I'm SORRY this is long but I really need help

My sleep is totally irregular. Even if baby sleeps through the night, it is not uncommon for me to wake up anyway although I go quickly back to sleep but I have 2 that are inclined to wake through the night for various reasons so my goal with temping has been to try to get a reading after 3 hours of straight sleep which is tricky in itself but I've been doing decently, it's just that the time I actually take my temp at has been totally random this month (last month it seemed to always be 3:30 or 5:30 instead of total randomness).

Since I temp before looking at the clock since seeing the clock takes more effort than I'm supposed to exert before temping, I sometimes end up with a couple of readings through the night (I might find out when I do check the time that it's only been an hour since I went to bed so I'll temp when I wake the next time, for instance) and this has made me aware of much my temp changes through the night and totally confused me about which temp I should use.

For instance: Say if I went to sleep at 11, woke and temped at 1 [not enough sleep], then again at 2:30 [enough sleep if you ignore waking and temping and I have a few temp readings at this time already on my chart] and then again at 5:30 [after a solid 3 hours of sleep but only a couple of readings at this time on my chart] I'm left wondering if I should record the 2:30 because of more consistent time or the 5:30 because of more consistent sleep ). Is this confusing?

So .. there's my question. Until I can do both consistent time AND after 3 hours of sleep, would it be better for me to aim at a particular time and just note on the chart if I hadn't had enough sleep that night or should I continue just recording temps taken after 3 hours of sleep regardless of when they were taken?

For anyone who read all that and responds, THANK-YOU!

[forest]

I would go for a consstant time and just mark it as sleep deprived of you don't have three hours before. When I woke up at night it didn't seem to affect my temp too much.

I guess I would be concerned not so much about simply waking and going back to sleep but rather the times that I wake and have to get up and tend to someone as that is usually more often the case.

[momma2princesses]

I agree...i would set my alarm for 6am every morning (or whatever time you are generally still lying in bed) and temp then. Or temp every night after three hours of sleep ....so temp at midnight every night...

OR if you want to get REALLY technical you could do TWO charts...one with the temps from waking up randomly after enough sleep...and another with your 6am temp. Then do that for a month or so and see if there is actually a big difference. I would feel more compelled to rely on the same time every morning temp though...but thats just me

Also...do you use OPK's and all that jazz? Maybe if you are charting all of your other symptoms the temps will be cross referenced to see if they are lining up with your bodies other signs.

Hope that helps and good luck! Rooting for you!

[Admin-pattyandthemoos]

Originally Posted by forest

I would go for a consstant time and just mark it as sleep deprived of you don't have three hours before. When I woke up at night it didn't seem to affect my temp too much.

I agree. I temped with Lyndsey while she was still nursing and waking me up at night. You just have to do the best you can. I would stick with the consistent time even if your sleep isn't consistent. You should still be able to get a good idea of what is going on. You just may have a lot of open circles on your chart.

Make sure you are charting your cm and that will help.

I agree. Consistent time. That's what I plan on doing since I have a newborn.

Well, I already have a lot of open circles. The only temps FF likes this month are the few I've taken around 2:50am which is totally not when I'm going to set my alarm for.

I did consider the multiple charts but then decided I was too lazy for that.

Starting in the morning I will aim for 5:30 since my most recent 2 temps have been around that time.

Thank-you ladies!