Postpartum Sleep: How Can We Support New Moms?

In a recent study examining demographic and obstetric factors on sleep experience of 202 postpartum mothers, researchers report that better sleep quality correlated negatively with increased time spent on household work, and correlated positively with a satisfactory childbirth experience. Let's get right to the take home points: how are we addressing postpartum birth experiences in the clinic, and how can we best educate new mothers in self-care? You will find many posts in the Herman Wallace blog about peripartum issues, and you can access the link here.

The authors recommend that healthcare providers "…should improve current protocols to help women better confront and manage childbirth-related pain, discomfort, and fear." Do you have current resources with which you can discuss these issues (and a referral to an appropriate provider) when needed? In our postpartum

course, we highlight the challenges a new mother faces due to the commonly-experienced fatigue in the postpartum period. According to Kurth et al., exhaustion impairs concentration, increases fear of harming the infant, and can trigger depressive symptoms. Issues of lack of support, not napping, overdoing activities,, worrying about the baby, and evenworrying about knowing you should be sleepingcan worsen fatigue in a new mother. (Runquist et al., 2007)

Back to what we can do for the patient: investigate local resources. This may include knowing what education is happening in local childbirth classes (and providing some training when possible respectfully inquiring of new mothers how they are doing with sleep and demands of running a household (and business or work life and finding out what support/resources the new mother has but is not accessing. Patients are often hesitant to ask for help, or may feel guilty in hiring someone to help clean for the first few months, feeling that she "should" be able to handle the chores and tasks. Educating women about results of the research and about potential improvements in quality of life can help the entire family.

If you are interested in learning more about Care of the Postpartum Patient, sign up today for our next continuing education course taking place next month in the Chicago area. (Don't you have a friend to visit in Chicago?) If you can't attend the Postpartum course, how about the Pregnancy and Postpartum Special Topics course taking place in October in Houston? Check the website as we add more Peripartum course series events, including Care of the Pregnant Patient, for 2015!