(Rachel DeSantis/ People) —Sweet dreams, new parents — if you can.
A new study claims that first-time moms’ and dads’ sleep schedules will take up to six years to return to normal following the birth of their child.
The study was published Mondaythis link opens in a new tab and comes from researchers at the University of Warwick, who tracked the sleep patterns of 4,659 parents who had a child between 2008 and 2015.
Research found that in the first three months after giving birth, mothers slept an average of one hour less than they did before they welcomed their newborn, while fathers lost 15 minutes of sleep on average.
But even four to six years later, mothers were still averaging 20 minutes less sleep than their pre-parent days. Fathers’ sleep duration, meanwhile, stayed the same at just 15 minutes less, according to the study. (…)