Pregnancy Insomnia Sufferers

[ArcaneAscent]

I'll be 29 weeks pregnant as of tomorrow, and for the past month or so I'd say I've been having the hardest time sleeping.

At first, it started as just being hard to get to sleep whenever I would hit the hay. Now, not only is it hard for my brain to shut down, but I am constantly waking up in the night (and not always to pee either -- though, granted, that does occur more and more frequently!). Lately, I feel as if I'm awake the majority of the night. The past week or so has been really rough. I'll slowly wind down for the night and start feeling sleepy, but as soon as I get into bed, my brain just refuses to let sleep come over me, and I'll lie awake for hours.

I've tried relaxation techniques and shifting positions, eating dinner as early as possible, and so forth, but my body just seems to not want to sleep. I almost dread bedtime now, because I'm always looking forward to the morning when I don't have to try anymore to go to sleep lol. I must say though, for as little sleep as I've been getting, I'm not nearly as exhausted as I normally would be, for whatever reason.

 

[PocoHR]

I've been starting to struggle with sleep as well, it is really not fun. I toss and turn, more now than before, and I wake up to pee at night and then have a hard time dropping back off sometimes. Not only do I get less sleep, but I disturb my poor husband all night (although he is a good sport about it ).

There are few things that seem to help me sometimes, one is snacking. Instead of eating dinner early, try later, or try having a snack before bed. My doctor said that your blood sugar can drop off at night and that might make it harder to sleep. I will sometimes get up and have 2-3 crackers, a small glass of milk and occasionally a piece of fruit. Lots of foods have tryptophan in them and that will make you sleepier. This used to work extremely well for me, its kind of touch and go now. The other thing, which I haven't done yet but will try in extreme circumstances is soaking in epsom salts. Epsom salts contain a lot of magnesium which you absorb through your skin, and magnesium will make you sleepy and relax all your muscles. I'm a little cautious about trying this because I don't know what kind of effect it might have on baby, but I've read and heard it is totally fine. If I'm ever desperate for a good nights sleep, I might give it a go.

I hope you get some relief and get a good night of sleep soon! xx

 

[ArcaneAscent]

I've been starting to struggle with sleep as well, it is really not fun. I toss and turn, more now than before, and I wake up to pee at night and then have a hard time dropping back off sometimes. Not only do I get less sleep, but I disturb my poor husband all night (although he is a good sport about it ).

There are few things that seem to help me sometimes, one is snacking. Instead of eating dinner early, try later, or try having a snack before bed. My doctor said that your blood sugar can drop off at night and that might make it harder to sleep. I will sometimes get up and have 2-3 crackers, a small glass of milk and occasionally a piece of fruit. Lots of foods have tryptophan in them and that will make you sleepier. This used to work extremely well for me, its kind of touch and go now. The other thing, which I haven't done yet but will try in extreme circumstances is soaking in epsom salts. Epsom salts contain a lot of magnesium which you absorb through your skin, and magnesium will make you sleepy and relax all your muscles. I'm a little cautious about trying this because I don't know what kind of effect it might have on baby, but I've read and heard it is totally fine. If I'm ever desperate for a good nights sleep, I might give it a go.

I hope you get some relief and get a good night of sleep soon! xx

Aw, I'm sorry to hear you too have been struggling with sleep. I completely agree - any time I have to get up to pee, it's so hard to go back to sleep afterwards! At least your husband is understanding about your sleep problems.

Luckily, my significant other is a pretty deep sleeper, so I rarely disturb him, but I'm a super light sleeper, so any movement from him would always wake me up. In another attempt to help us both sleep better, we just bought a new memory foam king-sized mattress yesterday, which is really nice and so much more comfortable for me. However, regardless, I still had a hard time last night actually turning my brain off!

Oh, no kidding? I hadn't heard that you may actually need to eat closer to bedtime during pregnancy. That may be something then for me to keep in mind, especially if it's helped you a bit. I could see snacking on some Saltines before bed as a good nightly snack.

As far as epsom salts go, I'll have to look into that! That sounds relaxing.

Thank you for the suggestions, and hope you can get some sleep soon too as well!

 

[lucylu79]

Really feel for everyone struggling to sleep, I haven't 'slept through' for months and with 1 month to go i'm only thankful i'm on maternity leave and like last night and today, a bad night results in a little snooze this morning.

I'm sleeping at the other end of the bed these days, find it easier to roll over nearer to hubby's feet I guess. I do disturb him and I hate it but I can't help it!

If i'm desperate I do listen to a deep sleep relaxation session on you tube, I have to say that I've only listened to it all the way through once, the other times i've fallen asleep, but I only listen to it when desperate and only ever when hubby's on shifts.

I would say it gets easier, hopefully for you (and me) it will, but my DS who is now 4 didn't sleep through until he was nearly 2, yawn!!!!

 

[Willow82]

I'm the same. I'm not uncomfortable, I just can't sleep and am so so tired. I felt like a zombie at work yesterday, I felt so sleep deprived. That combined with having SPD this time around has meant this pregnancy has been much harder than my last one! Hope it gets better for all of us soon.

 

[icegurl470]

I'm going through the same thing. I'm up every night FOR HOURS! When I lay down, I'm just very uncomfortable. I have heartburn and I get a lot of pressure in my chest and in my nether regions and i just constantly feel like I need to burp or use the bathroom. It takes me a long time to fall asleep and then I always wake up sometime during the night and cant fall back to sleep. I use the bathroom, get a drink and take something for my heartburn and just toss and turn or get in and out of bed for hours.. Sometimes I can fall asleep in my recliner, but not usually. By the end of the week I'm just exhausted because I'm so behind on sleep. During the weekends I usually take a nap during the day, which helps, but I cant do that during the week when I'm working and like you said the nights last forever! It's so depressing

 

[oneill614]

I have it now, started about 34 weeks. Up until then I could sleep almost all the way through, I would just wake up around 5 needing to pee. Now I am up every 2-3 hours and it's hard to fall back asleep. Sometimes I am up from 4-6 and then only get another hour before I have to get up.

I do find that eating when I wake up helps me fall back asleep. Whether it is soothing or has to do with blood sugar, I'm not sure. I watch TV to help me drift off as well. It's especially bad right now because if I'm in the same room with my bf his snoring keeps me up. So last night I slept in our bed from 12-4:30 but he came up at 4:30 and started snoring so then I had to go down to the couch. I don't want my water to break on our couch, so I'm trying to sleep in bed but he makes it impossible. Grr.

 

[upsy daisy1]

I haven't slept well for week's either.I go to sleep fine but I wake up within two hours and I'm awake all night!! I then drop off in the early hours at around 4:30 amd my daughter wakes at 6!! I'm so tired and all I want to do is get a few good night ln before baby arrives! Also my hips get so uncomfortable and my legs get fidgety!!! I just want to sleep!!