"Sleep while you can" UGH!

[WorldEndingFire]

I'm getting so fed up of hearing this. At 32 weeks I am waking up at least every two hours with hip pain or needing to go to the toilet and while I am maintaining good levels of healthy activity it is infuriating to be told to rest while you can when no position feels truly comfortable or sustainable awake or asleep!

I'm not alone in this, right!?

I was the same as PP, terrible insomnia- was sleeping 40 mins a night by the end so waking every 90 mins was a breeze once DS was born

Maybe it's better to be used to the sleep deprivation before the baby comes. If you've been sleeping loads it will hit you even harder! To be honest I never suffered much with sleep deprivation. But I did co sleeping and bf so the dc just latched on and I barely noticed. It's frowned upon now though I think.

'sleep while you can' cannot be 'true' any more than it can be false. It is not a statement, but an instruction. So the question is, is it useful, to the person being told to do that.
It seems to me obviously not. And I'm a pregnant woman who is having a great time, the worst of which is the odd bad night sleep for no reason - so sorry for you folk suffering with reflux / sickness / spd etc. Even if I know I will find the newborn lack of sleep tough because I can't nap!!

It seems like advice intended to make the giver feel better/smug rather than help the recipient.
@Shinyletsbebadguys laughed out loud at the image of your 3yr old fending for himself with a shank. Haha. Also Tracy's divining rod orange.

I also just want to agree with Anne that the 'oh it's all downhill from here' thing that people say to you constantly throughout pregnancy and parenting is awful, unkind and it's always a sweeping generalisation that won't be true for everyone. It's dispiriting if things are going well currently, and devastating if they're not.

My 15 month old DD actually sleeps well, but I don't. I haven't slept through since she was conceived nearly 2 years ago!

Thanks everyone; that's the thing, I have no idea how it's going to be, but what I do know is that while I can rest a bit right now, no position is comfortable and I certainly can't bank sleep for the future even if I could sleep well now. Definitely advice that helps the person giving it more than the person receiving it!

I wish I were better at napping but it takes me 45 minutes to get sufficiently sleepy to drop off so it's seldom something I can fit in. I'm sure sheer newborn exhaustion will put paid to that, though!

Comforted to hear that at least for some, sleep improved post-partum. I don't mind being woken up so much, it's more not being able to get any quality sleep when I need it due to constant low-to-mid level pain and discomfort. Only managed a few hours tonight. Don't even feel tired by it any more, just generalised exhaustion!

I'm just on the other side, DD is 13 days old and I'm sleeping much better now than when I was pregnant.
In the last trimester everything hurt, turning over was difficult but no matter which side I slept on, my hips hurt. Plus I had insomnia so I was awake for good chunks of the night.
Now DD is here, I can give her to her dad while I get a couple of hours uninterrupted sleep and she sleeps in her moses basket from about 1/2am until about 7am so I'm getting more sleep than when I was pregnant!

Congratulations! Gosh that sounds like heaven right now! Experiencing very similar with pain and turning over at the moment. So glad you're getting better sleep, there's some hope!

AnneLovesGilbert I agree totally! I’m absolutely shattered this morning after the multiple wake ups I had during the night (I’m 32 weeks pregnant) and even reading those smug comments about how it’ll be worse makes me want to cry. There’s one thing letting women know that they’re not alone, but it’s quite another to take pleasure in telling vulnerable woman that things are going to get worse. Especially when they have NO way of knowing that’s true.