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New study finds babies should wake at night

New research from Swansea University challenges the idea that babies should be sleeping through the night. The study led by the Department of Public Health, Policy and Social Sciences asked mothers with a baby aged 6 - 12 months how often their child woke in the night and whether they fed their baby when it did.

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Mothers give thoughts on baby sleep study

Credit: PA

New research from Swansea University that challenges the idea that babies should be sleeping through the night has caused a stir with mothers.

Here are some thoughts from mothers in Wales.

My son had his best sleep ever last night after having some puréed food at dinner time and porridge for breakfast. He's 4 months. He has never got past 4am before. This morning he woke at 5.50am. My other son slept right through from 6 weeks old. Both boys formula fed. All children are different.

– Liz McWilliams

My daughter never woke and didn't really cry during the day either. I always thought it was weird but put it down to her having every thing she needed on time.

– Janine Raybould

We all know babies are different. I had one who didn't sleep all night and one who never ever woke in the night, its just life!

– Taryn Williams

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New research finds babies should wake at night

New research from Swansea University challenges the idea that babies should be sleeping through the night.

715 mums were questioned in the study. Credit: Uli Deck/DPA/Press Association Images

The study led by the Department of Public Health, Policy and Social Sciences asked mothers with a baby aged 6 - 12 months how often their child woke in the night and whether they fed their baby when it did.

The findings firstly showed that more than three quarters of babies at this age still regularly woke at least once in the night with six out of ten having at least one milk feed during the night.

The study also showed that although mums who were breastfeeding tended to feed their baby more at night, there was no difference in the number of times babies woke up dependent on whether they were breast or formula fed, how many feeds they had in the day or how many solid meals they ate.

The findings are very interesting as they firstly challenge the idea that babies should be sleeping through the night once they are past a few weeks old and secondly that what you feed babies will help their sleep. There is a common belief that formula milk or giving more solid foods will help your baby sleep better and this study shows this isn’t true.

– Dr Amy Brown, MSc Child Public Health
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