Postpartum Insomnia: 5 Ways To Heal Naturally

Why are you awake while everyone else is sleeping?

I spent twenty-four long months after having twins with insomnia. In this post, we'll discuss why postpartum insomnia happens and provide a summary of YouTube videos supporting your sleep recovery.

What is postpartum insomnia?

It's when you cannot sleep after childbirth.  Usually, you'll notice when everyone else is sleeping, and you're awake - that is a true sign.

9 Postpartum Insomnia Symptoms

• anxiety when bedtime comes

• unable to go back to sleep after a feeding

• awake at night when everyone else is sleeping

• OR anticipating a feeding, so you wake up to be prepared for when your child wakes up

• waking up @ 5:00 am with your heart beating out of your chest

• anxiety during the day or excessive heart palpitations

• tired @ 3:00 pm

• You may feel a bit depressed as well

• If your cycle has returned, you may feel this more the week before your period

Can postpartum hormones cause insomnia?

• Yes!

• Your body is trying to flush out all of the hormones from your pregnancy, AND if you've had twins, it's been said you may struggle with postpartum insomnia more due to these excessive hormones.

• Additionally, when your cycle returns, you may notice you get insomnia before your period due to excessive estrogen and the inability to clear it from your body.

• So, metabolizing high estrogen and reestablishing progesterone is key to healing your sleep.
  

How long can postpartum insomnia last?

• It can last years.  Typically, women stop calling themselves "postpartum" after they reach a certain date - 6 months or a year, but insomnia began after childbirth.

So, why does postpartum insomnia happen?

There are many reasons, but some of them include:

1. Sleep deprivation - your sleep gets interrupted night after night, and loses its rhythm

2. Hormones - after birth, your body is trying to detox from all of the hormones you've had in your body for eight months.  If you have poor detoxification pathways, you may struggle more. 

3. Anxiety - when you don't sleep for weeks or months, this turns into postpartum anxiety and then depression

4. Environment - if you don't feel comfortable in your home or bedroom, you may experience insomnia

5. Trauma - or unresolved trauma that comes out after pregnancy

Treatment for postpartum insomnia

We want to get to the root cause of your insomnia.  Here are five reasons we struggle with insomnia after childbirth.

1. Low progesterone causes insomnia, especially the week before your period. High doses of progesterone can reduce pain and have a sedative effect on the body. [source]

2. Unresolved trauma

3. Insomnia leads to postpartum mood disorders like anxiety and depression, so it’s important to learn how to restore your sleep. [source]

4. Low B12 vitamin is associated with poor sleep [source], but you may react to a methylated B vitamin, creating more anxiety.

Here are 5 ways to heal postpartum insomnia naturally 

#1 Homeopathy for postpartum insomnia

Homeopathy works on quieting your thoughts first. These homeopathic remedies may help lull you to sleep faster than any herbal remedy.

Watch this video for my favorite homeopathic remedies.

#2 Address postpartum adrenal fatigue

#3 Address your trauma

Seek a therapist to work through any unresolved trauma. Watch this video, as I talk with my therapist about how my postpartum thoughts came back when my husband passed away.

#4 Skip the coffee and integrate these drinks every day

#5 Add in nervines to soothe your nervous system

• Nervines are a category of herbs that help soothe our nervous system.

• They can be gentle, like Chamomile, or more intense as a sedativ,e like California poppy.

• By soothing your nervous system with herbal medicine and other holistic techniques, you'll discover you can sleep more soundly

• Here are my favorite botanicals to soothe insomnia

#6 Add in postpartum adaptogens

• My first breakthrough with insomnia was when I added a new adaptogen called Ashwagandha.  Adaptogens can help us come out of fight or flight and prevent burnout.

• Read this post to see the safe postpartum adaptogens. https://taragregorio.com/8-must-have-adaptogens-for-breastfeeding-moms/

Conclusion

You can overcome postpartum insomnia when you get to the root cause of your anxiety, healing your nervous system.  It takes time, but know it is possible to heal.  

xo

Tara

Resources

• Okun ML, Lac A. Postpartum Insomnia and Poor Sleep Quality Are Longitudinally Predictive of Postpartum Mood Symptoms. Psychosom Med. 2023 Oct 1;85(8):736-743. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001234. Epub 2023 Jul 13. PMID: 37506301. [source]

• Associations between sex hormones, sleep problems, and depression: A systematic review Author: M.W.L. Morssinkhof,D.W. van Wylick,S. Priester-Vink,Y.D. van der Werf,M. den Heijer,O.A. van den Heuvel,B.F.P. Broekman Publication: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews Publisher: Elsevier Date: November 2020 © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. [source]

• Bouloukaki I, Lampou M, Raouzaiou KM, Lambraki E, Schiza S, Tsiligianni I. Association of Vitamin B12 Levels with Sleep Quality, Insomnia, and Sleepiness in Adult Primary Healthcare Users in Greece. Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Nov 23;11(23):3026. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11233026. PMID: 38063594; PMCID: PMC10706823. [source]