The first months with a newborn at home are usually very heavy for the whole family, as it is common for sleeping hours to be reduced by dedicating to the care of the baby, who wakes up every certain hours to be fed and changed.
One study found that There is a way to improve the baby's sleeping habits and it is simply that parents divide their care and parenting responsibilities.
To carry out the study, 57 families participated, who were invited since pregnancy. Once the babies were born, baby and mother's sleep was analyzed, through actigraphy, which consists of placing a small sensor on the arm to measure rest and sleep diaries for five nights.
Both parents were also asked to answer a questionnaire comparing how much fathers were involved in relation to mothers, when it comes to baby care.
The results of these studies showed that the percentage of sleep that mothers had when their babies were 3 months, could significantly predict the percentage of sleep that babies would have at 6 months.
It was also found that the more involved the father was in the care of the baby during the day and night at 3 months, both mother and baby would have more stable sleep patterns at 6 months.
According to the researchers' conclusions, these results suggest that maternal sleep works as an important reference to know how much the baby will sleep, so it makes sense that the more dad gets involved, there is more rest for mom and therefore the baby will sleep better.
An earlier study published in 2011 obtained similar results, in which it was found that the more involved the father is in the care of the baby during the first six months of life, babies got up less during the night.
Remember that when dad gets involved in parentingThere are benefits for everyone: babies learn faster and mothers feel happier.
