P044 “Get some sleep before baby”: Discourses of sleep and pregnancy in the media

Abstract

Background Physiological and psychosocial changes during pregnancy are often associated with altered sleep. Beliefs and expectations about sleep at this life-stage inform social discourses and help-seeking, in turn influencing women’s health and wellbeing. An understanding of discourses concerning sleep and pregnancy is required. Analysis of sleep-related messaging within mainstream media contributes to this understanding. Method Texts from New Zealand’s primary free online news source “Stuff” were identified using key words “sleep AND pregnancy” or “sleep AND pregnant” between December 2018 and December 2021. Forty-three relevant articles were collated. A critical discourse analysis was used to describe and interpret the texts in relation to discursive practices and wider social explanations. Findings Discursive constructions included: ‘banking’ sleep before baby; sleep’s role in ‘being the perfect mother’ (including ways to reduce risk of infant death through sleep practices); the inevitability that sleep will fail amongst the busy lifestyle of parenthood. Pregnant women were presented as responsible for good sleep yet not provided the knowledge of how to achieve it. Furthermore, pregnant women’s sleep situations were used to illustrate ‘desperate times’ associated with poor living or working situations. Conclusions Social discourses of sleep and pregnancy within mainstream media were sensationalised including tensions between discouraging ‘harmful’ sleep practices whilst also asserting that poor sleep is inevitable due to physiological changes and the negotiation of sleep with others, which would only worsen after birth. Findings will inform future research in the field of sleep as a social concept and practice among people during pregnancy.