Trouble sleeping while pregnant

[Personal Trainer]

My girlfriend is having really bad trouble sleeping at the minute. She is 13 weeks gone and along with getting up about 6 times a night to pee she has become over sensitive to any form of noise, my breathing even wakes her up. Does anyone know of anything that helps with sleeping or any tips from when they were pregnant?

Thanks in advance

[OffDutyNurse]

Hi hon! I'm 18+4 with my first, and although the textbooks say that baby should be off of her bladder within a couple of weeks, I am still waking up (Just once though) in the night to pee. That is my main problem. At 11 weeks, though I was still feeling really knackered, and just slept whenever I was at home (work shifts, so had long lie-ins, or went back to bed in the afternoons when I got in). Tell her the fog will lift about week 12-14.....all of a sudden, you start to feel like you have more energy, and don't need to sleep during the day anymore, which makes sleeping at night heaven.
A lot of women have problems sleeping during their pregnancies.....body temperature can be raised and she can feel uncomfortably hot at night, anxiety can set in (if it hasn't already), and I found myself lying there just wondering what I can do with all of our rubbish to make room for baby, and dreams are a lot more vivid, and frequent than before pregnancy, which can be unsettling!
They do reccomend having a cup of warm milk/cocoa before bedtime with a couple of biscuits to keep blood sugars up throughout the night. She could try that, otherwise, try staying awake as long as possible, drink less water before bedtime to lessen the need to get up in the night, and the books tell you to read/relax before trying to go to sleep. She could also try deep breathing relaxation techniques! HTH xxx

[Personal Trainer]

Hi thanks for that, I will let her know. Speaking of dreams she said she had one lastnight about a man having his throat cut and milk pouring out of it all over his dirty toenails!!! ha ha and she is the type that cant watch anything that has blood or murder in it on TV......

Yeh she likes milk before bed and she hasn't been having it for a while so that could help.

[OffDutyNurse]

Seriously...you could write a book. Last night, I looked at my stomach, and saw my baby's foot coming out of my tummy, where he/she was kicking me, so I tried to grab it to take a photo. But the baby ended up coming out completely through my stomach, and was actually fine, so I just cleared their airway, and cuddled him/her (cannot remember sex of bubs). Random! When I woke up this morning, I actually looked at my stomach for holes !

A few weeks ago, myself and my hubby were turned into zombies, it was like having an out-of-body experience, and they started to chase the real me and hubby! I am so mentally scarred by this dream, it still freaks me out! *Shudders* Hope the warm milk helps!!! xxx

[Captain]

My girlfriend is having really bad trouble sleeping at the minute. She is 13 weeks gone and along with getting up about 6 times a night to pee she has become over sensitive to any form of noise, my breathing even wakes her up. Does anyone know of anything that helps with sleeping or any tips from when they were pregnant?

Thanks in advance

I feel for you.
I went through the same thing. I'm 13 weeks now but at about 9-10 weeks I couldn't sleep at all if my boyfriend was so much as touching me. He had to be rolled right over to one side, and me rolled right over to the other. Thankfully that passed.
Now I'm experiencing the joys of constantly peeing. It feels like all I do is eat and pee sometimes. I kept having horrid dreams about miscarrying and things like that but I think it was just my anxieties running wild when I was sleeping, they've calmed down now. To sleep, I usually try to "wind down" first by reading, or watching tv in bed. I also avoid drinking anything at least an hour before bed and sometimes I can manage to get to about 4am before I absolutely have to pee.

I think it's awesome that you're supporting her though. Good on you for that.

[YummyMummyOf2]

Hi - I am having problems sleeping also, Not with the peeing thing, but i have become uncomfortable with my tummy at night, and am very sensitive to movement, sounds etc. im 22wk!!!
I have nicked one of my hubbys pillows to put bewteen my knees and under my tummy, which has helped, sub conconciously maybe im thinking im getting a hug fom him at night (which i love, but he cant coz he wakes me up with his breathing!!).
With the whole sensitive to movements and sound - im growling at him at night for moving or breathing loudly... I havnt yet found anything to cure this... apart from throwing him out of bed for the night Which is great for me, coz i have a double bed to myself!! and hes on sofa!
Your message made me smile PT, Your obvisouly wanting the best for your partner whilst she is preg, and i find it brill well done, you will have alot to put up with during labour!!! My hubby found me pulling on a handfull of his hair, and he gives it a number 2 all over... I found some to pull!!

[BritchesAR]

My wife always had to get up to pee...i felt so bad for her. what we did do that was helpful for her sleeping was a body pillow and lots more. We had one behind her back and she had the big one in front that she could put one leg on and she held the upper part. good luck...I think there is nothing more beautiful than a pregnant women. My wife didnt feel beautiful but i still thought she was...very special time!

[Captain]

i'm 33 weeks now and have pretty much gotten used to not sleeping through the night.
I've kinda resigned myself that a well rested full nights sleep is a thing of the past that I can forget about for a long long time. I wish I had appreciated it though! Even sleeping on my tummy is a pleasant, distant memory.

I have this system where I strategically place 5 pillows underneath and around me and that helps a bit comfort wise, but there's always 10 million other things keeping me awake anyway.