Baby Won't Sleep - But Parents Won't Admit It!

Baby Won't Sleep - But Parents Won't Admit It!

PA

A survey has found that mums and dads are not altogether truthful about how much sleep their babies get each night.

It found that a third of worn-out parents will lie about the length of time their little one sleeps for just so they do not look like bad parents.

And three in five will also stretch the truth about how well they are coping with parenthood and how young their baby was when they first snoozed all the way through the night.

The online survey asked around 11,000 parents for their experiences and found that 45.8 per cent of mums and dads said that their child never wakes in the night, while 11.1 per cent said they got up to see to their little ones three or more times.

And despite being tired out, 61.7 per cent admitted will lie about how they are managing with sleep deprivation, rather than 'fess up to being knackered.

The survey, conducted by Netmums, also found that 38 per cent of families adopted a set routine to try and get their kids off to sleep, while one in five have resorted to driving their babies around in the car to encourage them to nod off.

Commenting on the findings, health visitor Maggie Fisher said: "Without adequate sleep, parents can feel they are struggling to cope, be at risk of depression or see their relationship suffer.

This research shows there is no 'one size fits all' solution to children's sleep. Different approaches work for different families and even different children within the same family."

Does this all sound familiar? Had you ever stretched the truth about your kids' sleeping habits? Or resorted to long drives to send them off?

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