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In Postpartum Survival Strategies: Sleep, Part One, I left off with the question: “Are you able to sleep when presented with the opportunity?” What happens if the answer is no?
Good question. I personally like to start with natural approaches and move to medicated approaches only if necessary. First of all, you’ll need to make sleep a priority. For the time being, it is more important to sleep than to do any non-essential household tasks. The laundry and dishes can wait. After all, once you start logging more sleep hours, you will find yourself more efficiently accomplishing daily chores.
The next step is to set up your sleeping environment to be as sleep-friendly as possible. Find a way to darken your room for naptimes even during the day. Sometimes just tacking a sheet up over the regular blinds can help. Set up an air cleaner or a white noise machine to help mask outside noises (this trick can often help babies sleep more soundly as well). Unwind by take a bath as a regular part of your bedtime routine. Play soothing music or guided imagery recordings to lull you to sleep, either on speakers or headphones. Essential oils, such as lavender, are surprisingly effective for many people. Another trick is to eat a light snack that is high in complex carbohydrates before sleeping. Sometimes when blood sugar levels drop, our bodies’ natural response is to wake up. Also consider drinking some warm milk or one of the many safe and effective teas available with herbs like chamomile to help you sleep easier.
Do avoid alcohol as a sleep inducer. It is a natural depressant, which frankly, you don’t need. Current research indicates that It does not help milk let down for breastfeeding. So despite the popular myth, there’s no point in drinking a beer or a glass of wine to ease nursing. What alcohol does do is wake you up a few hours after your initial drowsiness, interfering with your much needed rest.
Do start a sleep log, writing down when and how long you sleep for a week and see if your hours are improving. If they aren’t, I recommend asking your health care provider if an over the counter or prescription short-acting sleep aid might be right for you. After my second baby was born, I finally broke down and asked. My physician recommended a prescription sleep aid with a short half life that was safe to take on a limited basis while nursing. It allowed me to lie down when my baby slept and actually fall asleep even though I knew perfectly well I would need to wake up to tend to her within an hour and a half. For me, this made a big difference.
Please be clear, I am advocating sleep, not medication. There are times, however, when I have not been able to catch hold of the elusive antidote of sleep without a little extra help. I always recommend checking with your doctor or nurse first, even before taking an over the counter sleep aid.
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