Insomnia

I've never had insomnia in my life, infact I can normally sleep thru everything but over the past few weeks I just can't sleep at all. Normally takes at least an hour to get to sleep and then when I do, it only lasts a few hours then I'm wide awake again. Doesn't matter how tired I am, I just lie there. Last night it got to the point I was so exhausted after having a week of s**t sleep that I was actually becoming quite delirious and had a bit of a panic attack which ended in a crying fit for half an hour. Poor DP didnt know what to do. MW said there is nothing she can prescribe for insomnia and unfortunately there isn't much I can do about it except try to relax and not drink fizzy or caffeine before bed (I don't anyway). It's making me muck up at work cause I'm always so tired. Any suggestions from any of you who may have suffered this?! It's horrible! Any help appreciated!

Edited by nzlisajo

Hi Ladies, is taking me ages to get to sleep then after having to get up at 3am on the dot EVERY night to pee (arruughhh) I toss and turn for another hour before going back to sleep.

Have been told it's as much the mind working overtime thinking about stuff as anything physical and the more you think about trying to sleep, the more you can't sleep and the more you panic ... ARRUUGGHHHH!!

I find a warm milky milo in bed right before lights out helps

I too am suffering from this. I saw my midwife yesterday and she has advised that when you wake up (in the middle of the night) you're best to get up for 30-40 minutes, go into another room, have a hot drink (not tea or coffee obviously!) and do something relaxing like read a book or listen to gentle music. She said don't stay up forever, just long enough for your body to register that you're "up" and now its time to "got to bed". She also said try taking a hot water bottle or wheat pack back to bed as the warmth can be helpful.

I'm at the point where I'm having trouble functioning during the day and my work is horrendously busy (and wont get any better till I leave at the end of Jan) so its a bit of a bummer. I'm thinking I may need to have a day here and there working from home which I can do or take the odd 1/2 day where I can. My midwife said she wouldn't hesitate to write me a letter advising a week off work which is nice to know but I think my boss would have a meltdown!!!

Hope that helps Lisa!!??

I take magnesium otherwise I'm either awake or in a light doze all night. Sorry you're having such a rotten time hun xx

The best thing to do is to get up and have a hot drink or read a book or something, coz if you lie there, you will probably start stressing about NOT going to sleep and then will be even less able to go to sleep!
If you are a reader, then I find if I just read for a bit I normally start drifting off (even after five minutes) but then I use reading as a way to go to sleep so guess brain is used to that!
And yes, a notebook to write things in if you are worrying about things is always good. I also read and have used a technique where you get the worrying thoughts and imagine poking them into a balloon (I actually used a ball of clay, no way worrying thoughts can escape from that) and then when all the things you are worrying about are in the balloon, you let it go and the balloon and all the worries are gone. My ball of clay that I stuff the worrying things in, I then imagine that I put it in a drawer so I can not see it but I know I have not just dismissed them, they are there for the next day to deal with. Probably sounds really weird but truly helped me a lot and I am super worrying Queen hehe.

Good luck tho, I know how frustrating it is to not be able to sleep. Slept through from 12.30-5.30 the other night and was sooooo pleased!

I'm a bad sleeper too (I'm not pregnant) so I hear your frustration - all I can suggest is try and grab cat naps - it may help you thru the day.

I have been having problems with waking in the middle of thenight for a while now. I wake up most nights about 3.30 needing to go to the loo and it's all downhill from there. I find if I get straight up and go, rather than lie there for a while, it's easier to get back to sleep. The other thing I try and do is belly breathing rather than chest breathing. If you focus on breathing it means you can't think about other stuff and this sort of breathing has great relaxation effects. In saying that, it doesn't always work. I guess the bonus is that when I go to bed I fall asleep within minutes. It's taking me ages to finish my book as can only read about a page a night! But the lack of sleep is driving me nutty some days.

How funny, it's 3.30am that I always get up to go to the loo as well! And its always really difficult to get back to sleep after that. My head is just so full of thoughts at the moment so I need to find a way to block them out and just go back to sleep! Will try the belly breathing and see if that helps.
My DP is also a snorer Pants but our Boxer dog is WORSE! He sleeps in the corner of our room on his bed but my gosh he is noisy! Think he might have to move to the lounge when the baby arrives lol

I used a zinc/magnesium supplement throughout my first preg and it really helped. I agree with the others that sometimes getting up and moving to the couch with a book for half an hour was good. Then i'd usually sleep there for a couple of hours before going back to bed.

It's the increased progesterone. The bad news is it gets worse when there's a damn baby waking you up every 3 hours day and/or night.   Haha shouldn't tell you that but it's true.

It is also true that there are some sleeping pills you can have half of during pregnancy is necessary.