How Having a Baby Changes You: Survey Results

When we were young and single, we were dying to stay up all night. Now that we’re parents, we’re dying if we stay up all night!

If there’s one thing for sure, having kids changes us. The recent Happiest Baby / BabyCenter survey (1000+ parents with babies under 6 months) sheds new light on what feelings and emotions change after becoming parents.

After becoming parents, we feel a greater increase in love (86%) than we do any other feeling. Joy and awe are in close contest for second, with 71% and 70% of parents experiencing more than they did in their pre-baby lives. And, here’s a cool tidbit: as your little bundle grows each month, joy does too!

But parenting isn’t all smiles and giggles. When asked about upsetting feelings, 47% reported feeling more anxious and 42% more frustrated than before they have a baby to raise. And when exhausted, bad turns to worse. The graph below shows that the most sleep-deprived parents are definitely more anxious, irritable and sad. And the real punch in the gut? Sleep-deprivation harms relationships. Parents who get less than 5 hours sleep a night are 15% more likely to feel distance from their spouse than those who get 8 hours.  

Your baby’s first year is such a special time…and sleep really enhances it. Here’s the take home: Get back to 8 hours, and you’ll be rewarded with even more joy and deep fulfillment. 

So, the best thing you can do is prioritize sleep. YOLO, right?

Avvertenza: Le informazioni presenti sul nostro sito NON sono consigli medici per alcuna persona specifica o condizione. Sono solo intese come informazioni generali. Se avete domande o preoccupazioni mediche riguardo vostro figlio o voi stessi, si prega di contattare il vostro fornitore di assistenza sanitaria. Il latte materno è la migliore fonte di nutrizione per i neonati. È importante che, in preparazione e durante l'allattamento al seno, le madri seguano una dieta sana ed equilibrata. L'allattamento misto (seno e biberon) nelle prime settimane di vita può ridurre la produzione di latte materno e la decisione di non allattare al seno può essere difficile da invertire. Se decidete di utilizzare il latte artificiale per neonati, dovreste seguire attentamente le istruzioni.