Welcome back!
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.
-
Getting Baby to Sleep (finally)! On a recent episode of The Mommy-Muse Is In: Empowering Your Journey into Motherhood, I discussed the all important issue of getting your baby to sleep with Karen Pollak of Babies2Sleep.com. This perinatal counselor and sleep coach was quick to point out that there is a "magic ten week mark"...... -
Postpartum Stress Center Specialists Join Me On The Air! Are you ready to learn the truth about postpartum depression and the baby blues? Have you wondered how to ask for help? Do you want to discover practical information to help you make informed choices? Wherever you are in your prenatal or postpartum journey, you are bound to empower your...... -
Sleep Expert on "The Mommy-Muse Is In" Show! Do you suffer through sleepless nights, and then during the day listen to heartless advice to let your baby "cry it out?" Tune in tomorrow on The Mommy-Muse Is In: Empowering Your Journey into Motherhood on the VoiceAmerica.com Health and Wellness channel. Join me as I interview my well-rested...... -
Vicki Glembocki's Real Raw Truth of New Motherhood Q&A, Part One For those of you who were lucky enough to catch the first-ever episode of The Mommy-Muse Is In: Empowering Your Journey into Motherhood, you may already have laughed, cried or gasped at award-winning author Vicki Glembocki's raw exposure. In honor of the paperback release of The Second Nine Months: One Woman...... -
Exercise Helps Treat Postpartum Depression! When my OB/GYN nurse called to check in with me after I had returned home with my first baby, she informed me (in the nicest possible way) that I really ought to exercise at least 20 minutes a day. To be perfectly honest, I nearly threw the telephone across the......
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }