My pregnancy nighttime routine

Nighttime sleep doesn’t always come easily, especially towards the end of pregnancy. I’d never struggled with insomnia until the end of my third trimester. So, through trial and error, I created a nighttime routine to help signal to my body that it was time to rest and to make myself as physically comfortable as possible.

8:00 pm: warm milk with molasses. I love having a warm, cozy beverage after supper. Since molasses is a good source of iron, calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals, I started mixing it with warm milk over the stove (about a cup and a half of milk to a tablespoon of molasses). So relaxing and good for you as well!

9:00 pm: warm shower. I’ve always preferred to shower at night, but especially during pregnancy. It really helped put me in bedtime mode, and the warm water relaxed my muscles.

9:20 pm: tart cherry juice. I’ve written about tart cherry juice and its incredible sleep properties before. Every night, immediately before bed, I mixed about two tablespoons of tart cherry juice with warm water to help me sleep. I swear it works like a charm!

9:25 pm: heating pad. My neck, shoulders and upper back are my problem areas and where I hold tension. I kept this neck and shoulder heating pad plugged in beside my bed and fell asleep with it on low every night. It helped relieve my discomfort and felt so soothing.

9:30 pm: pregnancy pillow. This pregnancy pillow helped support my growing belly and aching back and hips during my last two trimesters. Highly recommend.

2:00 am: stretching. Inevitably after falling asleep, I would wake up several hours later with back and hip pain. The only thing that made me feel better was light stretching. My go-tos were a forward bend (with my hands on the edge of our bathtub), cat/cow, a deep squat, butterfly, head to knee pose and a figure-four stretch. That combination really worked for me.

4:00 am: Ensure Plus Nutrition Shakes. At least once during the night, I would wake up hungry. In the last few weeks of pregnancy, I kept a stash of Ensure Plus Shakes by my bed for convenience. They have 27 vitamins and minerals and 16 grams of protein. That was amazing for me because I struggled to get enough protein in my diet, and during pregnancy, you should aim for at least 50-75 grams of protein per day.

The #1 tool that helped me sleep during the third trimester

It’s no secret that sleep towards the end of pregnancy can be challenging. Frequent bathroom breaks, a kickboxing baby, backaches, racing thoughts and any number of other distractions can all work against your ability to rest. For me, a pregnancy pillow helped up until a certain point. During my last month, I got out of bed practically every night to stretch my back and hips in my bathroom to reduce my discomfort.

But the only thing that helped me consistently and worked like magic was a nightly dose of tart cherry juice. According to the Sleep Foundation, tart cherry juice contains both tryptophan and melatonin. Melatonin is a sleep hormone secreted at certain times of day to help the body transition to sleep. Tryptophan helps the body produce melatonin, therefore it is essential to a good night’s sleep.

I mixed two tablespoons of tart cherry juice with warm water and drank it before bed. I might have fallen for the placebo effect, but on the nights I had the juice, I fell asleep immediately…no more lying awake for hours tossing and turning.

Try it and see if it works for you!