Not Hearing My Alarm

[0722]

So this morning, I felt like the worse Mum in the world. I set my alarm, or should I say alarms, and myself and my 2 year old daughter slept through all of them. I normally hear them, but I didn't, and she missed nursery. I spoke to my Mum about it and she goes "well your just gonna have to wake up when you hear it" and I explained that I didn't even hear it, she didn't understand and blamed me. I have suffered with a lot of stress in the last few years, coming out of an abusive relationship with my daughters father, and I've had one boyfriend since him, and I found out he had been sleeping with other women behind my back so I have been pretty stressed from that, luckily we don't have any kids or a house together so I just dumped him. Does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone had a similar thing happen? The only option I can think of is to set my alarm every 45 minutes through the night so I don't fall into a deep sleep. Me and my daughter share bedroom cos I'm only in a one bedroom apartment. Unfortunately I cannot move at the moment as there are no decent 2 bedrooms available. I do have quite a big apartment though. I was thinking about moving my mattress into the lounge temporarily until my sleep is sorted so my alarms every 45 minutes in the middle of the night doesn't wake my daughter.

 

[Justmehere]

Try a louder alarm. Or one that also turns the lights on. Google "alarms for heavy sleepers" and you might find something that works for you.

I wouldn't suggest waking yourself up all night, as that's gonna really affect your brain and health quite a bit.

 

[digger]

I would advise against trying to wake yourself up throughout the night, I think the disrupted sleep will just lead to other problems for you. At the end of the day, if your two year old misses a morning of nursery occasionally because you were both sleeping, it's really not the end of the world.

Suggestions for waking up on time though. Set more than one alarm, have them set to different tones and volumes if possible. If you have more than one device that you can set alarms on then put them in different places too.

 

[Crow]

For a few years during my most dissociative time I had to use an alarm hearing impaired people use. You put a little flat thing under the mattress and when the alarm goes off, it shakes the bed. That was the only way I could wake up. Also added a dawn lamp that gradually got brighter simulating dawn and that helped me for a while too.

 

[scout86]

So this morning, I felt like the worse Mum in the world.

Just wanted to point out that sleeping through an alarm doesn't even come CLOSE to putting you in the running for "worst Mum in the world".

How much sleep are you getting? Maybe it would help if you got more.

 

[SeekingAfrica]

So this morning, I felt like the worse Mum in the world. I set my alarm, or should I say alarms, and mysel...

Things to add to other people suggestions:
You can put song as an alarm(I do that on my phone) and change it every few weeks. If your brain isn't used to the song, it will take quicker at the sound of unexpected noise. Once you're used to it, it will be less effective.
Also, I hate this one, but I suppose it can be effective- put your alarm at the other end of the room(on loud volume of course) so that you have to get up to turn it off. And remove the function where it turns off after 30sec or even 60, otherwise it may not be enough time.

I wouldn't suggest waking yourself up all night, as that's gonna really affect your brain and health quite a bit.

I agree. At best, that will make you even more exhausted, so after a while of that, you will eventually fall asleep, and then no alarm will be able to wake you for a lot more hours, since you'll be exhausted. Plus long time of sleep-deprivation makes you feel like a zombie, half-asleep all the time. Not the best thing.

For a few years during my most dissociative time I had to use an alarm hearing impaired people use. You put a little flat thing under the mattress and when the alarm goes off, it shakes the bed. That was the only way I could wake up. Also added a dawn lamp that gradually got brighter simulating dawn and that helped me for a while too.

The dawn lamp sounds interesting, although I have very open windows with lots of light, and that hasn't stopped me when I need sleep. As for the other idea...that's not for everyone really, I would be very started and probably scared if I woke in that way. Sounds way too invasive.

 

[Friday]

Sleeping through an alarm is a really normal thing to have happen. Not PTSD-Normal, but Normal-Normal. It's something that happens to most people 1-2 times a year. Often times there are contributing factors; like not been getting enough sleep lately, or fighting off a cold, or havin been up in the middle of the night for some reason, or having had too much to drink, or, or, or. Butt sometimes everything is fine... And it can still happen!

While there probably exists a few people on the planet who have never slept through an alarm? I haven't met them.

 

[Ocean5]

I agree with others. This hardly makes you worst mom by far.

It is strange when it does happened though. I had 3 alarms set on smartphone hour apart all with snooze feature. I'd wake up later, "what the hell happened?!" Went on for weeks. Before I hadn't used alarm in years.

I like

I had to use an alarm hearing impaired people use. You put a little flat thing under the mattress and when the alarm goes off, it shakes the bed.

and

You can put song as an alarm(I do that on my phone) and change it every few weeks. If your brain isn't used to the song, it will take quicker at the sound of unexpected noise.

 

[SeekingAfrica]

Sleeping through an alarm is a really normal thing to have happen. Not PTSD-Normal, but Normal-Nor...

Whole-heartedly AGREE.:)

 

[0722]

Thank you for all your feedback. I've suffered PTSD for a few years now, and only diagnosed by my doctor a year ago. I was just getting so annoyed with myself because it's happened a lot recently, and being a single Mum with no one else to help is so difficult. Also breaking up from my ex who cheated a few weeks back, who also showed signs of abuse towards me, as did my daughters father, the stress of it probably doesn't help. I must admit I am sometimes hard of hearing, so the suggestion about what hard of hearing people use as an alarm sounds quite good for myself.

 

[Mafia_Science]

Maybe you're not sleeping through your alarm. I used to think I was sleeping through my alarm, but the reality was I was literally turning off the alarm clock in my sleep. I wouldn't even wake up, it be like sleep walking, except just turning off the alarm.

 

[Chitoshi]

I'm kinda late to this, but I just saw it. :) My boyfriend uses an alarm called a "Screaming Meanie" which has either two or three loudness settings (can't remember which at the moment) and takes three buttons pressed simultaneously at the same time. His dad is a semi-truck driver and a heavy sleeper, and so is he. They both love those little boxes. Just as a warning though, they are REALLY loud (something like ~90 dB?) and it's a beeping sound like a classic/regular alarm. That may solve the "can't wake up because it's not loud enough" and the "turning off the alarm when you're sleeping" because after the second"snooze" (you can use 1 button to stop it for the first 2 times) it won't stop until you've pressed all 3 simultaneously.

Just another suggestion. :)