A research team at Dublin City University (DCU) who are conducting a research study titled ‘Restful Nights, Happy Days’,  looking at first-time parents experiences of sleep.

Sleep loss and postpartum fatigue are regarded as some of the most prevalent challenges during the transition into parenthood. They are associated with an overwhelming sense of tiredness as well as reductions in both physical and mental capacity. Depression, anxiety, stress, poor mood as well as less effective parenting behaviours are strongly linked with the severity of postpartum fatigue and sleep loss.

Despite this, sleep health is so often overlooked in postpartum care – our study hopes to change this! Through interviews with parents, we will develop a parent-informed sleep-education programme, based on the lived experiences of parents.

We are currently recruiting interested parents for one-to-one online interviews to learn about their experiences, attitudes and perceptions of sleep, fatigue and wellbeing.