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Abstract

Objectives: Quality of sleep is an important indicator of health. Sleep disturbance and daytime fatigue is one of the most common problems in the postpartum period. Early postpartum (first 4 weeks) is when sleep is most disturbed. The gut microbiota may affect sleep quality and affect host health through the production of metabolites and compounds. This study aimed to determine the effect of oral probiotic capsule on the quality of sleep after delivery in primiparous women. Method: This triple-blind randomised controlled trial study was conducted in August to November 2023 with eligible primiparous women who gave birth at Health Centers No. 2 and 3, Mashhad, Iran. The participants were randomly and equally divided into two groups: (1) the probiotic group, which received probiotic capsules (containing Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, B. lactis and B. longum) and (2) the placebo group, which received placebo capsules. All participants received one capsule daily from the third day after delivery for 30 days. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire was completed before and after the study. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests, T-test and Mann-Whitney test were used for statistical analysis. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 60 women were included in this study (n = 30 for each group). The two groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic and obstetric characteristics except for body mass index. Before the intervention, the overall score of postpartum quality of sleep in the probiotic and placebo groups was 9.66 ± 6.21 and 11.70 ± 6.68, respectively; after the intervention, the probiotic group had a score of 6.16 ± 2.75 with the score difference of -3.50 ± 5.53 and the placebo group a score of 6.60 ± 2.66 with the score difference of -5.10 ± 6.31 with a statistically significant difference in the intervention group compared to the placebo (P = 0.003). Conclusion: Consumption of probiotic capsules improves the quality of sleep and maternal health in the postpartum period.

Article Type

Original Study

Publication Date

10-12-2026

First Page

529

Last Page

537

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

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