Pregnancy insomnia insanity

[twirlywooly]

Not completely sure what I'm wanting to achieve with this post tbh- I guess just want to see if others have had/are having a similar experience so I don't feel so alone in this and if anyone's found something that works for them. And I guess to know that despite the absolute lack of sleep it's still possible to produce a healthy human!

Currently around 25 weeks and have really been suffering with insomnia on and off this pregnancy. Get off to sleep no problem but wake up early hours needing to pee or with heartburn or sometimes not even that but then no matter what am wide awake until my alarms almost ready to go off in the morning! Seem to have two bad nights for one good one at the moment and I'm exhausted! 😩 Anyone else has similar? Had it a little but with my previous pregnancy but no where near this bad and I'm otherwise a good sleeper with pretty good routines/sleep hygiene and all that!

Had it with my first and it was horrendous. I found that a bowl of cereal or toast helped but only have I'd been up for a couple of hours.

This was my first pregnancy symptom and I too woke up in the early hours and couldn't get back to sleep again. Maybe some cruel preparation for the newborn stage? Could you try bringing your bedtime forward as early as possible and see what happens? You might still wake at 2 but if you went to bed at 8 instead of 10 you would claw back a few extra hours. If it's taking you hours and hours to get back to sleep anyway you could try getting up and quietly pottering about, do a few jobs, try to tire yourself, maybe a warm milky drink and then try to get back to sleep again.

It's rubbish though. At a time your body is working so hard and needing lots of rest it just shoots itself in the foot.

@TrashKitten10 I know it is so cruel! Annoys me when people say things like get as much sleep while you still can! 😕 Thank you yea not a bad suggestion with heading to bed earlier- going to try and get a ridiculously early one in tonight I think and see what happens. Has been tricky up to recently as had to use evenings for work but has settled down a bit now so will give it a go.
Thanks @Disappointedkoala yea that's kind of where I'm at with the bowl of cereal thing if I'm struggling - often then I can sometimes get an hour before the alarm but hardly seems worth it then!

I feel your pain 😩
I try to go to bed at the same time every night and set my alarm for the same time every morning - it's not working.

Some nights I can get off to sleep ok, other nights I really struggle.
I wake up during the early hours EVERY morning. Usually around 3/4/5am and then I can't get back to sleep. I lay there, with my eyes closed, tossing and turning until my alarm goes off.
I feel tired every day. My midwife recently recommended I speak to my GP to request a particular type of antihistamine which is pregnancy safe and can be taken to help induce sleep. GP is on holiday, so waiting for her to return and I'll book an appt. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the antihistamine, but I'm sure if you speak to your GP they should be able to advise you.

I hear your pain. I’m suffering from this right now. No trouble falling asleep but I have to wake up every 2hrs to pee and every few days it means I can’t go back to sleep. Wide awake. I dream of a solid 5-6 hrs sleep but my bladders won’t let me.

@PeachesTheFlamingo that's interesting might look into the antihistamine if I keep struggling!

Yep me too, i had it with my first too but at least then i could rest at weekends etc... not possible when you have a child is it!

But you're already a mum so you know you can do this. Remember all the night waking when your first was wee. You managed then and you will now too. You got this!

I am 36 weeks and have been suffering with the same thing for the past 8 weeks or so. I go to bed because I am tired, lit there and dont sleep, get up because I get angry listening to DH snore and sit downstairs til 1am, then go back up and might sleep from 2 til 6 when DHs alarm goes off, and then run around after my toddler for the day. Some nights, maybe once every week or two, I dont get a single minute of sleep.

I feel insane at times too. I had a massive cry the other day wondering how I am supposed to give birth, an exhausting process, when I am knackered to begin with. Its very hard. But, as this is my second baby, I know its a phase that will pass. Thats the only thought that stops me from losing it TBH.

I've started just going to bed between 8-9pm 🙈as like you, I can fall asleep fine but wake up around 4am everyday. This way I still get a good chunk of sleep

I’m having the same problem! I’m only 13 weeks and it’s been a problem since the very beginning, literally from conception. Not sure I can cope with another 6 months of this when I know how little sleep I’ll get when the baby is actually here! (Or maybe it’s good practice). I feel like a zombie

@LuckyFlash I feel like a zombie

I second that. Feeling very sorry for myself this morning. Didnt get a single minute of sleep last night, DH slept through his alarm because he is 'tired' (he slept from 10:30-7:20), so I had no help this morning getting DD up, nappy changed, dressed, fed, and off to nursery. I have a day of wfh while trying to strategically nap so I am functional enough to drive to pick DD up later. I was supposed to have my first baby free night in 2 years tonight. The plan was to go for dinner. I am now too wrecked, too sore, have too much heartburn, and I realised at 5am this morning that I LITERALLY have NOTHING to wear. I am living in stained leggings and over stretched t shirts. I am too tired to drive to the shopping centre to try find something to wear. It would be dangerous to drive the car. I havent had a full nights sleep of more than 5 hours in ..... months.

I swear if DH says to me one more time 'its nearly over. You are nearly there' without realising that it will be ME getting up to feed the newborn and then having DD all day with no sleep, while he gets a solid 8 hours, I will smother him in his sleep.

Sorry for the rant. I am feeling particularly teary this morning. I hate how teary I get when I dont sleep.

This topic caught my eye as sleep and pregnancy is something I am very interested in as a researcher and its links with thinking and memory as well as mood.

If anybody is interested in sharing their experiences under the mumsnet research area NPF surveys
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/surveys_students_non_profits_and_
start_ups
there is a study titled:
Female participants needed. Research on thinking and memory, mood and sleep during pregnancy and following childbirth. This was posted on the 05th October. I am the lead researcher on the project. The research is exploring the relationship between thinking and memory, mood and sleep.

Good luck everybody you are all doing amazing!
Louise

I am experiencing insomnia too and have done since the start, now 12 weeks and it's not letting up at all. I'm exhausted but thank god I can work from home otherwise I don't know what I'd do. My DD is then up for the day at 630 so no chance of a rest either. It sucks big time