+Post natal insomnia - I can't get back to sleep! Help!

[jenny12]

My gorgeous baby boy is 5 months old, and breastfeeds twice during the night. Recently I have been finding it very difficult to get back to sleep after his 2 am feed. I often find myself lying awake for two or three hours for no apparent reason. At this time, I get very hot and on a few occassions have sweated profusely, all over, till water runs off me. What is going on? Has anyone else experienced post-natal insomnia or am I the only mum in the world with this problem? Will it stop? And what can I do about it? It's so awful to be back to having around 4 hours sleep a night, and through my own wakefulness rather than my adorable baby's. Any comments and suggestions will be very much appreciate. Thank you in advance...

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Hi Jenny
I experienced just the same thing, and also have met a few other people who have gone through it as well. I went through such a horrible time with it, lying awake from 3am onwards some nights and stressing about how I was going to cope the next day. Someone told me your sleep patterns get broken up when you're getting up and down in the night, so a lot of people find it really hard to fall back asleep again. I went to see the doctor in the end as i was so overtired and getting really depressed, and I was even worrying i was getting PND. He told me to take a few Kalms or other herbal tablets from Boots, and then give my baby a bottle of formula first thing in the morning if i was worried about them going into my milk (although he also said it would be fine to take anyway and still breastfeed, despite the warnings on the packet about not taking them during breastfeeding). I find even if they don't send me straight back to sleep they at least take the edge of my anxiety and help me relax a bit. Its not an ideal solution but it has definetly helped.
I really sympathise, as I went through such a horrible time with this. It does get better though!