this might not be of any help but when my DS was little and still feeding over night i had to get rid of any clocks that were in the room. I kept my phone in there but had it turned upside down and used all my will power NOT to look at the time. i found that if i kept looking at the clock it made my falling back to sleep so much harder. It was a case of ohh god, he is giong to wake again in two hours and im still awake.. ohh god its now only 1 hr till he wakes and i still cant sleep, oh now he is giong to be awake in half hour i may as well not go back to sleep kinda thing... lol it was a vicious cycle!
Even now when we are no longer BF i still have not bought a clock back into our room. that way if i get woken early in the mornings before my alarm i can happily think ohh its still hours till i have to get up may as well go back to sleep - even if its only 10 mins till my alarm might be giong off?
not sure if it is helpful at all.. just something ive done for myself! i feel for you.. i am getting a bit of insomnia at the moment and hoping it goes.. its made so much worse by the fact i am up once or twice a night to pee!
Does it help if the baby is in the same room as you? I found getting up and going to another room terrible, and ended up cosleeping full time because it maximised sleep for me.
I have had very frequent night feeders though, so that is the only way I could survive.
have you thought about side car ing the cot? baby would still be on her own sleep surface, but not as much disruption for you, so it might be easier to get back to sleep.
it sucks when they are (finally) asleep and then you lie awake.
I definitely recommend a thermos of hot chamomile to sip while feeding (as long as you like chamomile!) As far as I know it's fine while bfing. I often have a hot milk if I've been awake for a while and need to bring on the sleepiness. Also, perhaps some yoga breathing exercises (I mentally give myself the instructions in my yoga teacher's voice), or a cotton ball soaked with lavender oil, which you lift to your nose and have a little inhale of every few minutes. When DS was up for long frequent feeds in the night I found that it was harder to get back to sleep if I used my phone to entertain myself, be it reading an ebook, fb or games, and I know you said you don't use those, but conversely, I find even now that rather than lying there awake and frustrated, I'm better off turning on the bedside light and reading for a bit. I'll often start to get drowsy, and that's the moment to turn off the light and close my eyes. I think it's something to do with the story in the book occupying my brain and stopping all those thoughts which otherwise might keep me awake.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks