Weird Sleeping Problems

kirstle99

Hello guys, if this is in the wrong place feel free to move it, my apologies.

I had a baby in August 2007. He has slept through the night since he was 8 weeks old (i know, a small miracle). The problem is, i'm not.
This was fone when i was on maternity leave, as I could catch up on sleep pretty much wenever I wanted. But now i'm backa t work. I work evenings, from 5pm-12 midnight 4 days a week, this is not changeable as I have to work around my partner's shifts.
Baby doesn't get up till 8am so you would think I was getting enough sleep. But i'm not. I lie there awake, thinking about nothing at all, just wide awake. I've been to the doctor and he gave me some mild anti-depressants a while ago, which i tried but they didnt work for me as they made me feel really groggy the next day.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? I'm not depressed, i just can't sleep!

floss2

Maybe tonight instead of going straight to bed, you could stay up & do some ironing or watch a bit of quiet tv? Then when your mind has settled a bit, go off to bed.

Then have a nap with your baby during the day - even a couple of half hours would put you on until midnight, and hopefully a couple of days of that will shuffle your sleep pattern enough to be able to get to sleep when you get in.

Paparika

oh poor you, I've been there tossing and turning making shopping lists etc, my brain just wouldn't shut off.

maybe a nice warm bath just before bed, maybe a book to read for a bit,

don't do coffee, i do but I'm clinically addicted to it, i can drink it and still go to sleep if i am tired.

2 years ago was really bad for me and every January since then.

I lost my nan 2 years ago and it upset me so much that i was stressed all the time (she had cancer at 91, bless her) then 6 months after that OH lost him mum to cancer too, so you can imagine how we felt, he never had a problem sleeping, where as i would lie there tossing and turning. and every January i get sleepless again (anniversary of nan's death).

try to relax for an hour before going to bed if you can.

but if baby is still having naps during the day do so too for now to make sure you get some sleep.

Have you recently gone back to work, could it be that, that has disrupted your sleep?

Good luck to you

galvanizersbaby

kirstle99 wrote: »

Hello guys, if this is in the wrong place feel free to move it, my apologies.

I had a baby in August 2007. He has slept through the night since he was 8 weeks old (i know, a small miracle). The problem is, i'm not.
This was fone when i was on maternity leave, as I could catch up on sleep pretty much wenever I wanted. But now i'm backa t work. I work evenings, from 5pm-12 midnight 4 days a week, this is not changeable as I have to work around my partner's shifts.
Baby doesn't get up till 8am so you would think I was getting enough sleep. But i'm not. I lie there awake, thinking about nothing at all, just wide awake. I've been to the doctor and he gave me some mild anti-depressants a while ago, which i tried but they didnt work for me as they made me feel really groggy the next day.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? I'm not depressed, i just can't sleep!

Oh kirstle - I was in exactly the same situ when I had my first baby - except I had post natal depression also so was given anti depressants but I swapped to a sort that take a long time to get in to your system (think they were called SRI's?!) - they seemed to help a little bit.
I concluded it was all down to the hormones as I took ages to get back to normal sleep wise (and everything else wise for that matter!)
Don't know what to advise you really - try not to worry about not sleeping (know that doesn't help much!) just really feel for you - hopefully your body clock and hormones will settle soon - it will get better x Hugs!

TAG

kirstle99 wrote: »

Hello guys, if this is in the wrong place feel free to move it, my apologies.

I had a baby in August 2007. He has slept through the night since he was 8 weeks old (i know, a small miracle). The problem is, i'm not.
This was fone when i was on maternity leave, as I could catch up on sleep pretty much wenever I wanted. But now i'm backa t work. I work evenings, from 5pm-12 midnight 4 days a week, this is not changeable as I have to work around my partner's shifts.
Baby doesn't get up till 8am so you would think I was getting enough sleep. But i'm not. I lie there awake, thinking about nothing at all, just wide awake. I've been to the doctor and he gave me some mild anti-depressants a while ago, which i tried but they didnt work for me as they made me feel really groggy the next day.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? I'm not depressed, i just can't sleep!

Hi kirstle,
Being wide awake at night is a sign of PND as galvanizersbaby says. I had PND after all my children. All I wanted to do was sleep all day but then come bedtime sleep was an impossibility. I would be up for hours on end.

Eventually my doctor tried me on one of the old style anti depressants. It was fantastic. Knocked me out like a light, so I had a good nights sleep and gradually the depression lifted over a few months.

Sometimes you need to try different anti depressants before you find one that suits you. Trouble is, as it takes several weeks for them to kick in. It's a long old haul before you find the right one.

I'm not suggesting that you are depressed. Though, personally I would go back to the doctor. Lack of sleep for whatever reason will eventually wear you down and make you ill.

Good Luck xx

tsstss7

kirstle99 wrote: »

Hello guys, if this is in the wrong place feel free to move it, my apologies.

I had a baby in August 2007. He has slept through the night since he was 8 weeks old (i know, a small miracle). The problem is, i'm not.
This was fone when i was on maternity leave, as I could catch up on sleep pretty much wenever I wanted. But now i'm backa t work. I work evenings, from 5pm-12 midnight 4 days a week, this is not changeable as I have to work around my partner's shifts.
Baby doesn't get up till 8am so you would think I was getting enough sleep. But i'm not. I lie there awake, thinking about nothing at all, just wide awake. I've been to the doctor and he gave me some mild anti-depressants a while ago, which i tried but they didnt work for me as they made me feel really groggy the next day.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? I'm not depressed, i just can't sleep!

Hi Kirstie

I had a similar problem whe my ds1 was small. I had a job as a barmaid 7-12pm and found that after work I could not sleep at all and would often be up until 2 -3 am. Like you I also had a baby to get up with so couldn't sleep in the next day to compensate and always felt shattered in the day.

Unfortunately the only solution to my problem seemed to be to give up the evening job as I became a much better sleeper after that. I do think it is sometimes hard to unwind after being at work and can only suggest that you try some natural remedies such as a camomile tea - which sometimes works for me if I am "wound up" so to speak.

Anyway - hope you find a solution to your problem.

Savvy_Sue

it could be worth talking to your GP again, maybe you needed to take the ADs at a different time of day? Maybe you tried that and it still didn't help, but it's worth exploring.

squashy

Since having baby number three i have found i have needed less sleep to function. I am managing just fine on around 6 hours, including a night feed. Are you feeling the strain? If not it might just be a natural shift in your body clock.

misty

What time are you trying to go to sleep? If you are finishing at midnight and trying to sleep as soon as you get home - maybe you're not giving yourself long enough to relax - you wouldn't go to bed straight away if you finished at 6pm. Are you finding it hard to sleep every night or just the nights you are working? It might be two different patterns are disturbing you.

Apart form the usual of trying to get a routine - bath, no coffee etc one thing I would reccomend is Paul McKenna - although not for the intended purpose!! I have the weightloss cd on ipid and listen to it in bed - I fall asleep to it everytime. I think it is because you start off listening to him - you're not letting the other thoughts distract you from sleep. Maybe you could try one of his - even if you don't fall asleep you will feel relaxed.

ailuro2

Go back to your Dr, and ask for advice, it's hard to function when you're not sleeping properly. Thyroid problems, stress, amount of daylight you get, etc, can all affect sleep patterns. The biggest thing that seems to help me now is getting up at the same time every day, going to bed at a decent time so I wake gently/naturally before the alarm clock instead of being rudely awakened by it (tho that still happens sometimes !) I try to go to bed around the same time too, even at weekends.

I was very stressed at work a couple of years ago, a situation I was powerless to change no matter how hard I tried, it was causing me terrible problem with my sleep, but I went to the supermarket and bought Kalms - they seemed to help me get back in the habit of sleeping, made me feel better about doing something to help me sleep, iyswim, not sure if they helped, or it was a placebo effect, but you might prefer them to anti depressants.
fwiw I've been on anti depressants before, for SAD and PND, and they did take a while to get used to, and of course, to admit to myself I needed the help too - that's a big hurdle!