Lactation consultant explains why 'protected sleep' is necessary to treat perinatal mood disorders

New mothers have to contend with a lot when they bring a baby into the world. Their life changes, priority shifts, and more importantly their routine completely does a 180. Everything they do is somehow geared towards making their child's life better and they end up sacrificing their 'me time.' But contrary to popular opinion, this is not a great way to live life. Even though parents have the responsibility of taking care of their children to the best of their abilities, making them the center of their lives is not healthy. They should not dismiss their physical and mental well-being. Victoria Facelli (@victoriafacelli), through her video, is bringing to attention a huge aspect that new moms tend to ignore - sleep. 

She further explains how important it is to arrange time for themselves so that they can have protected sleep, for better life quality. The lactation consultant, through the video, wants to increase awareness about "protected sleep" and how important it is for mothers, especially postpartum. She begins by explaining how this practice of "protected sleep" is beneficial in dealing with 'perinatal mood disorders'. Perinatal mood disorder is used to define the feelings of anxiety or distress mothers get both during pregnancy and after it. In such situations, Facelli feels "protected sleep" which is essentially uninterrupted "four to six hours of sleep" for the mother is useful. The information provided by Facellin is extremely important, especially now, when in accordance with Cleveland Clinic, almost 75% of new mothers face baby blues.

Facelli goes ahead and gives mothers some tips that can help them in garnering "protected sleep". She asks mothers to put their "earplugs in" and have "white noise on" so that there is no chance of any kind of outside intrusion while they are asleep. During this time she strictly instructs the parents to be away from the babies and instead give their responsibility in trusted hands. It is important that the mothers create as much of a buffer as possible with the kids so that they can make this time for themselves. The mothers need to arrange for someone who can feed their kids and make them sleep during "protected sleep". This four to six hours of sleep will give them the rest they need and recharge them, for further pushing themselves. If the mothers fail to do so, there is a chance that they exhaust themselves both physically and mentally.

In the follow-up video, she explains how "protected sleep" is also a diagnostic tool with which mothers can realize if they need more help. If individuals feel no improvement even after arranging for protected sleep, or might not be able to relax in the environment created by them, then that is an indication that they need further help. She suggests individuals or partners of people suffering through that to talk and get more mental health tools for assistance.

The comment section shared their experiences with "protected sleep" and how it impacted their own life. @slantedheights explained how the sleep pattern saved her life, "This was the only thing that helped me turn a corner. A friend/practitioner sat down with my husband and said 'Your wife is dying, she has to sleep'." @bearkat00 is in agreement regarding all the points, "This is brilliant. I had major PPD that developed into chronic depression. Sleep deprivation was and remains my trigger."