How much sleep parents lose in the first year

First published on Monday 1 August 2016 Last modified on Friday 18 December 2020

We all know that having a baby means waving goodbye to eight hours' sleep a night - and as for long lie-ins at the weekend, well you can forget all about those too.

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Lack of sleep is a huge part of life as a new parent - but do you know how much we actually lose out on in the first year of baby's life? It's enough to make you put the kettle on. Coffee anyone?

As your bump grows, friends and family (and even complete strangers) can't help saying things like:

"Make the most of all the sleep you can get now. You won't be getting much once the baby arrives ..."

Sadly, they're right.

Before you have a baby, you can never actually know what it's like to go through sleep deprivation and broken nights. Sure, you might have chucked an all-nighter in your youth, but you probably made up for it by crashing out and sleeping for hours the next day.

And there will have been times in your life when you've not slept well, but then you've grabbed naps and had early nights to make up for it.

Then you have a baby and it's a whole new ball game!