Practical recommendation
With the pandemic still active as we go from lockdown to lockdown, the first implication for clinical practice is the importance of maintaining contact with pregnant women, especially those in suburban areas. New ways must be found to maintain this supportive contact. The postponement or cancellation of consultations deemed non-essential by midwives has limited the support available to women during lockdown.10,32 Remote video consultation is an innovative approach that has already shown its effectiveness in reducing antenatal distress and pregnancy-related anxiety; it also raises questions in terms of accessibility and literacy.33 A second implication for clinical practice is that professionals should be especially observant of women’s sleep disorders. A Finnish study showed that although the lockdown was not associated with total sleep time, daily rhythms changed, and pregnant women overall fell asleep later and woke up later.34 Another study found a correlation between COVID-related stress and sleep disturbances.35Although sleep disorders are common during pregnancy, they must never be considered insignificant. They constantly affect women’s well-being and quality of life.36,37 Sleep psychoeducation is another approach to helping these women.38
Finally, we can suggest that might be useful for health-care workers to communicate clearly and visibly with women about the impact of the pandemic on pregnancy to counterbalance the negative effect of the media.