Mother-infant sleep is surprisingly complex, yet practitioners issue advice that does not consider these complexities. When infants do not sleep, they often cry, which is stressful for mothers and can lead to depression. Simply telling mothers to supplement or avoid nighttime breastfeeding increases mothers’ fatigue and can harm their mental health. Infant sleep is influenced by their sex, temperament, and gestational age. Mothers’ depression, anxiety, or PTSD during pregnancy also influences their infants’ sleep. However, exclusive breastfeeding ameliorates many of these difficulties because it downregulates the hyperactive stress response. It also protects mothers’ mental health because it leads to better sleep. This presentation also offers suggestions for how to help mothers with extreme fatigue.
Kathleen Kendall-Tackett
Dr Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist and International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, and the director of Praeclarus Press, a small press specializing in women's health. For the past 10 years, Dr Kendall-Tackett has been editor-in-chief of Psychological Trauma. She is fellow of the American Psychological Association in Health and Trauma Psychology and past president of the APA Division of Trauma Psychology. Dr Kendall-Tackett specializes in women's-health research including breastfeeding, depression, trauma, and health psychology, and has won many awards for her work including the 2019 President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Trauma Psychology from the American Psychological Association, and is a member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society.
Dr. Kendall-Tackett has authored more than 500 articles or chapters and is author or editor of 42 books. Her most recent books include Breastfeeding Doesn’t Need to Suck (2022), Women’s Mental Health Across the Lifespan (2017), and most recently, Depression in New Mothers, 4th Ed - Vols I & II (2023, 2024).
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