Insomnia anxiety and pregnancy

Nicki

Archergirl wrote: »

Try not to go down the anti depressant route, they just mask things and do not solve anything....

Dangerous nonsense up on a par with anti vaccine BS.

I had that attitude once upon a time and ended up in hospital for 6 months with severe post natal depression. I now find that if my mood is low for more than a few weeks a very short time on appropriate medication sets me right very quickly indeed.

Refusing medication and struggling on (with the very limited availability to talking therapies) can put mum and baby’s lives at risk.

Pre and post natal depression has nothing to do with strength of character - they are illnesses and to be honest you are unlikely to be able to talk yourself out of them - though as with other illnesses, lifestyle changes can often help enormously.

I’d second the advice to see if there is any specialist maternity suppprt in your area. In subsequent pregnancies I was looked after by a specialist midwife who was trained to spot and support mums with post natal depression and was funded to continue for longer than the maximum 28 day period permitted otherwise.

LottieLou

You have been given some good advice here, I can sympathise with you.

Having been through a bad first pregnancy (AN and PN depression), having a breastfed with multiple allergies that never slept (and at 2 still doesn’t) I am due to give birth to our second baby any day.

There is nothing wrong with taking antidepressants during pregnancy or post delivery. Without them, many babies/children wouldn’t have a mother by their side and my child would be one of them.

One thing I would add is sometimes obsessing over the sleep you are worried you won’t have/are not getting can drive insomnia or make your mood even lower. I have changed my sleep habits around my insomnia (as much as my toddler will allow)! I tend to wake up after 4 hours in bed and have done since before my 2 year old was born, so I give myself a period of time to try to get back to sleep. If that doesn’t work, I don’t panic, I get up do a task that might be on my mind/needs doing...something boring like writing lists, folding washing etc. One less thing to organise that day. Then I have a drink and go to bed. So although my sleep is still broken, I wake up with one less thing to do and have generally felt better since I’ve “trained” myself that this way of sleeping is ok if needed.

Take care of yourself x