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Did you know that it is possible to predict postpartum depression by
calculating how much a new mother slept in the last part of pregnancy, immediately after delivery and the first few postpartum days? Low levels of sleep equal a high likelihood of depression in nearly everyone. Considering that a new mother’s hormones undergo massive fluctuations and that she is on call 24 hours a day, is it any wonder that new moms are typically sleep deprived?
We know for a fact that increasing sleep can dramatically improve your overall sense of well being. However, new moms can face two serious challenges. The first is that babies are designed to wake and feed regularly, much more frequently than an adult. They may sleep a lot, but their sleep is broken up into pieces. Therefore, your sleep is broken into pieces and you cease to get the quality or quantity of sleep you used to. Let’s face it. Sleep deprivation is an effective form of torture. If you find you’re only sleeping the equivalent of 4 or 5 broken up hours a day, is it any wonder that you stumble through your days and nights feeling like a zombie?
The good news here is that babies naturally learn to distinguish between day and night and gradually sleep longer stretches during the night. This magical transition might not come soon enough for you, though, so I highly recommend an excellent resource, The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Elizabeth Pantley, available through the Mommy-Muse.com resources for new parents link. This book offers a wealth of information and gentle ways to help your baby sleep through the night.
So let’s assume your baby is sleeping “reasonable” amounts of time, either because they were born that way (like a movie baby), or you worked with the ideas in The No-Cry Sleep Solution and helped them learn how. Then the real question is: “Are you able to sleep when presented with the opportunity?” If your baby is sleeping or another adult is caring for them while they are awake, can you sleep? In my experience with postpartum depression, as with many women, the answer was no. While I didn’t know it at the time, the inability to sleep is a warning sign that needs to be addressed. I’ll address this issue and provide some supportive strategies in Postpartum Survival Strategies: Sleep, Part Two.
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