Insomnia

Now that babies are sleeping through , I cannot sleep. I am up literally alllllll night. I am so used to being up all night... I am either listening for them, thinking about everything under the, well, moon, peeing every 30 minutes...help.
Any tips on how to relax and getting back to sleep? Thanks so much.

jen

 

I have the same problem. They don't sleep through every night but when they do I'm still up every couple of hours checking on them and then I get paranoid that as soon as I fall asleep they'll wake up. I don't think we'll ever sleep again

 

It's funny but some of the same things that work for babies work for grown ups too. establish a bedtime routine, lower lights and engage in some relaxing activity a little while before your bedtime, take a hot bath, don't eat anything heavy at night, listen to some soft music read a book. avoid coffee, tea, alcohol, smoking near bedtime. try to get some exercise during the day but not near your bedtime. have a steady go asleep and wake up time all week long. don't do anything in bed except sleep and sex. if you don't fall asleep in 15' get out of bed engage in relaxing activity and try again when you feel tired. if you are anxious about something or many things write up a list of them before you start your bedtime routine and promise yourself to deal with them tommorrow morning. try meditating or some gentel yoga sometime in the evening.
hth
good luck and good zzzzs

 

I have the same problem. :wacko:

 

Me too, I have to take Tylenol PM to drift off every so often. Mike listens for the kids on those nights.

 

It has taken awhile for me -- I'm still having problems at 16 months! I was never a good sleeper before I had kids, though. I got a prescription for Ambien and I take half a pill every once in a while if I've had several bad nights and just really need to catch up. I can't take it too often though, or it makes me feel even sleepier.

I actually got a lot of help from a CD called Letting Go of Stress. I thought it was the cheesiest thing, but my therapist (who I was seeing for PPD) suggested it, and just one little exercise often helps me fall asleep when my mind is racing. All you do is try to relax your entire torso and simply watch, rather than control, your breathing. Let your body breathe by itself and just observe it. You will notice that it gets slower and deeper, and your mind starts to let go of whatever you're obsessing about. That's how it works for me, anyway.

Also give it some time. I've found that it takes me a couple of weeks to adjust to any change in the kids' sleep habits.

 

I am also a periodic insomniac, and I remember having it bad during the FY!

The thing that works for me when I can't sleep is to go through the words of a song I know well in my head. I usually use "American Pie" because it has a lot of verses and I know it, and DH who taught me this trick uses "Visions of Johanna" by Dylan. It almost always works. It's like a mantra or something. I used to try and do a word, but I always found other words creeping in, have a hard time clearing my head. But this song trick works for me (and DH).