Overcoming Postpartum Insomnia As A New Parent

So I had horrible postpartum insomnia as a new parent.

In fact, I still have insomnia and my daughter is 18 months old now.

It’s bad enough that I already dealt with insomnia before I was a mom, but when I became a mom, it only intensified.

• Read More: What To Expect When Becoming A Mom For The First Time

My fiance on the other hand slept like a baby.

Here I am lying awake in the bed at night and whenever I would look over at him, he would be sleeping so soundly and even snoring.

Yet I am awake stressing about every little noise our daughter makes and wondering why can’t I fall asleep as quickly as he does.

Sometimes, I have been up for 2 hours or longer with sleep looking less and less likely by the minute.

I would just hope and pray for sleep to come because I knew that I wouldn’t really sleep much during the day with an energetic baby needing my attention.

If this is also you, then I completely feel you, my friend.

I have struggled with insomnia for as long as I can remember so this isn’t completely new to me.

When I was a kid, my parents tried everything from classical music to lava lamps, and at one point, I even had all kinds of jungle noises playing in my room at night.

They were willing to try anything to help me sleep at night.

I carried these sleepless nights into adulthood and motherhood and eventually, I figured out what worked for me in order to start sleeping better at night.

I know I am not the only parent who struggled with insomnia after having a child so I want to share what has worked for me.

Here I will share how you can overcome postpartum insomnia as a new parent.

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What Is Postpartum Insomnia?

If you don’t know what postpartum insomnia is, it is probably what you are already thinking it is.

Sleep Advisor defines it as the inability to fall asleep even when your new little bundle of joy is comfortably snoozing away.

It is usually associated with the anxiety of worrying about your baby’s safety and well-being and wanting to make sure you can hear them when they cry.

There are many reasons why new moms experience postpartum insomnia.

Sleep Advisor states that some of those reasons are:

• Hormonal Flucuations
• Night Sweats
• Postpartum Depression
• Nighttime Feedings

If postpartum insomnia is not handled in a timely manner then it can become chronic and can affect your overall health negatively.

For me, it began to trigger postpartum depression.

I was sad because I felt so lonely with my baby while my fiance worked during the day and then I would become irritable and lash out at him.

I felt myself becoming someone I did not like, so I knew I had to get a handle on what was going on with me in order to be a better mom and partner.

And my sleep is where I started.

With all that being said, let’s get into what I do to overcome postpartum insomnia as a new parent.

Overcoming Postpartum Insomnia As A New Parent

Room Share With Your Child

My very first tip on beating postpartum insomnia as a new parent is to room share with my child.

I know you’re probably thinking how is sharing a room with your child going to help your insomnia when they are the root of the wake-ups?

Hear me out.

We created a little nursery nook in our bedroom for my daughter to sleep in and she slept in our room for the first six months of her life before we transitioned her to her crib.

As I mentioned above, I was very anxious about all the noises that my daughter would make when she was a baby and I was also worried about her breathing as well.

I attempted to put her in her crib in her nursery when we first came home from the hospital, but I was so worried about her being in there alone that I moved her into our room.

I actually ended up cosleeping with my daughter during that time she was in our room.

• Read More: Safe Ways To Bedshare With A Newborn

My anxiety instantly decreased and my insomnia improved as well because I wasn’t having to fully wake up to breastfeed her during the night.

I was also falling back asleep much faster and getting quality rest.

If you are in the same boat about putting your child in their own room, then room sharing is the way to go.

Create An Environment for Sleep

When you are a new mom, every blog or website that you look for pertaining to getting your little one to sleep will all say the same thing.

You have to create an environment for sleep.

It will say something along the lines of keeping the days bright by opening the blinds and letting in natural light and keeping the nights dark and dim by closing the blinds.

This same concept can be applied to adults as well.

When you trying to overcome postpartum insomnia as a new parent, it either needs to be dark in the room or have your lamps dimed.

Personally, for me, I need to have the room mostly dark along with a nightlight so I can see when I need to get up for my child.

As I was saying above, I was cosleeping with my daughter so I had to do this in order for her to know that it was night and time for her to go sleep.

This leads me to my next tip.

Have A Bedtime Routine (And Try to Stick to It)

Bedtime routines aren’t just for kids you know.

We should have them too.

And after we put the kids down does not mean it is time for us to stay up all night.

Although, I won’t judge you if you do.

I know I like having a glass of wine while binge-watching a show on Hulu or Netflix until 2 am every once in a while.

But, that can’t be a regular thing though.

My daughter’s bedtime routine consists of getting a bath, brushing her teeth, and reading a book before going to bed at 8:30 pm every night

Once she goes to bed is when my bedtime routine starts.

I try to go to bed by 10:30 every night, so this gives me two hours to do whatever I please.

I can take a shower if I hadn’t gotten a chance to take one earlier, get some quality time in with my fiancé, work on my blog, read a bok, or just flat-out do nothing.

This is my time and I can do whatever I need to do to put myself at ease to sleep that night after a long day of looking after my little one.

Braindump (Journaling)

If you are unfamiliar with the term “brain dump,” it is exactly how it sounds.

Whatever is going on in your brain, you dump it out onto something.

If you struggle with insomnia as I do, it’s often because of the many anxious thoughts buzzing around in my head and it feels like my brain hasn’t realized that it’s time to go to bed.

This is where brain dumping comes into play.

In order to get those lingering thoughts out of your head, they have to go somewhere else.

Journaling is the number one thing that comes to mind and it’s easy just to write out what’s on your mind until you are satisfied.

There are plenty of journals that you can get at pretty much any store that has journal prompts to get you started writing.

Writing out a to-do list will also help clear up some of those lingering thoughts as well.

My “brain dump” usually consists of writing out topics for me to write about here or a to-do list of what I want to accomplish the next day.

Limit Your Caffeine

Now I completely get it in the mornings when you have had a restless night, you are reaching for some sort of caffeine to wake you up.

I even like to indulge in a caffeinated drink in the mornings, but at some point during the day, I can’t be consuming drinks that are intended to keep me up when I need to be winding down for the night.

So what I like to do is drink decaffeinated tea.

There are so many different kinds from the ones that soothe your throat and provide immune support to the ones that aid in breastmilk production.

They are very hydrating to the body and provide a sense of calm when you are drinking the hot liquid.

My personal favorite tea at the moment to drink at night is this Nighty Night Tea from Traditional Medicinals and I like to add honey and lemon juice to it.

Retire the Screens

So the last thing you need to be doing if you are trying to go to sleep is scrolling on your phone for hours.

I am also guilty of this bad habit of scrolling through social media and the next thing I know it’s 2 am.

• Read More: Trading My Bad Habits For Good Habits

As much as we rely on our phones during the day, we don’t need them at night and we all know this and still wind up getting on them.

There is a way to set up Do Not Disturb during certain hours, so utilize that feature if you can.

This also applies to TVs.

Maybe you are watching a show on Netflix and as each episode keeps playing, you can’t bring yourself to turn off the TV.

Most TVs have a sleep feature that will cut off the TV after a certain amount of time.

I set mine up to cut off after 30 minutes or an hour (depending on the show).

This is so I limit myself to one episode and it has worked out great.

Ask For Help

And my last tip for overcoming postpartum insomnia as a new parent is to ask for help.

If you are struggling with getting enough rest and feel like you are spiraling, it is time to bring in some reinforcements.

Postpartum insomnia often goes hand and hand with postpartum depression which is something that you all know I experienced as a new mom.

• Read More: My Truth About Postpartum Depression As A First-Time Mom

When I was breastfeeding my daughter during the night, I would often feel resentful of my fiance who was sleeping so soundly.

I used to wonder how come he doesn’t get up and do anything.

Well come to find out, he wanted to help but didn’t know how or what I needed help with at night.

He just needed me to tell him what he needed to do so he could start helping more and making sure I got more rest at night.

If this is also you, it’s time to stop assuming and ask for what you need.

Get your husband to help with the baby.

• Read More: How Your Husband Can Help With A Newborn

And if you are not married, have a grandparent, relative, or a close friend that you trust to help out by watching the baby during the day so you can get some extra rest.

People want to help, you just have to ask.

Your Turn

Overcoming postpartum insomnia as a new parent can be a constant struggle and I still struggle with it with my 18-month-old. Hopefully, with these tips I have mentioned above, it will help sleep will come easier. I would love to hear how you overcame insomnia after having a baby in the comments below and while you are still here, check out my previous post. Until next time!

• Read More: How To Survive Breastfeeding A Newborn At Night

Love,

Just Jass