Do women with polycystic overian syndrome is prone to have insomnia during motherhood? [closed]

Question

I have a wife and before we got married she was diagnosed with PCOS, but then she got pregnant and gave birth to our beautiful daughter. As what I read PCOS means you have hormonal problem. During the first month she is having trouble sleeping. She can only sleep around 2-4 hours a day. Even at night even if I place the baby away so she can just sleep for 8 hours, she can't even sleep and just stay awake till dawn. BTW she is doing breastfeeding that time. I also read about Post Partum Insomnia which is normal for new moms. I read all over the internet about the horror of having Insomnia and I feel bad that I can't do anything for her.

According to what I also read breastfeeding can cause Estrogen hormones decrease thus it will result to Insomnia.

Yes, we tried to seek help from health professionals but they just gave us Iterax to help my wife fall asleep, but it just produce the same result where my wife can sleep 4 hours only. We already tried herbal medicines too but it doesn't work.

The only solution that we made is that we weaned our little girl after 1 month and 3 weeks, and she can sleep now better. Though I don't agree weaning our child in the first place, because I know how precious breastmilk is for babies, but I can't even let my wife fall apart.

So the question: Is the insomnia experienced by my wife is due to its PCOS or having low hormones in the first place?

P.S. I didn't place the link of the articles where I read the information but you can just use the keywords "post partum insomnia","PCOS", "breastfeeding" in google to get my references.

Answer 1

Insomnia is not a known complication/side effect of PCOS. PCOS is a syndrome of complex hormonal interactions, so it is possible that it could have an effect on sleep quality, but in PCOS typically the estrogen level is elevated, not lowered, due to its causing anovulatory cycles. Also, it usually it is a decreased estrogen level that would cause difficulty sleeping, as can be seen in menopausal women.

The change in estrogen due to breastfeeding is due to the elevated prolactin levels in lactating women, and while can be high enough to inhibit/delay ovulation, not likely to be severe enough to cause insomnia.

The most likely explanation to your wife's insomnia is the act of getting up and feeding multiple times per night, combined with the "postpartum insomnia" which is usually related more to the anxiety/excitement of having a newborn.