Abstract
In 2001 it was discovered that exposing the eyes to light in the blue end of the visible spectrum suppresses the production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. New mothers need to get up during the night to care for their babies. This is the time when melatonin is normally flowing. Exposing their eyes to light can cut off the flow. It may also reset their circadian (internal) clock. On subsequent nights the melatonin may not begin flowing at the normal time making it difficult to fall asleep. Over time, disruption of the circadian rhythm plus sleep deprivation may result in depression. Women suffering postpartum depression were enrolled in a small clinical trial. Some were provided with glasses and light bulbs that block blue light. Others were equipped with glasses and light bulbs that looked colored but did not block the rays causing melatonin suppression. Those with the "real glasses" recovered somewhat more quickly than those with the placebo glasses and light bulbs. The hypothesis that should be tested in large scale clinical trials is that the risk of postpartum depression can be reduced when a new mother avoids exposing her eyes to blue light when she gets up at night to care for her baby. In the meantime, all new mothers may benefit from using glasses and light bulbs that block blue light when getting up at night to care for their babies.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19329259/
New mothers
There is nothing as peaceful as a baby sleeping soundly and safely. And the better, safer and longer the baby sleeps, the greater the chance that the new mother can also get the sleep she needs. As with all other people, it is the sleep hormone melatonin that plays a decisive role in the sleep quality of the baby's mother and the baby.
Description
When the baby's mother gets up at night to change or nurse her baby, she turns on a light to see. What she doesn't think about is that artificial lighting inhibits melatonin production. This means that she may have problems falling asleep when she needs to continue sleeping.
If this pattern is repeated more than once during the night, it can stop melatonin production altogether. The following evening, the mother finds it difficult to sleep because the secretion of melatonin has been disturbed and does not occur at the normal time.
Just as melatonin production in the baby's mother regulates her sleep, the same melatonin production helps regulate the baby's sleep quality, as melatonin is also present in breast milk. The amount of melatonin in breast milk varies during the day and night in line with the amount of melatonin in the mother's blood.
It is a fact that the pineal gland only produces melatonin when you are surrounded by darkness. Before the introduction of electric lighting, people were surrounded by darkness for an average of 12 hours a day. Nowadays, most of us are lucky if we are surrounded by darkness for 7-8 hours a day. For a baby's mother, melatonin production can easily drop to 4-5 hours a day. This means that the period of time in which the blood contains melatonin is short.
Melatonin levels in babies level off around the third month after birth, with the highest levels measured between midnight and 8 a.m.
It is recognised that, by blocking the blue light in the light spectrum, you can continue to produce melatonin, even if you are surrounded by bright light.
New mothers and sleep glasses
By wearing sleep glasses, which precisely filter out all the blue light, the baby's mother can cuddle and nurse the baby without disturbing her production of melatonin. This will make it easier for her to fall asleep again afterwards - and keep her circadian rhythm intact.
Sleep glasses can make both babies, their mothers - and their fathers - sleep better. With the help of sleep glasses, the breastfeeding mother can ensure that she is giving milk with a high content of melatonin to her baby. In this way, via the melatonin from the mother's milk, the baby is helped to fall asleep more easily and sleep well at night.
The baby's mother should ensure that the time her body produces melatonin lasts approximately 9-10 hours a day. She does this by wearing sleep glasses for 1-2 hours before bed and stays in the dark during sleep, so she can achieve a total of melatonin production in the normal 9-10-hours range. It is important that she is not exposed to white light during the night when she is changing or nursing her baby. In those cases, she can simply put the sleep glasses back on or use night lighting, which does not emit the blue light in the light spectrum.
Research regarding new mothers
Use of modified spectacles and light bulbs to block blue light at night may prevent postpartum depression
Med Hypotheses. 2009 Aug;73(2):251-3. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.01.049. Epub 2009 Mar 28.Shoshana Bennett, Martin Alpert, Vilnis Kubulins, Richard L HanslerPMID: 19329259 / DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.01.049
New mothers have to get up at night to care for their babies. This is the time when the production of melatonin is at its peak. If the mothers expose...
Use of modified spectacles and light bulbs to block blue light at night may prevent postpartum depression
New mothers have to get up at night to care for their babies. This is the time when the production of melatonin is at its peak. If the mothers expose their eyes to light, they can interrupt the production of melatonin. This can also reset their internal clock and thus the circadian rhythm. During the experiment, some of the mothers used sleep glasses and sleep lamps. The control group avoided coloured glasses and lamps that did not suppress melatonin production. The mothers with sleep glasses and sleep lamps fell back asleep faster than the control group. The hypothesis is that the risk of postpartum depression can be reduced when a new mother avoids exposing her eyes to blue light when she gets up at night to care for her baby. This hypothesis should be investigated by further experiments. In the meantime, all new mothers can benefit from using blue light-blocking sleep glasses and bulbs when they get up at night to care for their babies.
Use of modified spectacles and light bulbs to block blue light at night may prevent postpartum depression
Med Hypotheses. 2009 Aug;73(2):251-3. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.01.049. Epub 2009 Mar 28.
PMID: 19329259 / DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.01.049