Hellobee Boards

@shabang: I could have written this post myself. I usually wake anytime between 1:30am and 3am. That was my son's feeding time. Toss and turn until 5ish. Alarm goes off at 6am. It is not every night, but the majority of nights. If I don't get up between 1:30am and 3am I am usually up for the day at 4:30am. It is awful and I argue with my body everyday to just sleep. I am exhausted.

The only tiny thing that helps a little is I kick my husband out to the spare room and sometimes I will fall back asleep quicker. He is a snorer sometimes...

Ugggggggh pregnancy insomnia. The worst.

I also usually give up after about an hour and often i try to read if i need to do something. I have an old b&w kindle with a low backlight that i figure is a little better than a phone screen or having a light on. But it doesn’t always put me back to sleep, sometimes just passes time. I also definitely can’t have even a little caffeine after lunch when pregnant.

I had/have this issue, and what I noticed is that I have to adjust the time I go to bed. I tend to front load on sleep, and when I sleep too many hours, I have this problem. The magic number for me seems to be 9 hours of overnight sleep. 8 isn't enough and 10 is too much and causes these middle of the night wakeups for me.

Also, I am a big fan of getting things out of my mind and onto a piece of paper. I keep a notebook of lists.

I try to "reset" and see if that helps.

I'll use the restroom, get a drink of water, and try going back to bed. If I can't get back to sleep, I try to think of something I can do in low light. At 2 a.m. this morning, I reorganized our medicine cabinet. We had a ton of lose receipts to file with taxes, so I put them all in a folder and put the pill bottles back into a basket neatly like they belong.

Some nights I'll get up and read. I try to read an actual book if it's the middle of the night to avoid light from screens.

Sometimes a snack will help - usually cereal (I'm in the third trimester and think sometimes, I'm just hungry)

Sometimes nothing works and I just sit up until DH gets up to go to work.

I listen to an audiobook!

I use audible, and I use it to fall asleep every night, and if I wake up during the night. By putting my phone under my pillow I can hear the book but DH can't. There is a sleep timer, so it will shut off after a set time.

I find this is better than TV, because there is no blue light keeping me awake.

I've had a doctor suggest melatonin, and when I've taken it I've noticed it definitely keeps me groggier/helps me fall back asleep and sleep deeper. I stopped taking it when I got pregnant, but maybe you can ask your ob if it'd be okay?

I always wake up around 3-4 and have a tough time getting back to sleep. I always switch rooms and go to the guest room so my tossing and turning doesn’t wake DH. Some nights just the change of bed helps. Sometimes I even make my way to the couch for a new environment. I often do deep breathing and some relaxation mantras I learned in prenatal yoga. If that fails then I just try to count in my head. Often though, I just end up lying there until the alarm goes off. So frustrating. I feel everyone’s pain.

This sometimes happens to me and then I'll be awake for hours not able to go back to sleep. I try not to go on my phone and sometimes I manage to fall asleep by just laying still and letting my mind drift. Otherwise, I try meditation/breathing techniques. If those things don't work, then I'll go on my phone and try to read looooong articles that are slightly boring. I haven't tried listening to podcasts, because I don't usually keep headphones close to the bed, but I've definitely fallen asleep listening to them before, so I think it would be a good idea to try.

Magnesium oil - or a lukewarm bath in Epsom salts (which are the same thing) - works wonders for me, especially during pregnancy.