Not my baby but me!

[Salukigirl]

I have a 20 week old lb who does usually wake once during the night but that's not the problem. I have been awake since 3am this morning and haven't been able to go back to sleep. Lb woke me up with his grunting and leg thumping but I quickly settled him without getting him up then I've been trying to get back to sleep ever since (5.15am now)
This has happened at least once a week for a month and I'm despairing.
I've tried counting, relaxation techniques, breathing techniques, getting up and having a drink/food, reading, watching tv.
I don't drink much alcohol, hardly any caffeine, no chocolate. What can I do? I don't have trouble getting to sleep at night, just getting back to sleep.
Arghhhhh!

Hi there and congrats on your LO. DS is 26 weeks and I'm wide awake too :)

I recently read a book on co-sleeping; it cited research which suggested that mums of young babies never enter the deepest phase of sleep (the fourth 'level'). This means that our bodies won't allow us a really refreshing night's sleep, at least while our babies are little. I also think that insomnia in pregnancy is designed to help us cope with this!

Weirdly, it helped me to know that I wasn't missing out on vital sleep, but was some kind of prisoner to a higher evolutionary function :)