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Journalism of Courage
Taking care of newborns can result in sleepless nights for new parents. A new study has, however, found that having a baby can actually disrupt their sleep quality for up to six years.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Warwick in the UK, who studied the sleep quality in 4,659 parents who had a child between 2008 and 2015.
As per the study, mothers slept on average one hour less in the first three months after the baby’s birth, than they did before pregnancy. The sleep duration for fathers, on the other hand, decreased by approximately 15 minutes.
“Women tend to experience more sleep disruption than men after the birth of a child reflecting that mothers are still more often in the role of the primary caregiver than fathers,” Sakari Lemola, from the University of Warwick, was quoted as saying by PTI.
When children were four to six years old, sleep duration was still about 20 minutes shorter in mothers and 15 minutes shorter in fathers, compared to that before pregnancy, the study revealed.
“While having children is a major source of joy for most parents it is possible that increased demands and responsibilities associated with the role as a parent lead to shorter sleep and decreased sleep quality even up to six years after birth of the first child,” Lemola said.
