New Mothers, Are You Sleep Deprived? 11 Effective Tips To Sleep Better

From hormonal changes to interruption in sleep schedule, there are many reasons why a new mother is not able to get a good night’s sleep. An expert suggests effective tips to improve sleep.

Managing to sleep peacefully and without interruption is a challenge every new mother faces, at least for the first few weeks. Their sleep schedule is disturbed mainly because they have to wake every few hours to feed the baby and their anxiety may be connected to the well-being of the baby. There are hormonal issues too that do not let the new mothers have a good night’s sleep which affects their overall well-being.”Circadian rhythms which are regulated by the body’s internal master clock in the brain are influenced by this hormonal disturbance. Hormonal changes in the immediate postpartum period like decline of progesterone due to its sedative properties and changes in melatonin levels can affect circadian rhythms within the first 3 months and have been implicated in women’s postpartum sleep difficulties. No wonder all these changes may bring a great deal of mood swings, anxiety, insomnia, and neuropsychiatric disturbances in women.

“The first six weeks after delivery can be particularly challenging. After giving birth, mothers are forced to awake at night to take care of their babies. According to some studies, the average new mother receives about five to six hours of sleep every night during the initial time period,” says Dr Divya.

Tips to deal with insomnia in new mothers

1. Sleep education: By learning more about how sleep works and what we can do to get more rest each night, people with insomnia and other sleep disturbances can address their difficulties from a more informed perspective. Maintaining a sleep diary promotes awareness of sleep patterns.