Fathers are sleeping partners as mothers left tired

CHILDREN cost a mother a good night’s sleep, but make no difference to the slumber patterns of their father, say scientists.

Gender equality is yet to reach the bedroom, with research backing what many women with families already know – they are sleep deprived. Each child makes it almost 50 per cent more likely they will be going without – while fathers snooze on.

So mothers with two children will be roughly twice as likely not to be getting enough.

Unlike men, decent shut-eye is affected by having children in the house, which could be harming their health.

Dr Kelly Sullivan, of Georgia Southern University, in the US, said: “I think these findings may bolster those women who say they feel exhausted. Our study found not only are they not sleeping long enough, they also report feeling tired throughout the day.”

The study presented at an American Academy of Neurology meeting in Boston looked at data from a telephone survey of 5,805 Americans.