Exhaustion? Anyone have some advice?

[mightymoo]

I'm about 7 weeks I think and the exhaustion has hit. My kids get me up at 7-7:30am and by 4pm I am beat. By 8pm I am falling asleep on my feet. Now, normally I am still up at 7am but I'm the one saying "aw do we have to go to bed already?' at midnight.

I tend towards anemia, moreso during pregnancy (had to have a blood transfusion after my last birth, not due to excess blood loss, but the amount I did lose was too much for me) so I'm taking extra iron.

I'm wondering if there is any natural methods to combat this? I am just not in a place to take a nap - the children will not let me and I don't have anyone who can watch them so I can. I have been going to bed with the kids, but I find that sleeping for 11 hours straight isn't working either, I end up waking up and tossing and turning in the middle of the night. Anyone else suffer from this?

[Synchro246]

I get really tired too. Every day it creeps up starting at about noon and by two I am BEAT! Usually if I can't nap I have my cup of coffee for the day and roll with it. Even if I don't have coffee though by 4 or 5 it has magically gone away.

At least this is temporary.

By Thanksgiving it should be gone.

[jessitron]

Are you drinking a ton of water? That can help.

Maybe take some chlorophyll? Nasty, nasty stuff but it's supposed to help. My midwife prescribed it last pregnancy. I felt like I'd shoved a tree in my mouth, bark and roots and all, from the taste.

[kdtmom2be]

I get up at 5:30am every morning and am on the run all day. Some days I don't get a chance to rest until bedtime, which, lately has been about 8:30pm! Until this last week DH has been on a different schedule and just could NOT understand why I am so tired (even when I was not pg). This week he has started to get up with me and this morning said "I don't know how you do this, I can't get up this early!". He doesn't have any choice.

Anyhow, by 1pm I am often just beat these days but can't have a nap either. I do find that just laying down, even if not sleeping, helps a lot. Maybe you can get your kids to settle and watch Sesame Street or something in the afternoon?? I am not a tv advocate by any means, but 30 min in the afternoon so you can RELAX for a bit will do wonders for the rest of your day.

If no tv then do you have a pre-teen kid in the neighbourhood who would come and be a "mother's helper" for $5 a day for an hour after school so you could lay down?

[mightymoo]

I haven't been drinking enough water, I'll give that a try. And I had forgotten chlorophyl is supposed to help with anemia, I think I'll try that too (if I can find some, I have no idea where a health food store is around here) Maybe I can get it in a capsule?

I think Sesame street is going to be making a reappearance - I had finally gotten rid of the TV after depending on it alot during my last pregnancy and the postpartum cross country move after that, but I'm not sure I see any other way to get through the afternoon.

DD goes to school from noon until 3:30, and after paying for school I just don't have the cash to pay for another sort of babysitter.

[lolalola]

My neighbour is an aromatherapist, and when I was experiencing extreme fatigue with DS she recommended using essential oils of grapefruit, orange and lemon. I had an old vapourizer and added a few drops, kept it in my kitchen, and the scent really "picked me up". You could probably do the same thing with a spritzer bottle.

[kdtmom2be]

Originally Posted by mightymoo

DD goes to school from noon until 3:30, and after paying for school I just don't have the cash to pay for another sort of babysitter.

Ok, so sometime during the afternoon doesn't your other child have an afternoon nap at 15months?? Nap with him!

When my brother and I were little my mother instituted Quiet Time. It replaced nap time.... when we were old enough not to nap we still had to go and spend a half an hour in our rooms playing quietly or reading or whatever, but NOT bugging mom.

[mightymoo]

Originally Posted by kdtmom2be

Ok, so sometime during the afternoon doesn't your other child have an afternoon nap at 15months?? Nap with him!

Unfortunately the situation doesn't work that way right now. DS falls asleep while I am on my way to drop off DD. I have to either sit in the car and let him sleep or find something to do nearby or he wakes up being moved from the car. It takes a half hour to drop her off, so since he usually falls asleep a minute or two after we get in the car, once I wake him up, He won't take another nap, even if he's only slept for that half hour. At best, even keeping him in the car he'll probably only sleep an hour at most. :P

[LoveBaby]

Originally Posted by mightymoo

Unfortunately the situation doesn't work that way right now. DS falls asleep while I am on my way to drop off DD. I have to either sit in the car and let him sleep or find something to do nearby or he wakes up being moved from the car. It takes a half hour to drop her off, so since he usually falls asleep a minute or two after we get in the car, once I wake him up, He won't take another nap, even if he's only slept for that half hour. At best, even keeping him in the car he'll probably only sleep an hour at most. :P

ack! I hated that part of dropping my DS of at preschool last year. My youngest would always fall asleep in the car and his nap would be shot for the day. That's another reason we decided to homeschool...nothing would interfere with our afternoon quiet time!

Have you tried Floradix? It's a liquid iron supplement. It tastes weird, but it really works and doesn't mess up my system nearly as bad as regular iron pills. Made a huge difference in my fatigue, too.