Anyone care to share their tips for getting a decent nights sleep in the third trimester

[loosechange]

I'm barely 3rd TM - 12 weeks until term, but sleep is a joke. I have managed a maximum of three hours in a row for the past week.
Restless legs, back pain, and I think hormones were waking me up at 3-4 am, although I don't need any help to wake up now.

Last night I tried 2 baths, with lavender, Paracetamol, all 3 suggested sleep positions in the hospitals back pain in pregnancy booklet and the curvy BF pillow to support my knees and bump.
2 hrs of very broken sleep later then 1 hour of deep sleep and I am a wreck.

I wasn't anaemic on the last bloods, but am due some more in a few weeks.

I know I can manage til the baby comes, no choice really, but I'm not quite sure how.

What worked for you?

I'm 35+2 and waking at 1am every night now. Can't get back to sleep and I can't get comfortable.

You could try making a small pillow fort to take the pressure of your bump and legs, it worked for me for a while! At the moment I'm trying to wear myself out as much as I can during the day in the hopes that I'll sleep...

I found I was waking somewhere between 3-5 am and not going back to sleep again. I eventually worked our it was because my blood sugar level was dropping (i was eating dinner early to avoid heartburn...) and that was causing my body to become "alert". A banana or couple of biscuits eaten as soon as I woke up meant I'd go back to sleep again once they hit my stomach.

Also check iron levels if you have restless legs and get some magnesium oil to rub on them.

Try to sleep propped up with extra pillow either side of head? That helps me. And also used a hot water bottle last night and had the best sleep ever. (still got up for a pee at 4, but straight back to sleep after) 39+5

36w today and slept CRAP last night. My stomach is churning from lying down, getting up to pee 4 or 5 times a night, having weird dreams - and to top it off the cat started crawling all over me and DH at 7 in the morning! GO away love you

Placemarking for tips because I'm hopeless at the moment.

I'm the same, sleeping 2-3 hours then waking for 2-3 hours then getting another hour if I'm lucky. I keep gaviscon by the bed to swig for heart burn, big glass of water as my throat constantly burns, pillows under bump and between legs, food for the 4am glucose crash and try to keep the light off and not look at my phone. If I'm struggling I'll use my phone to listen to my hypobirthing prep or mindfulness app and in worst case (awake 3 hours plus) I'll get up and watch telly with the cat. Trying not to stress about it as I'm on mat leave so it doesn't matter if my brain is mush in the day. I sleep separately from my OH so I don't disturb him which helps me to relax and not worry about wriggling about/turning over every ten mins.

I has this in second trimester and food before bed really helped me. I have a small bowl of oatmeal with milk and maple syrup as well as some kind of protien (nuts or dairy mostly) right before bed. Usually get about 5 hrs before I have to wee, then fall back to sleep again for another hour or two.

Reading this with interest. I'm 35 week pregnant and seem to sleep pretty well until about 3am. The blood sugar crash thing certainly makes sense- I had the best night's sleep in weeks last night after a supper of two poached eggs on toast at 8pm. I haven't been eating much at all in the evenings and I think that this must gave been part of the problem.

I make sure I have pillows already in all the places I seem to turn in the night. My pregnancy pillow is a life saver but also have another 5 dotted around me!

Bleurgh. No tips for you, but I'm absolutely in the same boat. I find it hard to drop off, wake up all the time, struggle with restless legs/needing to pee/being cross about waking up/waiting for the alarm to go. By the end of the work week, I find it so hard to get up in the morning.

After so many nights of tossing, turning and fighting with my pillows, I've started getting up for a snack and a read, then heading back to bed a few hours later.

But, it sucks - it really does. You have my sympathy.

Loads of pillows - between knees, under feet if they are swollen, a flat one under bump, a stack of pillows to prop you up a bit to prevent indigestion if that's an issue. Slow deep breathing meditation or self hypnosis. May not get you to sleep but calms and stops the stress building up from not being able to sleep. Deep hypnosis is almost as good. (There are lots of Youtube videos for sleep inducing meditation/self-hypnosis)

I wake every night around 3:30.

If I don't fall asleep straight away I get up and make a pillow fort on the sofa, put a crappy film on and have a drink. I don't bother lying in bed trying to get back to sleep; it's futile and I just get more restless. I use a hot water bottle to ease achy, restless legs and can't live without my pregnancy pillow. I doze from around 4am until 6:45 when DS gets up and joins me.

Counting sheep.

I figured out that my insomnia was due to me laying awake and planned and plotted EVERYTHING

I counted and if something crept into my mind I imagined pushing it out and started counting again.

For the first few nights I didn't get past 10 - my mind was working over time.

Give it a go!

I found a memory foam mattress made a massive difference to how comfortable I was, really helped support bump. Definitely recommend. Maybe try a memory foam topper if you don't want to replace the whole mattress.
Can't help with the pee wakes ups of course, but at least if the bed is comfy you might get to sleep quicker

Take magnesium!! Good for pregnant women, good for sleeping through the night.

Thankyou.
I shall give these a go.