@blt4820 and @kboydbowman check with your providers if you're allowed to take Valerian. I get the best sleep with that stuff and my midwife said it was okay in pregnancy.
11/27/12 First Child born
5/5/14 and 6/5/14
Twins born into Heaven
BFP - 4/6/14, due date 12/8/14. First twin M/C at home - 5/5/14, Second twin D&C - 6/5/14
11/14 Chemical Pregnancy
9/5/15 Second after severe bleeding for 18 weeks due to subchorionic hematoma
@blt4820 and @kboydbowman check with your providers if you're allowed to take Valerian. I get the best sleep with that stuff and my midwife said it was okay in pregnancy.
I'll second the Valerian root. It's what they put in Sleepytime tea, and is the key ingredient in Valium (which is, of course, the super super duper concentrated version). I get mine at Whole Foods, near the melatonin. It's about $7 for 60 capsules. I take two at night, about 15-30 minutes before I lay down to sleep. I like that it doesn't leave me feeling groggy the next day like Unisom, Zzzquil or Benadryl does. And it doesn't give me night terrors like melatonin does, and it's non-habit forming.
Valerian is not remotely related to Valium. Valium is a benzodiazepine (chemical name diazepam) designed to treat acute anxiety with substantial addiction and abuse potential. It's also not in SleepyTime tea, which is chamomile based (as are most "sleepy" teas).
(please trust me on this since I have a literal PhD in this stuff)
Current pregnancy - First BFP on 1/4/22. Due date 9/13/22.
Four prior losses, no living children - 1 first trimester miscarriage, 1 blighted ovum, 1 chemical, and one extreme premature live birth daughter who died at 15 days old.
There actually are some sleepy time teas that contain valerian (the extra sleepy one from celestial seasonings comes to mind).
And valerian is not an ingredient in Valium but it does have a similar mechanism of action. They bind to different subunits of the GABA receptor and have similar effects on it, just to a significantly different degree.
@kboydbowman my apologies, I misspoke when I typed my response about valerian vs valium. I took an herbalism class where they had explained that valerian is like "nature's valium", and as @fitzfizz mentioned our bodies experience similar reactions but to a different degree of strength. And the back of the sleepytime extra that I have in my cupboard literally lists valerian as one of the key ingredients:
Re: February Symptoms Thread
First Child born
5/5/14 and 6/5/14
11/14
Chemical Pregnancy
9/5/15
Second after severe bleeding for 18 weeks due to subchorionic hematoma
Expecting Number 3 due 10/31/2020
Due with baby #2: Feb 2022
@babyodo
Valerian is not remotely related to Valium. Valium is a benzodiazepine (chemical name diazepam) designed to treat acute anxiety with substantial addiction and abuse potential. It's also not in SleepyTime tea, which is chamomile based (as are most "sleepy" teas).
(please trust me on this since I have a literal PhD in this stuff)
First BFP on 1/4/22. Due date 9/13/22.
Due with baby #2: Feb 2022