Sleepless Nights During Pregnancy
Sleepless nights during pregnancy are just darn cruel! As if you have not been through enough already… and now you can’t sleep! If you are anything like me, listening to your partner snore irritates the hell out of you, whilst you lie there wide awake night after night. Everyone’s comments of “Get your rest now, you won’t have a chance once your baby comes” just frustrate you and you feel like shouting “I’M TRYINGGGGGGGGGG”. This annoying thing you are now facing is called “Insomnia”. Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. Insomnia is often worse in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and affects 3 out of every 4 mummies’.
What Causes Sleepless Nights During Pregnancy?
A combination of changes within the body can cause sleepless nights during pregnancy. Frequent trips to the bathroom, heartburn that will not budge, cramps in your legs and the fact it takes about a month to turn over in the bed are all contributing factors to sleepless nights during pregnancy. A lot of new mothers are also faced with something called pre-birth anxiety. Pre-birth anxiety is your body and mind being aware of the changes that are coming up. If you are a new mother you are probably thinking about all the things that you may not know and you could be asking yourself if you are ready to be a parent? If you are capable of being wholly responsible for a little baby when you can just about look after yourself? All of this is completely normal and believe it or not it is a good sign if you are worrying as it means you care. Why is it that we always think and worry more at night? It’s because during the day we just get on with things and we are often busy interacting with people. Nighttime for a lot of us is the only time we feel that we are fully on our own in our own thoughts (especially when your partner is snoring their head off).
Help when dealing with Insomnia
- Talk about your worries and fears with your partner or a friend, remember a problem halved is a problem shared.
- Eat slowly and not too close to bedtime to avoid heartburn also have some Gaviscon at the ready (it really helped me)
- Avoid caffeine and chocolate as they really do contribute to insomnia.
- Drink your daily intake earlier in the day to minimalize the number of toilet trips.
- Go for a nice walk or do a light pregnancy workout, it really does help you sleep.
- Create your own bedtime routine – perhaps read a book or watch a new series, it is important to take your mind off being pregnant when you can.
- Get a pregnancy pillow – I invested in a pregnancy pillow and it was the best thing I ever did. I still use it now.
- Have sex – Sex releases happy hormones which help you sleep. I, unfortunately, was on pelvic rest so sadly I couldn’t take advantage of this option.
Carla is the founder of MyBump2Baby. Carla has a huge passion for linking together small businesses and growing families. Carla’s humorous, non-filtered honesty has won the hearts of thousands of parents throughout the UK.
She has previously written for the Metro and made appearances on BBC News, BBC 5 live, LBC etc. Carla is a finalist for Blogger of the Year award with Simply Ladies inc. Carla is also the host of the popular Fifty Shades of Motherhood podcast and The MyBump2Baby Expert podcast.
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