Sleep deprivation ... and physical and psychological stress sometimes

The child's first year carries great happiness for parents ... and challenges as well

Specialists recommend that parents split the night shift.

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The first year of a child's life brings a lot of happiness to the parents, as much as it bears from pressure and stress .. But could such pressure be beneficial?

This is not an easy question to answer, according to Ulrike von Haldenwang of the German Association of Midwives (DHV). “When the birth process is going well, and you have prepared well for the first weeks after childbirth, in this case happiness really is beyond description. ».

It is also common for parents to reduce how tired it is, and to go through serious problems, such as psychological problems such as depression.

"There is a widespread idea that happiness surrounds you in all directions," says von Haldenwang, after birth.

And all parents know that this is just an exaggeration.

Von Haldenwang added, "But this amount of deep emotions can also be stressful, along with actual and physical stress ... What is important during preparation for the first few weeks (after birth) is how you talk to each other in the relationship."

And if you can talk openly and calmly with each other, you should talk about sleep.

Despite persistent myths, which often lead to an unfair burden on mothers, they are not always the one who can handle losing sleep more easily.

Sleep researcher Hans-Guenter Fess notes that "an American study showed that mothers are the ones who lost up to six months of their sleep in the first two years of their children's lives, while fathers slept happily."

For a mother, having a baby can be the start of a lifelong problem with sleep, says Fess.

"They get used to very light and shallow sleep, and they never overcome it," he says.

To prevent this, it is recommended to split the night shifts.

It is important that every night is not divided between the two parties, but both the mother and the father should get a full night of sleep without disturbance, from time to time.

That way, long-term damage to sleep patterns is relatively unlikely.

Think in advance

"In the first year of motherhood and parenting, of course you sleep a little, and this sleep is bad because of stress," said Ulrike von Haldenwang of the German Association of Midwives (DHV).

But some can tolerate it more than others.

"It is best to think in advance about how you will deal with that," she advises.

Researcher: "For the mother, the birth of a child can be the beginning of a life-long problem with sleep."

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