Exhausted parents sleep separately for a year after baby arrives, suggests survey

Almost a quarter of women said they had resorted to over-the-counter sleeping pills while 14 per cent said they were still relying on these 18 months after the baby was born.

Ali Blackwell-Cook, the director of the Baby Show, which conducted the survey of 2,000 UK parents, said: "This study has shown that a lack of sleep can have a detrimental affect on your happiness and wellbeing."

Half the parents surveyed said missing out on sleep after having a baby had affected their energy levels, more than a third said lack of sleep had an impact on their relationship.

More than one in ten women said tiredness had taken its toll on their weight and their appearance while 2 per cent of those questioned said lack of sleep had affected their ability to concentrate.

However it appears fathers are helping to take the pressure off new mothers by helping out with night feeds - with three out of five men saying they were in sole charge of looking after their baby during the night.

One in three couples of newborn babies said mother and father took it in turns to get up and feed and comfort their baby during the night.

A spokesman from NCT, formerly the National Childbirth Trust, the UK's largest parents' charity, said: "Going without sleep or having your sleep disrupted can be physically or emotionally draining.

"But sometimes babies just don't seem to want to sleep, despite everything you try. It's important to keep in mind that this period of sleep disruption - however difficult, stressful and tiring - won't last forever.

"If you have disturbed nights, getting through the day can be more difficult. See if you can arrange times when you can catch up on sleep during the day. Give yourself permission to leave non-essential jobs undone and to take extra care of yourself in the daytime with nourishing food, gentle exercise and as much rest as possible."

Sleep specialist Jo Tantum said there was plenty parents could do to maximise the amount of sleep they were getting. "Babies and toddlers relish routine and ritual so ensure that they have a bed time routine which they can adapt to.

"Also treat every hour between 7pm and 7am as night-time, which means dark and quiet with no talking, games or activities. Baby will soon understand the difference between night-time and daytime."

Warnings about letting babies sleep in the same bed as parents have been heeded, with more than half of parents saying they never let their baby sleep in the same bed as them.

Only one in 12 mothers said they slept in the same bed as their newborn every night until they turned one.