WWYD? sleep problems

[MrsBone]

I have had sleeping issues ever since my DS was born 21 months ago. It got to where when he'd wake up at night, I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. I have no problems falling asleep, just staying asleep for more than like 4 hours. DS sleeps about 5-7 hours in his room then comes in our room and we cosleep and nurse the rest of the night. I'm 6 1/2 weeks pregnant with #2 and so far the only thing that has given me the ability to get back to sleep is zyrtec. My MW says it's pretty harmless, and I feel okay about taking it, but I hate being dependent on it. What makes me even more nervous is when the next baby gets here, being up all night with two kids needing me to nurse. I feel like I'll never sleep! I rarely get back to sleep before DS is done nursing. I almost feel like maybe my sleep would normalize if I could get DS sleeping through the night, so that when the next kid gets here, I could devote my time to just them, and possibly get more than 4 hours of sleep. I feel like I'd need to wean DS to do this though. I'm actually okay with that, it just sounds like a daunting task, involving even less sleep. What would you do in my situation? I would almost welcome only being awoken by a baby at night if I could get back to sleep on my own!

[MaerynPearl]

I was similar...

I had to learn why I was not sleeping well in order to accurately treat it. Sleeping problems are a symptom of a problem, not a problem themselves.

I had a sleep study and found I had sleep apnea, fixed that with adenotonsillectomy... also RLS which I never suspected...

Also we know I have anxiety problems and bipolar.

To treat my RLS, I have to have a warm bath before bed... add to it some lavender to help me relax for the anxiety... drink some relaxing tea (sleepy time vanilla with honey! yum!) and maybe some calms forte. I have to relax my legs and mind or I will be waking up all through the night, unable to go back to sleep.

[MamaChef]

Mrs. Bone,
If you are comfortable with nightweaning, I would do it. I believe we really need our sleep while we are baking these babies.

I night weaned my DD at 17 months. She nursed all.night.long I thought it was going to be a huge battle. In actuality, it took 3 nights with support from my DH. For a week we talked about how were were going to stop nursing at night soon because we needed our bodies to grow big and strong and to do that, we needed sleep. I told her when she woke up and the sun was out we could nurse. First night she was pretty upset about it, but I held her and patted her back and told her mommy loved her but we needed to wait until the sunlight came up and she could have some milk, but right now we needed to sleep so we could grow big and strong. The first night she actually got frustrated with me and ended up crawling over to DH and sleeping with him after trying to nurse a few times and hearing the spiel. The second night she tried once, same spiel, offered a sippy instead both nights. Third night, she slept through the night for the first time in her life. It was sooo worth it. I was such a better mama when I was getting the sleep. Infact, Ill night wean the next one at a year. Mama needs her sleep too.

This was helpful to us.
http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

[Jayray]

I would also suggest nightweaning. It wasn't a big deal AT ALL. I was really surprised. DH just gradually took over all wakings--first until 3:00 am for a while, then until 5:00 and then until wake-up. It only took maybe 2 weeks for us and wasn't traumatizing at all.

That was probably more than a month ago and he's been sleeping through the night (all the way!) about 75% of the time. If he wakes up, DH takes care of it so that I can stay in bed (also preggers here).

We also gradually day weaned shortly after that because the pregnancy made my milk completely dry up and DS just wasn't interested anymore. I didn't offer and he didn't ask. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be!

[lillymonster]

I have had sleep issues since I was pregnant with DD #1 - I haven't sleep more than 5-6 hours straight since then. DD #1 starting sleeping through the night a little before 3, and I didn't sleep well then and still don't. Once I wake up, I have trouble getting back to sleep. If I don't wake up, I am fine.

I did buy a new bed (a sleep number) because I realized the bed DH and I had before was way to hard for me. That has helped some. Also I find if I actually get out of bed, even for a minute or two, I fall back asleep easier.

I should do a sleep study myself. DH did it and found he has sleep apnea.