Expert says it's actually a good thing that your baby won't sleep through night

31 December 2023 , 17:00

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New research says babies who don't sleep through the night are more intelligent (Image: Getty Images)

There is nothing like the joy of being a new parent but you can kiss sleeping through night goodbye as your newborn won't be.

However, research by scientists has shown it's probably a good thing that your baby is keeping you up through the night and staying up themselves. A University of Bristol study previously discovered that your sleep-deprived state could be an indication of your baby's intelligence.

The research suggests that babies who don't sleep all night long are potentially smarter than those who love snoozing. Professor Peter Fleming, who works on infant health and developmental psychology at Bristol University, spoke about the research in an interview with Buzzfeed.

He said the research shows that levels of intellectual achievement and not sleeping through the night could be tied. The professor acknowledged that this is probably something parents didn't want to hear but added that there is no evidence to suggest the benefit of babies sleeping longer and more consistently.

He said: "Human infants are not designed to sleep for long periods," he explained. "It's not good for them and there is no evidence whatsoever that there is my benefit to anybody from having a child that sleeps longer and consistently. That's not perhaps what most parents would like to hear."

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He also said that babies who struggled to sleep would most likely want to stay awake from the evening around 6pm until midnight. He continued: "Biologically that's a big advantage because they will have more attention from their two primary caregivers at that time of day than at any other because there are fewer distractions.

The professor claims that even adults aren’t sleeping through the entire night without waking up and that this is very normal, he also claims that adults forget they wake up routinely. He adds that waking up in the night is something hunter-gatherers would have been used to and that it's only our 21st century lifestyles that have convinced us we should be awake and asleep in long bursts.

He adds: "From a biological point of view what the baby is doing is completely normal and sensible. It just doesn't fit in with our 21st-century expectations."

Mariam Khan