Sleeping Problems for Mom, Not Baby

Hi J. -
I had/have the same problem. Benadryl really seems to help. It's the same drug they put in Tylenol PM and Advil PM. It doesn't last all night long, so you can take it when you go to bed and again at 2:00 AM if you need to. Hope this helps!!
L.

J.,

I haven't slept through the night since before I had kids-29 years ago! It's possible that your body has changed in response to motherhood and the best you can hope for is a long nap! :)

Hi J.,
First let me say that you will never sleep as soundly as you did before you had kids. Its just a mom thing I think. Those moms that can are really lucky. But now that you have a baby its like your brain doesnt let you get into that deep sleep in case the baby awakes, even though they are sleeping through the night. After my youngest was born and sleeping thru the night, I was still waking up 2 and 3 times a night and couldnt go back to sleep. My Dr put me on a sleeping pill which was a mistake for me. It didnt help like I thought it would and I couldnt get up in the morning. I was cranky and felt even more sleep deprived then I did before I was on it. I stopped taking them after 2 weeks. I went back to the Dr and he said that its something that will eventually work itself out and to give it until the baby was between 8 to 12 months. I thought that was forever!!! I didnt know if I could go that long without sleep. But I did my best and sure enough when she was about 8 months I stopped waking up and started sleeping much better. It stinks, I know, but If you can try to relax yourself as much as possible and live for those nights where you do get some sleep, it will hopefully pass in a few months.
Good luck!!

Since going back to work have you upped your caffeine intake? A lot of women cut back or drop caffeine during pregnancy and may not need it at home, but with starting up that routine have you added some caffeine or other stimulant? I think it may just have to do with your changing routine - you're body may not be sure what you need to do. Just try avoiding stimuli when you have to get up and make sure you lay down before you're sooo exhausted. Good luck

Have you tried a white-noise machine to block out all the little sounds? You can always keep a baby monitor right next to you adjusted so that you will hear your baby cry, but you can block out all the other little noises. We have some space heaters that we will run on the fan setting in our daughter's room to help her sleep and in our room to help us sleep. She has had problems sleeping especially when there is thunder or fireworks, and the fan sometimes helps block out the noise enough to keep her from waking up. I hope this helps.

Don't know what your sleeping arrangements are... but if he's in a different room than you, and you're getting up, walking across the hall into another room, feeding him, then walking back to your room --> that would be more than enough to wake me up completely!

Have you considered having him sleep in your room - you can use a crib, a co-sleeper, etc.:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t102200.asp

There are lots of ways to SAFELY share sleep so that you aren't waking up at every peep to go in and check on him (if he's right there near you, you can just look w/ your eyes and not have to get out of bed). I personally didn't sleep well when my babies were in another room (at least until they were 10+ months - at that point mine were loud, quite mobile, and I didn't worry so much about how they were doing because I could usually hear everything and knew what all the sounds meant). ;)

Don't know if that helps - just throwing it out there as one possibility.

I've always been a light sleeper, and just like others have suggested, using a fan really works. We have a ceiling fan in our bedroom and it could be -20 outside and the thing is still turned on!

Now, I know a lot of people find the TV to be the worst of all evils, but every night I fall asleep with the TV on. I set the sleep timer and within 5-10 minutes I'm out. I'm lucky because I feel that I get great restorative sleep and I am rarely tired and worn out during the day (even when my baby was younger and getting up twice during the night).

You can take comfort in the fact that pretty soon, he will be able to sleep through the night. I know this doesn't help now, but you probably only really have a few more weeks or months where you might have to get up in the middle of the night. Just keep focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel and know that, this (like pretty much all other things with having a newborn) too will pass.

Try relaxing before your go to sleep, read a book, watch a funny show. Also try a cool mist vaporize with drops of lavender(make sure it is a real essential oil will be in a dark container).

jo

I have the same problems too. My son is 9 months and usually sleeps through the night but if he does wake up or if I hear him moving around, I really have a hard time getting back to sleep. I guess we have ourselves trained to be ready to jump out of bed whenever the babies need us and its hard to get used to sleeping again. Usually I put a warm washcloth over my eyes and that seems to help me get sleepy again. If that doesn't work, I drink a cup of decaf sleepytime tea (made by celestial seasons) and that usually does the trick. Good luck!

I know exactly what you're talking about. I have the monitor right beside me, but found that I was waking up for every little noise. And sometimes my son makes noises in his sleep that I don't need to hear. I only wanted to hear the cries that meant he really needed me. So to solve the problem, I turned on a fan. (pointed away from me cuz it's too cold). And turned it up high enough to drown out the non-urgent noises but let me hear the urgent noises. And believe me, if I hear him over the fan, then it's time to get up. I haven't missed an important noise yet and my son is 16 months old.
If you don't want to get a fan, my SIL uses a noise machine that does several noises like waves, or crickets, or fan-like noises.
Hope that helps, A.