The effect of lavender on mothers sleep quality in the postpartum period: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Abstract Poor sleep quality in the postpartum period can have various negative effects on the health of mothers and infants such as anxiety, depression, low breastfeeding self-efficacy and disrupted child-mother attachment. Accordingly, intervention seems necessary to improve sleep quality. Given the probable effect of lavender on sleep problems, the present research intended to determine its effects on mothers’ sleep quality during postpartum period. The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus databases and the Persian language databases (Magiran and SID) were searched for all the articles they included at the end of February 2021. The risk of bias of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane tool. The results of the meta-analysis were reported as the standardized mean difference (SMD). Heterogeneity of the studies was investigated using the I-squared test (I2). Three out of the 292 obtained studies entered the meta-analysis. The results indicated that sleep quality in the group receiving lavender improved compared to the control group, (SMD = −0.61; 95% CI: −1.07 to −015 p = 0.01) whereas the heterogeneity was higher. (I2 = 75%; Tau2 = 012; Chi2 = 7.905, p = 0.02). According to the results of this systematic review, use of lavender can improve postpartum maternal sleep quality. However, further randomized controlled trials using identical methodology, larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods are needed.