ABSTRACT
The common assumption is that sleep disorders after childbirth are normative for a period in which waking up from sleep is related to the baby and its care. The immediate environment reinforces this view, and therefore physicians receive very little information regarding sleep disorders following childbirth. The sleep disorders she experienced were the first indication of the anxiety and the depression, which developed subsequently. The clearest indication that mental problems were the source of her sleeping disorders was Tamar's inability to fall asleep during the day, when the baby slept. A number of anthropological studies on postpartum mental disorders find a connection between the way women are treated after childbirth in different cultures and the development of mental disorders. Postpartum psychosis occurs a few days after birth and is considered a dangerous disorder because of the high risk of suicide or of harm to the baby.
