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.