Insomnia?!

[Winnifred]

Hi ladies - sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've had trouble falling asleep the last few weeks and was taking benedryl, which helped most of the time. Starting Monday night, I've been almost completely unable to fall asleep. I've already talked to my dr, and he prescribed anti anxiety meds, but I'm not sure it's anxiety. He was very negative about using more serious sleeping pills. Has anyone here used sleeping pills before?

I'm still trying relaxation techniques... I'm so exhausted I can't even function, especially in the late evening. As soon as my head hits the pillow, either I wake up or I'm just not able to transition myself to sleep.

I'm going crazy over here 😔

Any thoughts? Advice?

[Winnifred]

I should add that I'm not breastfeeding.

[lola]

I know nothing about sleeping pills except that they are often addictive, but I have heard people have great success with melatonin. I think it's less habit-forming. Maybe you could look into that?

[Lucy]

I've had luck with melatonin. I give it to my oldest too because his ADHD meds sometimes make it difficult to fall asleep.

[Deleted]

I've used melatonin before, it can be hit or miss with working. How's your diet? Are you eating close to bedtime? Is bedtime relaxing or is it "baby finally fell asleep lets crank out some sleep?" Maybe getting a professional massage could help.

[littlelion]

I used Ambien after my mom died. I was having panic attacks and could not fall asleep. It did help. I didn't want it to become a habit so I tried other stuff too like meditation and exercise.

[legalbeagle]

Ugh so sorry. Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep after she goes back to sleep but I think that is more a function of my body being used to running on so little sleep at night. Multiples nights of not sleeping at all/very little sounds awful. Hope you can get the right help you need. Sometimes I do a yoga position called legs up the wall to help me sleep.

[Winnifred]

Thanks, everyone. I've been way less anxious over the last couple of weeks as baby has gotten on an awesome overnight schedule and I've become a lot more confident in general about parenting her. That's why I'm so confused and frustrated over my inability to sleep. It's like we're taking 10 giant steps backwards over here.

I'm also hungry all of the time. I think it's because I can never get food when I really need it, so by the time I finally eat I'm like overly hungry and can't eat much. So I've been getting up to snack for weeks, can't sleep with hunger pains. But In previous weeks I was able to go back to sleep, now I'm just barely sleeping at all.

Last night, I got tipsy and actually slept 5 hours straight. I feel terrible that it took getting semi drunk to actually sleep. Once baby woke at 3:30, that was it and I couldn't sleep anymore.

Sorry, I'm rambling now...

I have melatonin so maybe I'll add that in tonight with the antihistamines and Zoloft...

I don't want to take sleeping pills but it scares me to be home alone with the baby all day on the 1-2 hours of sleep I've gotten some nights 😔

[mrswillie]

I took trazadone a long time ago for a short period of time. I think the idea was that it help to "reset" your sleep habits after getting some consistently good sleep. Didn't have any problems stopping it and seemed to do the job.

Over the past fees years if I've had trouble sleeping, I've used Tylenol PM. That worked well too. Perhaps try that?

[emilie]

Sorry you're dealing with this. I have the same thing sometimes - I think because I am go go go all day taking care of the baby, when I finally crash in bed, my body is tired but my mind is racing and it's hard to sleep.

What works for me is a quick hot shower before bed, just to relax. I used to do 10-15 minutes of nighttime yoga before bed, too, but I haven't been doing it lately.

A quick note about anti anxiety meds - I have been on them for anxiety issues before, and please know that they are habit forming and hard to wean from, especially if you need them to sleep. That said, I did need the meds and they made me functional again. Do what you need to do, but I would take the smallest dose you can. Also, Ambien is strong stuff. For me I'd be afraid I'd sleep so deeply I wouldn't be able to hear the baby.

And about the food - can you just keep a bowl of easy snacks nearby so you can grab something when you need it? I ate about a thousand granola bars in the last 2 months.