Pregnancy insomnia - when will it stop?

[Bumperlicious]

I'm 13 weeks and haven't slept a full night in 3 months. I just keep waking up and struggling to get back to sleep. I'm absolutely knackered!

Is this it for me? Will I not get a full night's sleep for the next 2 years now? I'm so tired, what can I do? I already go to bed early to try and compensate, but it doesn't seem to make any difference whether I go to bed at 9 or 11, I'm still knackered.

God, it's awful isn't it? I'm not pg now but can remember that awful insomnia in the earlier months. You should probably treat it like standard insomnia, cut out coffee,have a warm milky drink at bedtime - go to bed at same time, get up at same time and if you are awake in the night and really can't get back to sleep get up and go into another room for a while, read til you get sleepy, then try to go back to bed again. THe Paul McKenna CD is very good to listen to. My DH finds it helpful and he has suffered from pretty bad insomnia for about 5 years.

Thanks Pegotty. I actually have Paul McKenna on my iPod, tried it once and it didn't make any difference !

I will try it again soon, I'm just struggling to face it as I feel so sick, and I can't explain it but the thought of listening to it makes me feel more sick.

That's the other problem, sometimes when I am awake I start to feel nauseous again. I've tried nibbling biscuits, but you know when you wake up you just want to stay desperately still and not wake yourself up any more in the hope that you will get back off to sleep.

Gah, I hate being pregnant!

You poor thing! Yes, give the cd a try again. it prob makes you feel a bit sick because it is a tad cheesy . But it's worth a go, you sound desperate! Are you waking up and thinking about things or is it just random waking up for no reason?

Not normally thinking about anything, usually, well, it seems, like it is just after I have had a dream that I just wake up.

Last night I had to put my ipod on to get back to sleep as I had the fecking Dora the Explorer theme tune in my head. That's punishment for being such a bad mummy atm!

I tried lavender oil on my pillow last night on a friend's recommendation but it just made me feel more sick (usually I love it).

Urgh, I just need to know that there is a period where I can sleep normally before the baby comes

Thanks for the support though

Bumperlicious - I also had this in the first trimester (and it totally sucks). However, my sickness and everything else more or less disappeared during the second trimester and I was able to sleep better than I have done in years!

Having said that, I am now at 38 weeks and have been unable to sleep again for a couple of months but I'm pretty sure that has more to do with my SPD and bump size than pregnancy-induced insomnia!

I hope things settle down for you over the next few weeks.

What's worse is people telling you it's your body preparing you for having a baby - grrr!

Bumperlicious I'm sorry I can't be much help but I just wanted to add my support because I'm going through exactly the same thing- I'm nearly 11 weeks and have had enough sleep maybe one or two nights so far. I can seriously barely function and know exactly what you mean when you think is this me for the foreseebale future. It's my first pregnancy and its basically ruining the whole experience for me as I'm just too knackered to feel excited or positive!

Anyway I really hope it improves for you and I'll keep an eye on this thread, see if anyone comes up with anything. Take care and for what it's worth, you are not alone x

BP, I feel your pain and am also 13 weeks. I got so fed up that I shouted at my DH for mild snoring (jealousy I suppose )

Hi Bumper.

I had a few weeks of feeling reasonable mid 2nd trimester. On to third now and leg cramps, weird dreams, etc all creeping up on me.

I tend to wake a few times briefly but then at 4 wake and have trouble getting back to sleep. Normally start drifting off again around 6 when ds gets up...

I know it is really hard, but the more stressed you get about it, the worse it gets, so try to just lie and rest and relax. And know we are lying there awake too.

Yes, the nights can feel very long...

Hear hear, I was so glad when it got to be morning this morning and there was something to do.

That "stocking up on sleep before baby arrives" thing is complete bollocks! I was so utterly shattered by the time I had dd :-(

The ray of hope is that I slept better, and got more sleep, with a newborn on the scene than I had whilst pg with it. It's just yet another weird pg symptom to be endured to the bitter end.... 36wks today so counting down the (not)sleeps to go now.

Chins up

Hey Bumperlicious...
I am 15 weeks and suffered very similar to what you had in my first 12...
I found like peggotty said that getting into a routine really helped. Go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time - even though it's damm hard!
I also found that adopting a little "winding down" routine before i went to bed really helped. I would firstly make sure the DH turned down his Xbox so that the whole house couldn't hear it, run a bath (just warm - you don't want it hot), sit and chill in the bath with an article/book and candlelight and then literally dry off and hop straight into bed. Make sure the light in your room is ambient (so just the bed side lamps on) and try to drift and take the same relaxed feeling that you had from the bath straight to bed.
I also installed a radio beside me so that during the night if i did wake up and felt like time was ticking - I put on radio 4. The voices help feeling like the night isn't dragging and that someone else is up too! Usually i didn't need it for longer than an hour and then i would wake up again in the morning.
Best of luck..

i had terrible insomnia before DS was born, especially when he was overdue. Your body is preparing for lighter sleep so that you can look after your baby. I found a bath before bed was helpful, but also just resting in bed helps... and cat naps - perfect the art early. As long as you're not awake worrying about things, you will adjust.

I have a 4.5 mth old and my sleep isn't what it used to be, but it's worth it, and I have got used to it now.

Poor you - insomnia is definitely the suckiest pregnancy symptom I've had.

If the platitudes and 'advice' are getting you down I have found adding lavender oil to a milky drink and then hurling it violently into a warm bath can be helpful. It won't help you sleep but it is very cathartic.

The only other advice I have is if your problem is early waking then push bedtime forward as much as you can, even if this means staying downstairs reading until the early hours. I've been doing this for the last few weeks and it has meant that I now wake at 6 rather than 4 most days. And over the last couple of weeks I've managed to move the point I go to bed back from about 2am to midnight, so I am getting 6 hours most nights, which is a huge improvement on where I was before.

Hey Bumperlicious - I'm 21 weeks now and I've felt MUCH better since about 14 weeks - so that's two whole months that I've had much much more sleep than I did during the first three! Fingers crossed you get a GREAT months 4-7. I definitely got an energy boost around mid-Jan that hasn't gone away yet.

dont know if its your first but I am on my third with a 5 and 3 year old - so I can luckily say that waking up and not getting back to sleep is no longer labelled 'insomnia' but 'getting up to attend to small childs needs'. Makes me feel much better!! Can't recommend a way to get over insomnia but can say you get used to the feeling of utter exhaustion......

I feel your pain. I'm 7 weeks and have insomnia and its so frustrating. It makes the ms worse as well. I feel fit for nothing today.

I can get to sleep I just keep waking up in the night and then can't go back to sleep. I don't remember having it in previous pregnancies.

Wish I had something to suggest but you have my sympathy!

thesecondcoming did the midwife give you anything? I've have got a cracking headache which I have had for a few days now. Suddenly my pillows (the same ones I always sleep on) are too high and giving me a cricked neck. Just one felt too low though. Have had to take paracetamol for 3 days in a row now which I know is not great but the head/neck ache is making me feel even more sick.

I may just have to whack myself over the head with a sledgehammer.

Anyone found a glass of wine helps? Not that I even fancy it at the moment but I am past 12 weeks so I'm not adverse to it.

one of the unintended side effects of listening to maggie howells natal hypnotherepy CD has been finally getting some sleep. Bit skeptical that i will be able to 'breath the baby out' in three weeks time as i regularly sleep through the entire CD but it usually sends me off in around 10 mins.It even works when i wake up at 3am which used to mean I'd be up till 5. I do have to mess around with one ipod head phone thing in my left ear whilst lying on my right side slightly propped up (blah blah late pregnancy nonsense blah)but frankly all worth it to get some sleep.

I agree re: natal hypnotheraphy - does seem to help.