Has anyone suffered with insomnia since having children?

[iiTTCii]

Hello strangers. I've not been on here for a long time.

I returned to work last week after my maternity leave so my insomnia is playing on my mind as I can't afford not to function at work.

After always being a good sleeper, insomnia started last year (just when DS started sleeping 12 hours a night!) and I pretty much survive on 3/4 hours sleep a night. Sometimes less. I've done a CBT course and hypnotherapy as well as following all your usual sleep hygiene. I don't drink caffeine. I rarely drink alcohol anymore. My sleep problem has taken over my life. I've only gone back to work 2 days a week so I think I can get by at the moment, but I'm desperate to find a cure.
Did anyone else suffer with insomnia after having children?

 

[LoraLoo]

Ive suffered for around 10 years now and also tried the works. Ive downloaded apps, tried tablets eyc. for a while these help to send me off to sleep, but they never keep me asleep.
My friend swears by magnesium tablets- ive yet to try them.

 

[Boo44]

Me! I've always been a light sleeper but I just cannot rest ever since the day I became a mum. I don't have insomnia, but my sleeping is just ridiculously light and I wake at the tiniest unnecessary thing, and once I'm awake I spend ages trying to get back to sleep. I've just got a Fitbit and did the sleep thing and I wish I hadn't, turns out even when I was asleep I was restless at least 3 times every hour!

I feel like the lack of sleep makes me look old and haggard. Wish I knew a cure!

 

[Springflower]

Yes me! Sleeping pills don't work for me. Once a week I treat myself to nightnurse so I get a decent nights sleep but that's really not ideal! 😕

 

[Bevziibubble]

I am the same. I've had such bad sleep since having kids that I think that they've properly messed my sleep up now and if they do ever actually sleep through the night one day (haha) I doubt I would sleep that long anyway as they seem to have trained me to not need much sleep anymore.

I have heard that magnesium glycinate taken in the evenings can help. I also use a magnesium sleep spray which is relaxing.

 

[iiTTCii]

Me! I've always been a light sleeper but I just cannot rest ever since the day I became a mum. I don't have insomnia, but my sleeping is just ridiculously light and I wake at the tiniest unnecessary thing, and once I'm awake I spend ages trying to get back to sleep. I've just got a Fitbit and did the sleep thing and I wish I hadn't, turns out even when I was asleep I was restless at least 3 times every hour!

I feel like the lack of sleep makes me look old and haggard. Wish I knew a cure!

I wouldn't dare use a Fitbit because I think I'd be so disheartened to have it confirmed how bad my sleeping is! I'm similar, I nod off and then wake at the slightest noise and that's me awake for the rest of the night or it takes me around 3 hours to get back to sleep. I've aged about 10 years in the last 3!

 

[iiTTCii]

I am the same. I've had such bad sleep since having kids that I think that they've properly messed my sleep up now and if they do ever actually sleep through the night one day (haha) I doubt I would sleep that long anyway as they seem to have trained me to not need much sleep anymore.

I have heard that magnesium glycinate taken in the evenings can help. I also use a magnesium sleep spray which is relaxing.

When the day arrives that I sleep through the night... I'll feel like I've won the lotttery!
Will look into that. Thanks.

 

[iiTTCii]

Yes me! Sleeping pills don't work for me. Once a week I treat myself to nightnurse so I get a decent nights sleep but that's really not ideal! 😕

I treat myself to a nytol a couple of nights a week and they are the only nights that I get a half descent sleep. Never tried nightnurse.

 

[Kaylen]

Yes, I can relate too. I wake up a lot of times to look at the baby monitor, even though my "baby" is 2 now. If she hasn't moved from the previous time I go upstairs to her room to make sure she is breathing, which wakes me up and then it takes forever to fall asleep again. I haven't full night of sleep since she was born.

 

[MindUtopia]

I've pretty much always had insomnia. Well, since I was maybe about 21 (I'm 36 now). At times when I could (like when I wasn't pregnant or up caring for a baby), I used OTC sleeping tablets. I wouldn't recommend them for long term use (though I have used them long term), but if you need help just re-starting a better sleep pattern, they can help. I haven't done as much as you have (no hypnotherapy or CBT and I still drink coffee, just early in the day), mostly because I think I sort of accept that not sleeping well is just how I am as it's been so long. But I did find that starting to exercise and changing my diet earlier this year helped tremendously. I have no idea if it actually helped or if it just seemed to all happen at the same time, but it did make a difference. Regular high intensity exercise 3x a week, plus cutting out sugar and most carbs seemed to do something. It sounds a bit wacky, but when I stopped getting as much exercise and my eating habits werne't great for a bit (because I was super busy with work and just didn't have the time for a few weeks), my sleep got bad again. Maybe it had to do with just work stress, so who knows? But that's what I found helped me a bit, though I still probably don't sleep as well as a normal person would, it's at least better.