Worried about not sleeping

[worried111111]

Hello,

I'm looking for advice. I'm around 35 weeks pregnant and for the last 6-7 weeks I haven't been able to sleep longer than 2-3 hours a night.

I've tried everything - sleep hygiene related etc. But I just can't sleep. I just keep waking up every 20 minutes sometimes. Then I can't get back to sleep, then I suffer from restless legs.

It's really really really getting to me. I can't even sleep during the day, as in, I can't fall asleep.

In addition, I just get itchy everywhere at night time. It's like my entire body annoys me. I just cannot get any rest. It's starting to make me feel anxious. How much sleep can a person survive on ?

I've spoken to the GP and they just give me the whole ' sleep hygiene ' routine. Nothing more than that. I've always suffered from insomnia, but this is much worse. Some nights I don't sleep at all, all night.

Any advice ??

Sleeping in those last weeks of pregnancy is very hard, I know I think I got more sleep once the baby was here than before. Can you take naps during the day?

That being said, you should definitely speak to the GP or midwife about the itching, that's sometimes a sign of underlying issues in pregnancy.

It really sucks but I find it's really common I. Pregnancy. I suffered really badly with insomnia during 1st and 3rd trimester. Just a few hours if I was lucky and then once baby I born it doesn't get much better.

Have you tried something like the calm app or maybe YouTube asmr videos they tend to help me fall asleep.

@DarwinLoves thanks for your advice. I'll speak to the midwife. Although I feel that it's from shaving and from not shaving. If I let things 'grow', everything itches. If I shave things, it all starts itching too. That's the leg and bikini area. The breast area and arm area also gets itchy and uncomfy. I'm extremely sensitive to different fabrics. Like I just can't tolerate some fabrics on my skin and I can't tolerate any discomfort in general. Say if my sock is slightly twisted. It drives me insane.. oh the joys of pregnancy!

@commoncoot yeah I'm trying a few different ones. I'll carry on. Not long left.

Please call your midwife re itching, my friend was just induced at 37 weeks due to Obstetric Cholestasis. It's really serious and you need to get it checked out.

Not to scare you but it's affects your liver function and increases risk of stillbirth.

My friend wrongly assumed it was her eczema playing up and only realised once someone in her NCT group was diagnosed.

Pregsomnia is the worst!

I remember with my first I’d get a few hours in bed but then would wake up every night. Would go down stairs and watch tv for a couple of hours before managing a few more hours sleep whilst practically sitting up on the sofa.

One thing that helped me was the spray from lush, I think it was called sleepy. My husband hated the smell and moaned a lot but without it I got no sleep.

Ah I had the exact same thing. And was was SO stressed that I wasn't going to get sleep when baby came so I needed to get it in the last few weeks of pregnancy.

I found napping helped, if you're at work tho that's not a helpful suggestion. It's just when I napped, even if two half hour naps could subconsciously I added it onto the nights sleep I had had and it made me feel better.

Tried Camomile tea? Herbal sleeping tablets? Even if they're crap the placebo affect works better than you think. Also get up and read on the couch, I used to fall asleep that way,

But in terms of what you can survive on, your body adapts today it. You feel shit when you get up but once mobilised it's surprising how little you can survive on.

I watched same and barely slept through pregnancy, but if you can at least rest it will help and you might find it improves towards the end.

I was told it hung is a common side effect of pregnancy due to all the extra blood flowing through.

Otherwise, Luke warm baths, peppermint tea (or raspberry leaf if you believe in its powers) a walk in the fresh air (I managed 2 miles a day at the very end) even a swim - activity will help you feel better and sleep better.

I'm 35 weeks too and have the same thing, it seems to be really common. I'm trying to see it as a positive i.e. At least this way it won't be a total shock having to wake up constantly through the night to feed baby :)

I honestly could have wrote this myself I'm 38+4 now and went to see the consultant last week and broke down he gave me a sweep and also had one today and booked in for induction on New Year's Eve, the restless legs are awful I have to get up and walk about near enough all night to help them but as soon as I relax they are back, my husband stays awake with me sometimes because it upsets me so much, not long now for us both and hopefully all will be back to normal,x

No advice OP it is shit. But there’s a silver lining, once your baby’s born things will get so much better - you’ll be able to sleep comfortably and even if you’re woken up every couple of hours it’s easier to deal with knowing you can just drop off again once they go back down. But yeah do speak to the mw about the itching.

Hi, I've found Lush 'Sleepy' cream really helps me sleep. Also lavender spray on my pillow.

Are you hypnobirthing? I listen to a particular MP3 every night (Katherine Graves - Colour and Calmness). It stressed me out at first as it has visualizations and I was convinced I wasn't doing it right. But kept listening every night before I went to sleep and now it puts me out like a light. Waking up v common through the night of course, and they say to just put it on again if you wake and it'll send you back. Even if you don't want to specifically do hypnobirthing, there are plenty of other sleep hypnosis tracks you could try.