My shift started this morning at 3 a.m. Baby has been sleeping for practically the entire time, and it is now 5 a.m. She woke up 40 minutes ago due to gas, but I was able to settle her and she fell back asleep.
She’s almost due for another feeding. But ever since I received the monitor for my shift, I’ve only been awake. This happens to me frequently. I am not sure if it is anxiety or what. She is usually a rather noisy sleeper, which is part of the problem, but she has been mostly quiet tonight, so I’m not sure why I’m awake while being exhausted. I’m just waking up.
It might be your hormones, which are still balancing, or your new mother’s anxiousness. I’m also three weeks postpartum, and despite the fact that I’m sleep-exhausted and just tried to take a nap, I lay here for 25 minutes with my eyes closed, feeling immense panic and bombarded with intrusive thoughts lol. Apparently, it takes 6 weeks for your hormones to adjust, so why not try some meditation in the meantime?
I’m taking Rhodiola and Passionflower at the moment to help with my anxiety, and it’s making things a lot easier for me. Also, magnesium helps sleep.
Haha, thanks! Now I have just finished feeding the baby. I need to get the four-year-old up for school in an hour. I’m wondering if I should try to fall back asleep or just remain awake and nap later…
It’s been three weeks here, too. I work the ‘graveyard’ shift while Mom gets some well-deserved sleep. Which is what I’m doing right now.
At night, our LO sleeps for around 2-2.5 hours. However, I find it difficult to sleep at that time. Every squeak, grunt, and noise LO makes wakes me awake, thinking it’s a cluster feed or a poopy diaper. 90% of the time, it’s just infant sleep noises. So we’re just going with the flow at this point.
LO has been 5 months, and I am still this way. He went into his own room a few weeks ago, and I find it difficult to sleep with this monitor in the room. If I wake up and he hasn’t, I’ll lay there awake for hours. I blame nervousness and not knowing when or if I’ll be awakened up again.
I have this on and off; for me, it is sleep anxiety. I frequently can’t sleep if I suspect (or know) I’ll be awakened up shortly. Regardless of how weary I am. I get anxious just thinking about trying to sleep. It was quite awful when he was initially born, but it improved when he began sleeping longer stretches and developing more predictable sleeping/eating patterns. I still get it sometimes (my daughter is 7 months old), therefore I’m going to start a therapy program shortly. Magnesium supplements and a shower with an audiobook before bed appear to be beneficial to me as well.
Try taking magnesium before bed and avoiding screens. If I glance at my phone after 10 p.m., I cannot fall asleep. The only screen I can look at is my kindle, which helps me go asleep.
Here! My infant sleeps really well at night. Goes down at 7 p.m., feeds about 3 a.m., and then sleeps until 7 a.m. But my idiot can’t seem to go asleep before midnight. Then I get up at 3 a.m. to perform the feed, which only takes 20 minutes but keeps me awake for about 2 hours until 5 a.m. Then a quick nap until he wakes up at 7 a.m. I might be getting closer to 12 hours, but I’m only getting about 5:( I don’t think it’s worry; I think the disturbed sleep pattern just bothers me.