Pass the coffee - stat
If you’ve got a little one in the family, then we have a feeling you’re no stranger to sleepless nights. While some parents may have a baby who sleeps the moment bedtime hits (hands up, anyone?), others will spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get their children to sleep at the cost of their own.
Just in case you wanted to tot up exactly how much sleep you may have lost (because obviously, you have time for that) Lost Sleep Calculator has been launched to break down how much sleep parents actually lose based on how old their child is.
How does it work?
Hillarys has put together an interactive calculator that figures out how many hours of sleep deprivation parents suffer from, as well as how many nappies they’ve changed, bedtime stories have been read and lullabies have been sung. All you need to do is put your child’s exact age into the tool and based on extensive research they’ve conducted, Hillarys will give out (slightly depressing) information.
How much sleep are you missing out on?
If your child is exactly one years old then according to the app you’ve lost 1,836 hours of sleep - which breaks down to 77 days. That’s more than three months worth of sleep. It’s also 42 bedtime stories, 1,440 lullabies and 3,360 changed nappies.
The calculator also allows you to add multiple children to the calculator, as well as provides funny research on the bizarre antics sleep-deprived parents get up to. Apparently, one in four parents have accidentally put their mobile phone into the fridge while 1 in 5 have poured breast milk into their morning coffee - not the whole milk they were actually expecting...
Tanya Irons, the spokesperson for Hillarys, said of the calculator, 'Some parents are fortunate enough to have a child that sleeps straight through – it’s the dream for all parents – but for many this just isn’t the case. Bedtime can be a tricky time as many children don’t want to go to bed and will spend ages putting off sleeping, only to then wake up numerous times per night...No matter whether you’ve lost months or years of sleep though, I’m sure everyone will agree that they are worth it.'
