If you’re always constantly getting the 3pm yawns, it might have something to do with those small humans you’re raising – and the way they meddle with your sleeping patterns.
A new study by the University of Queensland has confirmed that mums, on average, sleep significantly less than non-parents and dads alike.
The study, published Australian Institute of Family Studies journal Family Matters, found that mothers miss out on more than five hours of sleep a week, compared with childfree women.
“The presence of young children in the household is associated with reduced sleep, and more so for women than men,” researcher Stefanie Plage, from UQ's School of Social Science, said.
The figures show that men and women without kids sleep 50 hours a week on average, compared with 48.6 hours for parents of one child and 46.2 hours a week for those with three children.
But parents don't share that sleep deprivation equally. While men with three kids sleep 48.2 hours a week, mothers of three get just 44.5 hours a week.
(If you're already a mother, this news may come as no surprise. If you're not... well, relish your Sunday morning sleep-ins now, because you won't see so many of them once you have a child whose idea of a good time is waking up with the sunrise.)
The parents of – you guessed it – very young children suffer the most when it comes to sleep deprivation.
"Having babies of less than one year of age reduces parental sleep (especially maternal sleep) the most," Plage said.