A woman sleeping on. a fluffy pillow. Holiday lights are strung over the pillow.

The importance of sleep for Moms

In this blog post, our team’s Natalie Bergman
talks about how important it is for Moms
to be able to rest and recover through sleep.

What is at the top of many Moms’ Holiday wishes?

More sleep!

Mama needs her sleep.

Parents care how much our kids sleep at night, as we know how important sleep is for their development. But parenting is busy work, and we often forget how important it is for Moms to get adequate sleep too.

In 2019, Richter et al. found that mothers cannot recover from the decline in sleep in the first months postpartum up to 6 years after the birth of a child. Their research showed that poor postpartum sleep is associated with stress levels, mental health, interpersonal relationships, postpartum weight retention, birth outcomes, and child development.

Spaeth et al. (2020) found that in the first three months postpartum, mothers experience a reduction in sleep duration by approximately 62 minutes per night compared to their pre-pregnancy sleep. This results in an average of about 5 to 6 hours of sleep per night during this period.

During the postpartum period, women experience major life changes related to work and home responsibilities, relationships with family and friends, and personal finances that have also been associated with increased risk of sleep disorders (Spaeth et al., 2020).

Looking for a great Holiday present idea for a new Mom?

As child psychologists, we talk to many Moms. They often share with us that they are offered help by their family and friends to take care of their baby.

They definitely love and appreciate all the help they can get. However, what they tell us they prefer is some help with everyday tasks like cleaning up, laundry, and other chores, so that they can focus on spending time with their baby — and so that they can catch up on their much needed sleep.

References

Richter, D., Krämer, M. D., Tang, N. K. Y., Montgomery-Downs, H. E., & Lemola, S. (2019). Long-term effects of pregnancy and childbirth on sleep satisfaction and duration of first-time and experienced mothers and fathers. Sleep, 42(4) https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/42/4/zsz015/5289255

Spaeth, A. M., Khetarpal, R., Yu, D., Pien, G. W., & Herring, S. J. (2020). Determinants of postpartum sleep duration and sleep efficiency in minority women. Sleep, 44(4) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8033452/

Meet the author

Natalie Bergman, MA, RPsych, CPT
Natalie Bergman, MA, RPsych, CPTChild Psychologist at Kids Reconnect
Natalie is a Director and co-founder at Kids Reconnect. She is an experienced child psychologist and Certified Play Therapist who uses her professional expertise, playfulness, and caring heart Superpowers to emotionally connect with children, helping them heal using play therapy and warm heart-to-heart conversations. To help parents understand and connect with their child with love, gentleness, and patience, she uses her profound insights into the worlds of children and parents.

At Kids Reconnect, we help Moms and Dads with the most difficult job in the world: parenting

Our experienced team of child psychologists and social workers is here for kids, parents, and families.

Our team’s Sammy Merritt is a Registered Psychologist. One of her areas of speciality is pediatric sleep. Sammy helps families with babies, toddlers, and elementary-aged to kids get more sleep in ways that nurture the connection between parents and kids, while holding loving boundaries around sleep.