Postnatal insomnia and sleeping problems - Help please! Post Reply

[TripleTrouble]

Hello lovely NVN community-

If anyone has got advice and can refer me to the right experts I’m sure you can! Help please!!

I’ve been struggling with sleeping after my third baby and that’s more than 18 months after the birth. Some nights I literally don’t sleep at all, other nights I don’t fall asleep until 2/3am, other nights I sleep so terribly I feel worse when I wake up than when I went to bed, other nights I wake up at 4am and can’t fall back asleep. So, in summary, there’s no real pattern and it’s doing my head in!!!! Needless to say that it’s impacting my moods and it’s not very fair on the children, or my (very patient and hands-on) husband. I’ve been to the GP and tried some sleeping tablets for a couple of months now and while they sometimes help me sleep they also make me feel like a zombie so no long term solution.

In addition I also feel like I’m still pregnant (I’m definitely NOT!) hormonally and after some googling I’m wondering if it’s a form of Post Natal Depression. While I don’t feel depressed I’m def struggling with my mood generally but can’t even tell if it’s the long-Term lack of sleep or if I should see a therapist.

I’ve also been taking some extra vitamins and minerals (based on Google) which are supposed with postnatal Hormonal imbalance but don’t even know if that’s the issue...

So, the question I hope someone might be able to offer advice on is twofold:

A) has anyone experienced similar issues and what did you do?

B) is there a therapist, or similar, anyone can recommend who will have experience with Post natal issues as described?! Perhaps even local to SW London.

Thank you so much for reading my rambling post!! Any advice, pointers and tips are most appreciated!!!!

[Lovingsleep]

Hello, yes I have something similar after 6 years of broken sleep with the kids. My moods are awful after a broken night so I imagine it’s mostly this.


I know what you mean re sleeping pills, they make me feel awful the next day too.

The only thing that works for me, which I discovered by accident, is an over the counter anti allergy pill called acrivistine. It wipes me out and I have no side effects in the morning.

Good luck xx

[Funnymummy43]

Yes I had a very similar thing. I had in the end very severe PND.

Totally horrific insomnia, anxiety low mood.

Get help as soon as possible, insist with GP. They are so much better now,

local mums support group http://www.postnataldepression.com Liz Wise.

I slept 3 hours for 3 months and got very poorly. PM if you want to. I can totally feel your pain. I now help other mums by phone with PND.

[Funnymummy43]

Ps

If baby at Chelsea and Westminster, you can talk to Danny O Shea.You can access help after a year after baby born.

They have a whole team for perinatal mental health.

Alternatively privately, Dr Bijlani at the Priory and in Chelsea is very good.

Www.postnataldepression.com local support group Liz Wise, you can ring her. She is full time a perinatal expert and support service offered.

[Moomin]

It's hideous isn't it? So sorry you're still suffering

I had this severely with my second though there wasn't much sleep on offer anyway! In hindsight I had severe PND and this must have contributed to it. It sounds counter intuitive but could you try some gentle exercise to tire you out before bed? - run or maybe a yoga class? I often wake in the night still (2 years post newborn!) and I tend to put meditation music on to help me back to sleep.

Hope you're back to a normal sleep really soon!

[IrenaP]

If not PND ask for a hormonal check up incl FSH. Could be perimenopause. I’ve got this.

[shabbychic]

I can also highly recommend speaking to Liz Wise http://www.postnataldepression.com/. Even if it's not full PND it can be such a help to talk about things with people that are going through the same/similar to you. Also worth getting your iron levels checked by the GP? Definitely have an initial chat with Liz though - she's lovely.