Affiliate Disclaimer
Some links in this article are affiliate links. We may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we find useful to our readers
Parenthood is a roller coaster. None of it is easy and while it has its highs, it has its lows as well. If you have been complaining about the possibility regarding lack of sleep, it is most likely that your sleep quality has been completely destroyed.
A new study (R) conducted by the researchers from the University of Warwick has found reports that the birth of a child does have a number of short-term impacts on the new mother’s overall sleep cycle. The impacts are not just restricted to a mother’s sleep but does impact a father’s sleep cycle too, believing it to extend on till the age of 6.
While the initial reports do suggest the impacts to impact in the first three months since birth, the lack of proper sleep and satisfaction has been found to have impacts up to six years after giving birth.
This new conducted study conducted by the researchers of the University of Warwick does show that following the birth of the first child and even till they are 6 years of age, both the mother as well as the father has been found to have labored sleep duration and sleep satisfaction do not recover completely.
While conducting the study, the parents were asked to report around their sleep during the yearly interviews. The parents reported that during the first 3 months, the mother had a reduced sleep by an hour in comparison to what it was before pregnancy while for the father, the was reduced by 15 minutes.
Dr Sakari Lemola, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick stated saying that the mothers tend to experience lack of sleep more in comparison to the fathers, predominantly because of the fact that the mothers are the primary caregiver for the babies during the initial days and months after birth.
While the drastic changes were predominantly during the initial months, the same was also found to extend on till the child reached the 6 years of age. Even during the 4-6 years of age, the mothers still experience 20 minutes of lesser sleep while the fathers experienced 15 minutes of lesser sleep in comparison to what it was before the pregnancy.
These kinds of impacts were predominantly more in the first time parents in comparison to the experienced parents. The sleep effects till the first half of the year after birth was seen to be more prominent in the breastfeeding mothers in comparison to the bottle feeding ones.
Even the possibilities and inclusion of higher household income and the psychosocial factors like that of prospects of single parenting were found to have no possible impacts in the changes in the sleep quality and satisfaction post childbirth.
