Authors
Shannon Hughes Spence, Aileen Leech, Hannah Goss, Siobhán O'Connor, Sinéad Smyth, Anna Donnla O'Hagan
Published in
PloS one. Volume 21. Issue 10. Pages e0347558. Epub Oct 27, 2026.
Abstract
Sleep loss is a common experience amongst first-time parents and can result in postpartum fatigue. There is a lack of research on first-time parents' lived experiences of sleep and sleep loss, and its associated effects on mental health, parental relationships, and overall wellbeing as new parents. We examined first-time parents' perceptions, experiences and attitudes to sleep loss, tiredness and wellbeing during the first six months postpartum in Ireland.
One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen first-time parents (female n = 10, male n = 4) from October to December 2025. The interviews took place online. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Four themes were identified: 1) the gendered experience of sleep as a new parent, 2) (in)ability to sleep, 3) postpartum wellbeing struggles and 4) resilience and adapting. These themes highlighted how first-time parents navigate their sleep in their new role as a mother or father, their difficulty getting adequate sleep, complex wellbeing struggles as a result of sleep loss, and the discovery of new ways to function when dealing with sleep loss in the postpartum period.
These findings highlight the need for healthcare professionals to recognise postpartum sleep loss as both a physiological and psychological experience, and to incorporate holistic, routine discussions of sleep into postnatal care.
PMID:
42945339
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Oct 2026.
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