Pregnancy insomnia - help!

[Tilly18101]

Hi all,

I’m 15 weeks now, and I am still struggling so much with insomnia, regularly waking up at 2-3am and unable to either go back to sleep, or able to go back to sleep say 6ish for a couple of hours broken snoozing.

I am struggling so much with headaches, I think as a result of my hormones and being exhausted/lack of sleep!

I generally get to bed and asleep by 9-9.30 as I’m so exhausted so I am getting anywhere from 5-6 straight hours but i know it’s not enough. Any tips to help me sleep better, or do I just need to ride it out! Just feel so miserable and I have such a busy job managing a team of 14 people remotely in a legal capacity I can’t afford to make mistakes because I’m not switched on :(

Sorry to hear you are struggling.

I have a couple of things to suggest which are working for me, I would describe my situation as inconvenient waking rather than full insomnia

1. I had been going to bed earlier and earlier due to pregnancy tiredness but I’ve found if I force myself to stay up until my normal bedtime, I am much less likely to wake very early.

1. When I do find myself awake in the small hours, I get up, get a decaf tea and a (boring) biscuit and have them in bed with a (boring) audio book on before trying to settle back to sleep. Which is recreating my bedtime routine and not giving my mind space to start racing.

I hope this is helpful

Thank you @BeastOfBODMAS, I think your right in must’ve I’ve been giving in to pregnancy tiredness and need to go back to my normal bedtime of 10-10.30!

I was thinking last night I should just get up, get a drink and try half an hour downstairs before settling back down, might give that a go tonight if it happens.

It’s just more frustrating as I know I need my sleep so I think I wind myself up when I am awake!

I had this, although more that I couldn't get to sleep rather than I woke up in the night. I started listening to sleep meditations on YouTube, particularly The Honest Guys 12 minute guaranteed sleep. Sometimes it took 2-3 replays to fall asleep but it usually worked eventually.

@Tilly18101 I'm pretty similar to you, and feeling headachey and ineffective at work many days. So glad you have posted this.

@BeastOfBODMAS I also find getting up have a decaf tea and a small bowl of cereal helps me get back to sleep.
Feels better not to just lay there with mind racing - will try some podcasts too.

I do hope you find some strategies that work for you, there is nothing worse than lying awake feeling more and more annoyed about being awake!

I am listening to lord of the rings on audible which benefits from a tremendous sense of value for money as each book is about 19 hours long and it can often put me to sleep in 10 minutes

@Sakari thank you! I will definitely take a look, I have the headspace app but I don’t find it works for me.

@BeastOfBODMAS oh great idea on the LOTR audio book, I’ll have to get it downloaded! X

Following to steal the advice.

I’m 11 weeks. So tired that I’m also in bed by 9 but awake at 2-3am. Either my mind is racing, nausea, I need the bathroom or pregnancy dreams! Look like I might need to find some podcasts to listen to and try to last until 10/11pm!

@Tilly18101 I have the Rob Inglis versions which I much prefer to the BBC radio play versions (which I used to have on cassette tape, back in the mists of time!)