Pregnancy Insomnia

[Chloris33]

Anyone suffering this? I've had it from third trimester onwards. Now 36 weeks and it's terrible. I'm awake at 3am for hours every night, sometimes don't get back to sleep at all and only manage about 4 hours a night. Wonder if it's hormonal? I do get stiff and sore but the not getting back to sleep thing (even after some stretches) is extreme. Hoping it will get better when baby is here? Any experience of that? I heard taking magnesium can help, as deficiency is common and can cause insomnia, but Boots wouldn't sell me a supplement in pregnancy. None of the usual advice - warm bath, milk, getting up, relaxation exercises - works for me. I hate it, especially as I have my 2.5 yr old to look after, but am coming to the conclusion that maybe it's better to accept it & not worry about it. It's hard not to feel so cheated of proper sleep, though!

I'm 36 weeks too and could have written your post. I don't remember the insomnia being this bad last time.

Sadly I have no answers! Fingers crossed not much longer for us both!

I embraced it and read loads. It started at the day of conception for me and lasted until delivery.

Had on and off - now 28 weeks.

I'm not sure whether it is just hormonal. But I have found that at various stages the following helped:

1. Dead Sea salt baths (magnesium boost)
2. drinking way more water than I would have thought I needed, even close to bedtime. A lot of times when I was waking and couldn't get back there was a heat I just couldn't shift. Hydration helped. And even going to the loo a lot was ok because I could get back to sleep.
3. I admit this might be a bit out there and unique to my experiences (because sometimes the insomnia coupled with me feeling like I've got a massive hangover) - I am avoiding sulphites in food/drink, as they seem to really affect me physically. I think pregnancy exacerbated a previous reaction in this respect but perhaps worth thinking about if you can match any food stuffs to bad nights etc.