[LSMartin]

Hi, I was wondering if there are any other moms out there with newborns or babies, struggling immensely with their own sleep?
I didn’t have issues until 5 weeks PP and then I all of a sudden can’t sleep at all and can’t nap. Would love to have some support. Don’t really want to hear how long you have had insomnia cause that is freaking me out right now, but would love to have guidance on how you are helping yourself with Martin’s program in the midst of getting up with a baby.

Thank you!!

[Sonya]

Hello, I had a baby 6 weeks ago and my husband has been doing all the night feeds to try to help me sleep. I even go to the spare room but for some reason I just cannot switch off and go to sleep. I have signed up to the weekly emails and hope they help me!

[Martin Reed]

Congratulations on the newborn! It’s totally normal to experience sleep disruption at this time — there’s a lot of change going on! I’d encourage you to be kind to yourself and, instead of going to bed and “trying” to sleep, you might go to bed to give yourself the opportunity to rest instead.

Sleep will come if and when it’s ready. It tends not to happen too easily when we put effort into it!

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[AnnieCA]

Hello, I made an account just to reply to fellow struggling moms out there. I had almost the exact same situation. I am 4.5 months PP now and it gets better. At 6 weeks PP, I suddenly couldn’t sleep at night or nap. I did the natural sleep aids and sleeping pills but everything stopped working. I almost started taking antidepressants but decided not to once I found this free program. The 2 week program helped me immensely. I read the emails and did the tasks. It helped me to understand that sleep will happen, at some point I’m going to sleep. That was a game changer for me, after battling sleeping for about 6 weeks at that point.

I also focused on researching positive success insomnia stories and found some content online and YouTube videos. The shift in mindset helped me. I used to be scared of not sleeping and I kind of just embraced it and the sleep returned.

I also saw a naturopath and started taking magnesium and ashwaghanda vitamins. I also did daily light exercises, like 10-15 minute YouTube videos and lots of walks in the sun.

I think a combination of everything helped me sleep better at 3.5 months PP. The hormones have also calmed down. I still sometimes drink sleepy time tea and take some melatonin when I want to get to sleep quicker but I have no issues waking up at night to take care of my child and fall back asleep. Sleep won’t be the same again and I’ve accepted that and feel fine. I still can’t nap but I’ve accepted that maybe I’m no longer a napper. 🙂

My advice is keep doing things to help yourself day to day. Above I mentioned what I did daily. One day at a time, you will get better.

[AnnieCA]

Hi Sonya, I had a very similar situation. I even put earplugs to drown any noise. I did sleeping pills and nothing worked for long. I feel like this program helped me immensely. Just understanding sleep shifted my mindset. I replied to another mom with more detail on what I did to help myself if you want to read. I hope you get sleep soon!!

[LSMartin]

Thank you so much for responding, I feel like my mind is so obsessive over it and it’s making the falling asleep thing absent. I feel like I can’t function at all when I don’t sleep, it makes my anxiety and everything ten times worse. How did you function on no sleep? My head and ears get so sensitive that I
can’t barely hear anything. Like
How did you function to grocery shop etc? I feel to unsafe to drive like that. Thank you so much for your support!!

[AnnieCA]

I was like that too!! Just obsessing about how many hours I slept and how will I function the next day. It was horrible. My anxiety was so bad which made the sleep worse. I dreaded every day. I had it in my head that I had to sleep 8 hours because before the baby I used to sleep SO good.

It wasn’t easy functioning during the day at first. The dread ughh was horrible. But then the day would end and I’d sleep a bit and another day would end. I started to think wow I slept poorly but made it through another day with my baby. I think I went 6 days averaging 4 hours of broken sleep a day without any sleep aids. But I kept telling myself that when my body gets too tired, it’ll just fall asleep.

Each day I decided to eat well, do my exercises, do the tasks from this program, take my vitamins and I started to do things that I enjoyed even though I was exhausted. It was a routine I created for myself. And I started having friends visit me and I went to see family and friends. I started making plans and did them, even though my mind and body were like noooo. I also had a great support network of family and friends that were with me. I hope you have that too.

After having little sleep after the 6 days, my doctor suggested taking a melatonin which earlier didn’t work for me. But this time it did. So I took a melatonin daily for weeks and I think it worked because my system started to calm down.

I don’t know what caused it or what happened but with time my anxiety eased up, I stopped worrying about sleeping, I did things even with little sleep and it eventually got better. I also found some Instagram posts from other moms and I saw that they weren’t sleeping but they were getting through the day. That helped me.
Seeing them with dark circles and waking up multiple times a night.
It helped me know that I wasn’t alone.

It was a crazy experience and no one around me experienced it, so they didn’t understand what was happening. I’m glad I found this forum, Cindy’s story gave me so much hope. This is why I came back on here. It will get better!! Keep going 💪 watch a few of the other videos if you haven’t yet. I limited it to a few in the early days because I didn’t want to get sucked into a rabbit hole and obsessing over videos.

[LSMartin]

Thank you so much, all of your insight really helps! I definitely get obsessive over all of it which then creates more anxiety and depression over all of it. It’s easy to watch something positive and then find yourself in the middle of something that totally wrecks your mind. Are you talking about watching some of Martin’s videos?

[hiker]

I am not a mom and have never raised a baby.

I am convinced Martin’s course is a valuable resource. But I wonder if taking on additional responsibilities like logging sleep times is what you need right now. Maybe instead just letting yourself absorb the main message–that sleep comes on its own.

Yeah, right…with a baby about to cry any minute now? But what is happening in this moment? Is baby crying and needing your attention, or have you done all you can, or is this a silent moment when you can close your eyes?

This may sound lame, coming from someone who is not going through your experience. But maybe it’s true, anyway?

Your baby is lucky to have a mother who cares so much.

[AnnieCA]

I completely understand what you are going through. I’m sorry that you are too going through it. I am sending you all the positive vibes so you get better.

This post started it all for me (there’s a video on it too) https://insomniacoach.com/forums/topic/100-cured-from-postpartum-insomnia/

I watched other Martins YouTube videos. I also read comments but I only skimmed for the good ones. I didn’t want to see any negative ones to trigger me.

I also found this lady’s video helpful: https://youtu.be/9fc03ACxDyM?si=45ZUhZpNoeMGRVLH

[Author]

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