I haven't been around tiny newborn babies since mine were at that stage. So I had forgotten how sleep deprived they can make you.
My daughter's baby is 3 weeks old and I am staying with her to give her a hand. I can't help her with the feeding though, only she has the right equipment for that! The baby is not letting her get much sleep and seems to take an age to feed and then to settle after her feed. I don't think there is any solution to this except time and someone to help you manage during the day. It isn't insomnia its "asomnia". No that isn't a word I just made it up!
Meanwhile I have jet lag. I travelled 13,000 miles to be with my daughter and the time is 12 hours difference. But my sleep has been amazingly good this time. I took Melatonin each night since I arrived and it has made a huge difference to my sleep. Usually when I make this journey I just can't sleep properly for a week or even two weeks. This time I am asleep as soon as I put out the light. Its great.
Melatonin, in case you are not familiar with it, is a hormone that is secreted when it gets dark and which tells the body that it is time to go into sleep mode. When you mess up your body clock by changing hemispheres abruptly, sleep time isn't triggered until your diurnal rhythm catches up. Melatonin helps to speed up that transition by sending you off to sleep at the new bedtime.
I used the long acting variety of melatonin that gives a total of 3 mgs over an 8 hour period.
NOTE: Don't give melatonin to children or teenagers though. It is a hormone and has other effects than triggering sleep.
