Sleep and Mood Among Women With Histories of Depression When They Used a Responsive Infant Bassinet During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

ObjectiveTo describe the experiences of women with histories of depression who used a responsive infant bassinet during the first 6 months after birth during the COVID-19 pandemic. DesignSecondary qualitative descriptive study with analytic expansion. SettingUnited States. ParticipantsWomen (N = 139) who gave birth up to 6 months previously and had histories of depression. MethodsWe used Kyngäs’s method of inductive content analysis to analyze 109 open-ended responses that were collected between August 2020 to November 2021 as part of a previously conducted longitudinal study of women who used a responsive bassinet. ResultsMost participants indicated that the responsive bassinet improved their infants’ sleep, which, in turn, subjectively improved their sleep and mood. External stressors and challenges presented barriers to good sleep for the participants and their infants, and participants described how these challenges contributed to their symptoms related to mood. When participants reported that they used the responsive bassinet, they shared that their infants were swaddled in the supine sleep position. Participants who did not use the bassinet commonly reported unsafe sleep practices. We identified seven themes from the data: Improved Maternal Sleep Quality, Barriers to Good Maternal Sleep, Mood and Sleep Go Hand and Hand, External Stressors Impair Mood, Improved Infant Sleep Quality, Barriers to Good Infant Sleep, and Safe Sleep Positioning. ConclusionThese findings can be used to inform clinicians on how a responsive bassinet may offer women at high risk for postpartum depression improved sleep and instrumental support. Future researchers should use validated measures to objectively evaluate rates of postpartum depression and sleep quality in high-risk women when using a responsive bassinet.