It took 7 months for the sleep deprivation to catch up to me, but it has and I'm at a loss about what to do about it.
Background: I have chronic insomnia. After years of suffering, I started taking trazadone and started sleeping well for the first time in my life. But then I got pregnant and had to stop taking it. I am a very poor sleeper - by the definition we apply to babies (5 hours) I just barely "sleep through the night" - my pattern is to sleep for about 5 hours, then to wake up hourly after that until I get out of bed. I'm also not good at napping - it takes me a long time to fall asleep, if I manage it at all.
When DS was a newborn I did just fine. The breastfeeding hormones were a really effective sedative for me, and even though DS was a frequent nightwaker, I was able to fall asleep whie he was nursing or immediately thereafter, so it didn't much bother me. I figured all those years of insomnia had prepared me to deal with a nightwaking baby.
Fastforward 7 months. DS still wakes frequently at night to nurse, but I can't fall asleep while he's nursing or for a while after. We cosleep, and get into a horrible cycle of waking each other up (compounded by DH's snoring). In the middle of the night I'm too tired to try other ways of putting him to sleep, so I nurse him, but it's uncomfortable for me and I'm getting resentful of the near-constant nursing. And never sleeping for more than 2 1/2 consecutive hours for 7 months has finally caught up to me and I'm getting more exhausted by the day.
While the nightwaking is a problem, I feel like the problem is more with me. I don't know if it's okay to take Trazadone while breastfeeding - I don't want to mess up my baby's brain chemistry! I already feel bad because I worry that I'm teaching him my poor sleep cycles through cosleeping. DH and I are trying some of the things in the No Cry Sleep Solution to try to help reduce the nightwaking, but it's hard to be consistent and try something new when I'm so tired. And of course, DS and I have colds right now, so that's just making matters worse.
On a typical night, I nurse DS down to sleep between 7:30 and 8, then get out of bed. He sleeps anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours (lately we've been getting two hours, which is big progress). If he wakes up before 10 or 11, he doesn't get nursed back to sleep - instead DH or I (usually DH) goes up and pats him back to sleep. I go to bed between 10 and 11, and nurse DS the first time he wakes up, which is usually between 11 and 12:30. From then on he wakes up to nurse every 1.5 to 3 hours until about 5 or 6 am, when we enter non-stop nursing mode until around 7:30 or 8 when we get out of bed.
Anyone been in a similar boat and have any suggestions?
Background: I have chronic insomnia. After years of suffering, I started taking trazadone and started sleeping well for the first time in my life. But then I got pregnant and had to stop taking it. I am a very poor sleeper - by the definition we apply to babies (5 hours) I just barely "sleep through the night" - my pattern is to sleep for about 5 hours, then to wake up hourly after that until I get out of bed. I'm also not good at napping - it takes me a long time to fall asleep, if I manage it at all.
When DS was a newborn I did just fine. The breastfeeding hormones were a really effective sedative for me, and even though DS was a frequent nightwaker, I was able to fall asleep whie he was nursing or immediately thereafter, so it didn't much bother me. I figured all those years of insomnia had prepared me to deal with a nightwaking baby.
Fastforward 7 months. DS still wakes frequently at night to nurse, but I can't fall asleep while he's nursing or for a while after. We cosleep, and get into a horrible cycle of waking each other up (compounded by DH's snoring). In the middle of the night I'm too tired to try other ways of putting him to sleep, so I nurse him, but it's uncomfortable for me and I'm getting resentful of the near-constant nursing. And never sleeping for more than 2 1/2 consecutive hours for 7 months has finally caught up to me and I'm getting more exhausted by the day.
While the nightwaking is a problem, I feel like the problem is more with me. I don't know if it's okay to take Trazadone while breastfeeding - I don't want to mess up my baby's brain chemistry! I already feel bad because I worry that I'm teaching him my poor sleep cycles through cosleeping. DH and I are trying some of the things in the No Cry Sleep Solution to try to help reduce the nightwaking, but it's hard to be consistent and try something new when I'm so tired. And of course, DS and I have colds right now, so that's just making matters worse.
On a typical night, I nurse DS down to sleep between 7:30 and 8, then get out of bed. He sleeps anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours (lately we've been getting two hours, which is big progress). If he wakes up before 10 or 11, he doesn't get nursed back to sleep - instead DH or I (usually DH) goes up and pats him back to sleep. I go to bed between 10 and 11, and nurse DS the first time he wakes up, which is usually between 11 and 12:30. From then on he wakes up to nurse every 1.5 to 3 hours until about 5 or 6 am, when we enter non-stop nursing mode until around 7:30 or 8 when we get out of bed.
Anyone been in a similar boat and have any suggestions?
