First Trimester miserable due to insomnia. Please give me hope....

[Winniepooh23]

I'm 12 weeks pregnant and almost from the beginning I wake every night at around 3.30 and can't get back to sleep. I'm not anxious or stressed and I fall asleep very easily. It doesn't matter when I go to sleep, always awake at 3.30. :(. It's making me horribly exhausted and miserable. Anyone got any advice or can reassure me it will pass?

I have had phases of that throughout pregnancy but they were just phases - not every night.

Are you prone to insomnia anyway? If not it will probably pass soon as your body adjusts to the massive changes. I am sometimes insomniac anyway so accepted it as inevitable.

Thanks Xmasbaby. I'm can usually sleep for Britain. I think it's why I'm taking this so hard. It's an awful thing, I'm sorry you suffer it too.

Sympathies, Winnie. I fear for me it only kicked in during the second trimester, when I also woke up somewhere between three thirty and four thirty and was sometimes not able to go back to sleep at all, though sometimes able after an hour or two - not helped by desperate urge to pee. It's not every night, though - though it still happens - and if you've been insomniac since getting pregnant, there's no reason to think it will continue indefinitely, or replicate my pattern. It's no fun, though.

I have had problems sleeping throughout my pregnancy (am 39 weeks) - I have had the odd decent night but generally as you describe. I usually sleep well too.

Another sufferer here and exactly the same times. Have you tried getting up and having something to eat? It doesn't always work for me, but sometimes getting up and having a mug of warm milk and slice of toast means I then can get back to sleep - worth a try, although I'll admit dragging yourself out of bed is hard!

OP - you can try taking Kali-carb 6c,before you go to bed at night. Because it's homeopathic there are no side effects and it is completely safe. If, after 5/6 days your sleeping pattern hasn't improved then stop taking the remedy. And remember, if the problem does go away you don't need to keep taking it because the remedy only triggers your body to heal and balance itself.

My insomnia passed (and came back again, and then went away again).

Don't waste money on homeopathic things: just gently tell yourself its only pregnancy hormones, if you always need a drink or a snack keep something suitable by your bed, otherwise try rolling straight out of bed, using the loo and then lying down again. The trick is to sort out what your body needs without waking up fully.

There's no sound or anything that happens at 3:30 is there? Heating coming on, a train going past etc?

I'm a long time bad sleeper and have gone thro times in this pregnancy where i'm in bed at 7pm to get enough rest i've found the best way to deal with it is just accept it at the moment i don't sleep til 4 am get up at 10am feel tired between 4pm and 8pm then feel wide awake again. I just stay up til 3.30 and have a rest at 5 in a dark room. You maybe should try going to bed early and when you wake up get up and go about your day once you accept it and stop worrying about getting back to sleep you might end up sleeping better.

It doesn't work for everyone tho if you have job and kids to take care of

Oh yes, having a snack does help! My Dh usually gets me some cereal when I'm awake - it always seems to be between 3 and 4am! I'm now 40+6 and hoping I can get out of the habit when the baby finally arrives.

I'm not sure, but your sleep cycle does change when pregnant to bring you in line with babies. An adult cycle is 90 mins whereas for a baby it's 60mins. So when you are pregnant you sleep more lightly and have less deep sleep. And this carries on if you breastfeed. This is what my NCT teacher told us, anyway!

Can't promise it will pass but have 2 recommendations. Go to bed later rather than earlier, and if you are desperate you CAN be proscribed sleeping tablets, just to give you a couple of night's respite. I had Zopiclone twice in my last pregnancy.

Thanks everyone. I'll try all your suggestions but it helps just to know I'm not alone with this x

I was in exactly the same boat in first trimester - was so tired in the evening I'd go up to bed at 9.30 (I'm usually a night owl so OH was amazed!) but i'd be wide awake and feeling miserable at 3am.

As I moved into 2nd trimester I started trying to stay up later and later, trying to read until I felt really tired, and gradually it got better.

Still get the occasional bad night and was v bad over Christmas but that was due to sleeping in unfamiliar beds which are less comfortable than my own.

What I wish I'd done is buy a little clip-on reading light so I could try to read myself asleep without disturbing OH. Depends if yours is a really light or deep sleeper I guess.