Insomnia in pregnancy - help me!

[LaTrucha]

I'm 6 months pregnant and haven't really had a decent night's sleep since the early weeks. I'm still sick pretty much every morning too. The insomnia seems to be getting worse and worse. I'm often awake for threee or four hours a night. I'm a SAHM, looking after my two-year old DD, and I'm really beginning to struggle with exhaustion.

I spoke to my midwife about it and she said that there was nothing to take and that I should lie down in the day when DD naps, which I often do. This seems to make little difference either way.

I've tried eating various things in the night, Gaviscon, chammomile and peppermint tea. Is there anything else I can try?

Gosh, I really sympathise.

I haven't slept a full night in 2.5 months, and only 3 months in! I finally reached breaking point last week and went to the doctors. She very reluctantly gave me some sleeping tablets, on for 2 weeks, every other night. They don't really stop me waking up but they do mean I go straight back to sleep. They're called something Zopiclone. She wasn't keen to give them to me but I begged her. See if you can see the dr, but don't leave it too much longer as they like to give them even less nearer to birth due to possible withdrawal effects.

A friend suggested to me lavender oil on the pillow but TBH that just made me feel more sick.. Actually the same friend just text me today to say she has a homeopathy for pregnancy kit which recommends aconite for insomnia and bellis per or Kali carb for 3am waking.

I hope something helps and I really do sympathise.

Oh I,m 35wks pg and as well as being sick and nauseous throughout ths pg, I,m suffering from insomnia too. I find i wake up nearly every hour ot two and often can't get back to sleep. I,ve got a Ds of 19months so I appreciate how tired you get. I find if i sleep during the day wheh he's asleep then I definately won't sleep at night. I'll maybe pursue some of the Homeopathy suggestions, I can't face another show down with the docs re medication. Felt it was diffiult enough trying to get stuff for the sickness. moan moan...just having a rough time too!

I might go to the GP and see what she says. I'm a bit sceptical about homeopathy, simply because I've tried it before and it seemed to either aggravate the problem or be ineffectual. I'm not mad ken on taking things while pg, obviously but it would be nice to guarantee a night of sleep if I've had a run of shocking ones.

Maybe I will have a little look into the homeopathy too.

Thanks for replying.

Hi LaTrucha Just to say I sympathise and I haven't even got a DC to look after. I am pregnant with my first and I wake up every night between 3.30am and 4am and stay awake for at least 1.5hrs or 2hrs.

Good luck and let us know if you find any tricks.

Latrucha, totally know how that feels - I had the most painful heartburn when I was carrying my DD...I found that lying with my head and neck propped up on afew pillows really helped...you'll eventually learn to fall asleep like this! Also, avoiding spicy or rich foods past 8pm, and gaviscon with a freezing cold glass of semi skimmed milk just before bedtime worked wonders for me...hope this helps! x

I've got a thread about this too. I'm going to see my GP next week but I have been taking Tylenol PM (American product) which contains antihistamine and paracetamol.

According to my expert googling, doctors and pharmacists in US are happy to let mothers take this throughout pregnancy.

I totally sympathise, I've had insomnia all my adult life and it's doubly hard in pregnancy as you're frightened to take anything.

I'll let you know what my GP says.

I'd be interested to know that, Morris Zapp. I'm really hoping it doesn't carry on after this pregnancy. My sympathies to you.

Cherrybaby - thanks for the ideas.

It's actually quite nice just to know that other people suffer from it.

If you can feel positive about having the extra time awake, sometimes that helps... (At least it helps me.) When I've woken up for the third night in a row at 3.30 I just get up and read for a while or knit or something. I haven't found the wake-ups make a huge difference to how I feel during the day, but if I feel like I got something useful done overnight it makes me feel better about having been awake!

One thing that puts me to sleep these days (5 months gone, thoughts just spin round and round so I can't sleep) are my hypno-birthing mp3s (got from iTunes) the soothing voice, talking me through relaxing bit by bit, I drop off in 15 minutes.

I don't really like taking pills - I find that I don't feel any more rested, and feel groggy and grumpy when I wake up.

Plus the added benefit that the relaxation should help when it comes time to pop the little one out.

I might try that. I usually listen to The World Service on really quietly, so it's like white noise, but I'm even getting sick of that.

I do have the hypnobirthing CD. I may give it a whirl.

I'm not sure I could do anything constructive in the middle of the night at the moment. I'm so desperate for sleep, I'd just hate whatever I started. I haveto force myself to sit up and drink chamomile tea. I get about three good hours most nights and TBH I really don't want to be doing anything at all.

Have you got some good pregnancy pillows around you to keep you comfy? I used a dreamgenii and it really helped to keep me supported and sleep well.

Hope you get lots of sleep v soon!

Thanks Ilovejackwhite - I do have lots of pillows and they do help. It is a bit like those documentaries of the raising of the Mary Rose when I wnat to turn over in the middle of the night, though.

I'm back again. Saw my GP yesterday and he said absolutely unequivocally that there is not a single thing he can let me take for insomnia in pregnancy, not even Nytol.

He (very politely) lectured me on all the possible side effects of all the different sleeping tablets and implied that my baby could be born addicted, even if I only take one or two.

I'm actually worse off now than before, as I had been taking Tylenol PM (which loads of US doctors say is fine in pg) but now am frightened even to have that.

The main problem with any drug in pregnancy is that no drug company wants to run trials on pregnant woman, so the drug is contra-indicated by default. So basically, if you have to ask, you can't have it.

Doc would not give an inch.

Sorry, I wish I had better news.

I don't know if this helps as a general point but...

I have killer heartburn - I think the acid-y tummy is adding to the nausea (I'm 23+4 n still throw up most days). Been taking gaviscon on my GPs direction - at least 1 big 600ml bottle a week, if not two. That's a lot of really horrible gunk, in my opinion !

Anyway - ended up at the hosp a few days ago with terrible all over itching (I looked like I was in a comedy sketch of someone being doused with itching powder). While it was all being sorted out, I mentioned the heartburn to the doctor in the maternity A&E type place and she immediately prescribed me ranitidine (stronger than zantac but the same medicine). Its made a huge difference - less puking, less all night acid gargling, so much less pain - its painful! I'm able to drink more liquids after being thirsty for months.

Anyway - the hospital doctor said - and I quote "GPs always like to make pregnant women suffer". I'm not a fan of taking meds in pregnancy at all - but my GPs even warned me off paracetamol...

Maybe its worth checking with the midwives who'll know if the doctors at the hosp would prescribe anything else?

Hi there,

I completely empathise, the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy were almost unbearable due to chronic insomnia, and I was really struggling to cope.

At the very beginning I ended up being prescibed zopiclone but only took 1 weeks worth as it made me anxious about the long term effects. So I have made it a personal mission to find natural alternatives.

I think a lot of my insomnia is caused by anxiety, so I decided to use hypnotherapy and aromatherapy massage and reiki. I can't really afford it so haven't done as much as I would have liked, but now I'm at 14 weeks things are getting slightly better. Only had 1 session with the hypnotherapist so far but I listen to a hypno cd she gave me every single night and it seems to be having an effect. Massage is also great for total relaxation, but I understand not everyone can access this.

I also contacted a sleep centre and they sent me some advice specific to pregnancy, which if you are able to contact me on this I would be happy to send on to you not sure how to do this tho).

I don't know if any of this sounds useful to you but really hope something helps x

MorrisZapp - that sounds terrible! And also not true, i.e. that you can't even take Nytol? (I write this as the daughter of a GP who adamantly refuses to give her pregnant patients ANYTHING - when I'm in the UK, I sneak around her and go see her junior partner who is a friend of both of ours and much more open to prescribing things...)

Over the other side of the Pond, my Ob/Gyn willingly agrees that Benadryl (which you can get OTC) is safe in preg for allergies - I had to take some over Christmas as staying with in-laws with cats and just. could. not. breathe. Now, I have horrible cold and have had about three Benadryl over the last three nights - and hey presto, wonderful effect on late-pregnancy-insomnia and woke up actually feeling semi-rested! Now, I know that Benadryl is, technically, for allergies, but it really has helped me sleep.... Just a thought for anyone really suffering?

I'm pretty sure that benadryl has the same ingredient as tylenol PM, which also has paracetamol.

If you google 'Tylenol Pm pregnancy' there are women all over USA saying they took it regularly, doc was fine about it, etc.

But I didn't want to cite google in my GP surgery, no doubt they hate us doing that.

I think I will have the tylenol pm on hand for any really bad nights.

I was surprised at my GP actually, he was all about protecting the baby (understandably!) but had absolutely nothing helpful to offer me - me, his patient.

not even preggers yet - but i have insomnia and take 'melatonin' - which is sold OTC in the US. has anyone tried this? if so, was it through a dr?

I'v eonly just seen all these.

Morris Zap - I'm sorry the GP wasn't more helpful. Thanks for getting back.

Muddychipmunk - even paracetamol? That's just untrue. Grr. I'll try and find out more about the Zantac / ranitidine. I too think alot of mine is caused by poor digestion.

Lelarose - that sounds interesting. Do you have CAT set up? I would actually be quite glad if I could put it down to anxiety, but it's not the cause.

I do think GPs have a very peculiar attitude to pregnant women over here. They don't seem to be interested in many things that are dealt with much better, for example and to my knowledge in the US (my Aunt was a midwife in the US). For example, they regularly prescribe very high doeses of vit B6 for morning sickness there. No GP I have spoken to over here has even heard of it. In my first pg I had hyperemesis, which you may know can be very serious (it can even kill, but usually doesn't in the country now, although my friend did have to have her heart restarted when she had it). I saw about 5 emergency GPs about it over 3 weeks and all of them told me it was normal. Only when I saw my midwife did she march me straight round to the GP to get me signed off work immediately.

I can only put it down to apprehension and perhaps taking the easier road...

Meggles I love menatolin!!! Not sure it's safe in pregnancy! I must stock up when my friend comes over from the states later this year!

You all have my sympathy I semi suffer with being a light sleeper when nor pregnant and this pregnancy dc2 I was vomiting regularly till 33 weeks! Insommina from the beginning nothing I have tried has worked ! I have spd as well now which isn't helping as errytime I need tohange postions or go to the loo I'm in pain the awake! My awake time is often from2am - 5am..... I'm now 36 weeks and have a section booked at 39 weeks on the dot I know that I'll be able to sleep afterwards from the pure exhaustion of having night feeds etc....

I think there is little that can be done I find at night if I play games in the dark on my iPhone or Dslite that
makes me tired enough to go to sleep in the first place! That with pillow mist from boots sleep range!

Hi LaTrucha

I get insomnia too, and the things that really help me are

1. getting lots of excercise in the fresh air. Go out for 20-30min walks with your DD in the pushchair if you can; and
2. having a window open at night. If I'm not getting fresh air into my room I'm wide awake.

Sorry to hear about your plight. Much sympathy.

butterscotch - I use the radio in much the same way. It's funny looking forward to night feeds so you can sleep! It would be nice to be doing something useful though.

Kiwi - I'll try the window open. DD certainly keeps me exercised though. Can't stop her!