New parents lose up to 44 days of sleep during the first year, says study

I'm surprised it's only 44.

If there's one thing you notice a lack of as a new parent it's sleep. You'll always have people tell you to sleep when the baby sleeps but that doesn't quite work out when you need to eat while the baby sleeps or take a shower while the baby sleeps. A recent study revealed that as new parents we lose approximately 44 days of sleep in our baby's first year and honestly I can believe it. A study taken of new parents in the United Kingdom found parents lose around 44 days of sleep during the first year of a baby’s life as they only get 5.1 hours of shut-eye during the average night. I can say from experience that there were nights as a new parent that I got even less than five hours of sleep so I would be interested to see an Irish version of this study. It would also be interesting to know if one parent gets more sleep than the other, which lets face it, happens. Sleep deprivation is extremely common among new parents but it is a little shocking to think that it can amount to over a month of lost sleep in our child's first year. My advice is that if you know any new parents give them a dig out. Offer to watch their baby for a few hours so they can grab some shut eye. They will be eternally grateful.