.

I find it is worse for me if I eat something carb heavy (ie bread) at dinner time; I think it might be slightly to do with blood sugar spikes (? - Dr Cosmo89!) If I keep dinner protein and veggie based, very low GI, then I stand a better chance of sleeping post toilet trip and not waking up so completely. Temperature is important too; I tend to wake up very hot, which also prevents getting back to sleep, so I've rethought what I'm wearing in bed!

Good luck with it.

I find Paul McKenna relaxation CDs really good - put them on your iPod or whatever and even if you don't actually sleep, you still feel as if your brain is getting a rest - I often drift off during it then wake at the end, then turn it off and go right back to sleep. I've struggled with insomnia off and on for years and found focusing on relaxation rather than sleep more productive.

Seriously thank you so much for the replies, i feel like I'm going mad, my partner came downstairs to check on me and i just burst into tears, I've never had trouble sleeping in my life rather the other way round i usually get too much, i do have a lot on my mind at the moment as well as finding out I'm pregnant were still renovating out house and trying to move back which is stressful in itself. so i do think looking at the relaxation side will help, also meals im trying to think what ive been eating at mealtimes but seriously cannot remember much, last night it was at a friends and he had done beef in red wine sauce with mash and veg so lots of carbs and last night was the worst experience of trying to sleep ever had.

I've also heard good things about reiki, my aunt is actually training after she had a few sessions and found it life changing, might be worth getting her to have a go on me,ill try anything now. I got really excited before watching an advert for those kalms tablets to help you sleep then found out pregnant woman cant have them. Ill give these ideas a go and hopefully will find 1 that works, my pregnant friend has been doing yoga in pregnancy and found that helped her a lot but i dont think im far along enough yet to start those classes, fingers crossed i find something in the meantime anyway and thanks again for helping!

At its worst, I just repeated like an idiot that insomnia couldn't kill me and I would sleep eventually! It's amazing how tough we are really - so you feel like crap, but it isn't actually doing you any long-term harm so that sense of panic that comes with it, you can really try to let go of that. Bitter experience speaking here! I don't know if magnesium supplements are safe during pregnancy but they are good for relaxing muscles. Exercise is good for clearing the adrenalin out of your body too, even if you don't feel like it. Good luck!

I had exhaustion and insomnia too.
Relaxation exercises helped me. Focusing on relaxing my muscles starting with toes, imagining all the energy flowing out and peace flowing in, and working up/round body slowly works for me. As does writing a 'stream of consciousness' in a book for 10mins before this if your brain's rattling with stuff.
Gentle exercise is the last thing you want but it will help. A gently swim, or a walk around the block at any point in the day will tire your legs (I was fidgetting a lot) and arms and help you. I was only fidgetting because I couldn't sleep IYSWIM.
I also invested in a dreamgenii at about 12wks and wished I'd done it a lot earlier. It helped with a niggly spine, helped loads with ligament pains and general hip aches that were keeping me awake, though didn't seem 'that bad', or at least not bad enough to keep me awake in themselves.'v' pillows and other pillows just didn't do it for me.
Also, ensure you're not having any (at all) caffeine after 4/5ish.
Try having something with dairy in it 30mins of so before you want to sleep - even a glass of milk will do it...you'll soon learn when it's most effective. Dairy (and turkey I think) contains tryptophans...natural sleep enducers (explains a lot about Xmas too!). This will also help with you not waking as you're hungry. Try keeping some biscuitss by the bed too, so if you do wake hungry then whacking backa couple of these can help you drift back off.
I would suggest NOT napping during the day if poss, but for me it just wasn't...and I'm off for a nap now too...26wks...

I wouldn't make it your first port of call given the good tips you've had so far, but I think you can take zolpidem (mild sleeping tablets if low dosage) sporadically through early pregnancy. My gp has confirmed this for me, as I also suffer badly from insomnia and am about 9 weeks just now.

You can get from your gp following assessment.

I only take max once a week if very desperate for some rest so I can keep going at work, but as I said, really would suggest natural approach first. Any additional medication during pregnancy is adding potential risk.

Good luck with sleeping - the insomnia will pass.

Are you sure you're not waking due to the increased need to wee? That was the reason in my case (and always has been ever since I had first dc, due to drinking copious amounts of fluids ever since).

I have my hypnobirthing CD on my Ipod and keep it on my bedside table. If I wake up and can't get back to sleep it seems to send me back off.

I had similar insomnia, on and off. Very exhausting even after a few days. I would get hungry / thirsty at night so I'd always make sure have a snack before bedtime. Apart from that though definitely eat dinner early (6/7pm) and don't worry about putting people out if you are eating with friends - it is only short term, and not worth losing a night's sleep over!

Don't watch TV, use the computer or read baby books just before bed. Screens are too stimulating and reading up on baby stuff will make your head spin, whether it's excitement or stress.

You can start pregnancy yoga at any time. I started at 20 weeks but there are many women who started earlier. I'm pretty sure the longer you do it the more benefits you get from it.

I've never found I've needed to wee more - thought that was just a myth?!

At 30 weeks, my sleep is much better now. I'm sure yours will improve too.

Weeing more is not entirely a myth. Early in pregnancy you need to wee more frequently as the uterus is low down & getting bigger, then there is a bit of relief as it grows more upward & some pressure is relieved then at the end it's just all pressure from the weight of the baby so weeing all the time! Also a lot of weeing after baby is born to get rid of the extra fluid.

Hi just to say I had this kind of experience in both of my pregnancies around the 5/6/7 week mark. I think the hormones play a massive part, I likened it to take off in a plane, then when you get into 2nd trimester you get turbulence but settle down a bit. I felt so desperate, I turned up at the GPs begging for pills and was crying down the phone at NHS direct.
I found relaxation cds, acupuncture, massage, as well as the hot bath, hot milk, flower remedies all helpful. I think it can be really stressful and tempting to give up with this stuff when its not working, but persevere, you will settle down xxx
Wishing you sleep as soon as possible xxx