Is pregnancy insomnia a thing ???

[Marty93]

Hi all.

Not posted for a while as since around 17 weeks my pregnancy has actually been great! No more sickness, hurrah!

However......!!!

I am now 21 weeks and for about 2 weeks I have been suffering with not only sacral back pain but also some form of insomnia. I have no problems falling to sleep when I go to bed, however I am awake at the exact same time each night (1:30 am) and just cannot get back to sleep. I've resorted to just getting up at 3am every morning and sitting downstairs as I just get so frustrated!

It's really having an impact on my performance at work. I can't concentrate and feel SO tired I could practically fall asleep standing up (I luckily have a desk job so that won't happen!).

Has anyone else suffered from this "pregnancy insomnia" (if it's even a thing!).... I feel like once one symptoms goes another one shows up!

Xx

I don’t know if it was insomnia, just that I was so wide awake from feeling uncomfortable that I couldn’t get back to sleep. With pregnancy’s 2 and 3 I used to have an afternoon nap.

I had this! It was awful. I used to have trouble falling asleep and then woke up every few hours until 3 am when I was wide awake and couldn’t get back to sleep. What really helped was wedging myself in place with loads of pillows. It passed but then kicked back in later, it also didn’t help that my baby was a nighttime wriggler!
Try the pillow thing and hopefully that will help! No fun being pregnant AND exhausted, I feel for you

Yes, I was awake from 2am - 5am every night for the whole of the third trimester. Same time every night. Turned out to be good practice for the baby that arrived shortly after sadly.

@Heymummee oh I'm so glad it's not just me!

I have a pregnancy pillow on order - can't wait to try that and get a decent nights kip! I'm usually a big sleeper (like I can sleep the clock round if I wanted too!) so this whole waking up in the early hours thing is really annoying me and I get sooooo grouchy ! Lol. The back pains doesn't help either!

I've been having afternoon naps as I get home from work at 3:30pm, but I'm careful to only nap for around an hour maximum, as i don't want to make the whole not sleeping through the night thing worse!

I just don't like the idea of another 18 weeks of this then followed by another million years of never sleeping again once baby is here ! Lol!

X

Bless you. I hope the pillow helps.
I found that because I was terrified of sleeping on my back after what the midwife said I was waking up all the time, on my back, then worried about how long I had been like that so wedging with pillows stopped me from rolling and helped with the back pain also.

Definitely a thing, I wake up at 4 every day and can't sleep again.

I used to take a nap but now I just push through instead and it has helped a little. But if you need to take one, it's really hard not to.

I didn't sleep much when I was pregnant, I found it really hard to manage. Like you, I'd go to sleep ok but then be up for hours in the night. I was prescribed promethazine which is an antihistamine but can be used as a sleeping tablet as well. I hope you get some respite soon.

thank you all - glad to know i'm not alone. It is so frustrating especially when OH is sleeping like a log every night!

I am hoping that this pillow helps keep me in one place as i find i'm very fidgety recently which is unusual as i'm usually out like a light pre pregnancy!

I just fear it's only going to get worse the bigger I get... eeeek!

I've had insomnia with all three pregnancies. It's definitely a thing. Another shitty thing you don't find out about until it happens to you!

Definitely a thing! I'm 26 weeks and wake up between 2.30 and 3am every day, then my legs/hips start hurting and by this time, the baby is awake so I'm getting kicked and punched to pieces haha. Struggle to nod back off for a good couple of hours and then i'm up for work!

Yea, its a thing unfortunately! I am on my third pregnancy, but first time suffering with insomnia. IT SUCKS! Its even worse with the heat at night, I literally take 4-5 hours to actually sleep. I wake multiple times and am EXHAUSTED! My only explanation is pregnancy insomnia. I can not even fall asleep during the day for a nap, even though I have tried before. Before pregnancy I could nap daily if I wanted! I have two kids and a puppy keeping me busy all day, so evening my body is exhausted, but feel like I am missing the go to sleep hormone. So frustrating.

Definitely a thing here too! I was also prescribed promethazine in the end as it was having such a massive impact on my mental health.

I used to listen to podcasts too as that way I was at least resting, but my mind wasn't racing.

I don't really have experience of this so pinch of salt is needed! But, having read your post, I think if I were you and waking at 1.30am, I would maybe try setting an alarm for 1am. This MIGHT interrupt your sleep cycle part way through and allow you to go back to sleep groggy and start a new cycle. Supposedly we sleep in cycles of 90 minutes so waking in the middle can mean you're sleeper than waking at the end?

I wish I had insomnia because all I want to do it sleep. I take tablets to help me sleep and they have stopped working recently. It takes me ages to get comfortable and then when I do, I am sleeping until lunch time every day. I set an alarm and then turn it off, roll over and go back to sleep

This might not help you, but I’m a big podcast/audiobook listener and I’ve started keeping headphones under my pillow for when I can’t fall back asleep in the middle of the night, as I find that if I’m not listening to something my mind goes into overdrive a bit. Listening to a calm book or podcast means either I drift back off or at the very least I feel less stressed about being awake and have less pressure on myself which usually helps me fall back asleep!

Yes it's a thing. I had it both my pregnancies. Silver lining is it really does ease you in to sleeplessness when the baby comes.

I used to listen to hypnobirthing tracks.

HELLO

I'm finding it really hard to fall asleep in the first place. really really unlike me. I'm 21 weeks with second baby and i'm knackered. it's doing my head in. my bed so uncomfortable all of a sudden.

pretty sure i recall waking up early in the am with no. 1 too😑😑

Yes, insomnia and the most bizarre dreams, lovely combination!

@Hidingtonothing oh god don't get me started on weird vivid dreams!!!! I keep dreaming about giving birth in a really small bath that I can't even fit in and the baby being born with a full set of teeth as my midwife being my dog !!!!

I'm not sure I'm even sleeping through the night anymore it feels like I'm laying there wide awake for the whole night I'm absolutely shattered today, I don't remember this with my other two

anita I also don't actually know if I'm sleeping or not. I feel like I'm just lying in bed in a daze a lot of the time but not sure how much sleep I get.

@LiveInAHidingPlace that's exactly it for me! I'm aware I'm in bed and just haven't slept I don't seem to even dream atm. I think tonight I will try one of them radox sleepy bathsoaks and a warm milk or something. It's becoming really annoying

@anitagreen @LiveInAHidingPlace

Yep, completely get the feeling of just lying in bed in some sort of awake-daze! not actually feeling like you're dropping off to sleep. Horrible I've never known anything so annoying!

I can remember in my last pregnancy waking up early like 6am and then starting the day but this is next level I'm laying in bed trying to have a nap and I can't even do that it's weird, it's also making me feel anxious and stressed because I just want a bloody nap. I forgot about magnesium bath salts I used to use them when I was stressed out and I always had a brilliant sleep if I used them in a bath before bed, could try those?