Anyone else suffer with insomnia?
I’ve suffered with insomnia ever since my mum passed away 4 years ago. I go through stages where it’s not as bad and stages where it’s awful (periods of stress definitely make it worse). Before little one came along (now 8 months) it didn’t have as big an impact for obvious reasons but I’ve recently had bad insomnia since the third trimester of pregnancy (common in later stages of pregnancy I know) and it hasn’t really left since then.
My little one used to sleep through the night but this stopped at 6 months and the last 2 months have been awful. Some nights are slightly better than others but sometimes I can’t get off to sleep until 12pm-1am, he might have already woke a few times in between going to bed at around 7:30 and me drifting off but then sometimes it’s a case I’ve literally been asleep half an hour or so and he’s awake so I’m up again which is torture when you’ve basically just finally drifted off, I can then have to get up anywhere between 3-6 more times before we get up for the day and a lot of the time I struggle to go back to sleep quickly after getting up with little one even though I’m so bloody tired. My partner does get up a couple times in the night too and I know he’s tired too (he’s working full time and I’m on maternity leave at present) but I can’t help but feel if I could get to sleep the same sort of time as my partner (around 9:30-10pm) I would feel so much better. I’m honestly so tired I just want to cry everyday, I feel like it’s just about surviving. I can never sleep during the day either (and again little one is up and down with naps too so most days he’ll have a handful of 30 minute naps as opposed to longer ones). I know sleep deprivation is one of the hardest things and lots of mothers suffer but insomnia on top of sleep deprivation is making me so so miserable and exhausted. Don’t really want to go on sleeping tablets as they can make you drowsy and I may not hear little one in the night. Don’t have time to take a hot bath every night myself or do something relaxing. I will try and read a book see if that helps but does anyone else have this problem or have any advice?
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Hi there! I haven't really suffered from insomnia but lately it's bothering me a lot. Same situation here.. LO slept nicely until about 2m ago, now waking up several times a night. He usually goes to bed before midnight and the first few hrs he's sleeping without any interruptions, however, I usually get sleepy after midnight /1am,so about the time I want to sleep my LO starts with his restless sleep and midnight feed/wake ups.
I have two suggestions for you that work for me atm. First, you could take shifts with your partner during the night. One night he lets you rest 💯 and takes the full 'shift' and he struggles a bit but you'll feel better the following day, then you switch and he rests nicely.
Second option is - you both take turns during the night but one of you sleeps longer in the morning while the other starts the daily routine.. This could mean only a an hour or two of uninterrupted sleep but this is so much better than waking up regularly even if it's technically a longer "sleep".
Perhaps for the nights when you're really knackered you could try taking a nap in a different room and sleep a few hours without any interruptions and then get back to it fully charged (well not fully but actually rested).
Best advice would be to actually try and change your bed time but I personally find this hard to do, so I can't really advise anything on this...
Don't forget, this is a stage, it will pass, we all just need to get through it and try to enjoy because believe me.. We'll miss it one day.
Hope you feel better soon! :)
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