EXHAUSTED mothers and fathers are lying about their child's sleeping habits due to pressure to be seen as a perfect parent, a survey claims.
It reveals less than half of parents (45.8%) say their child never wakes in the night, with around one in 10 (11.1%) getting up three or more times.
Parenting website Netmums, which questioned almost 11,000 parents, said the findings showed the pressure to be a perfect parent is so great, that around one-third of parents admit lying about their youngster's sleep habits.
This includes lying about the time their child goes to bed or wakes up, when their youngster first slept through the night and how well their son or daughter sleeps.
A further three-fifths (61.7%) have lied about how well they are coping with sleep deprivation, the survey says.
It reveals one-third of parents (36%) say their baby did not sleep through the night by the time they were one-year-old, with only one in four (25.7%) saying their baby slept through by the time they were three months old.
One in five parents have resorted to driving a youngster around in a car to get them to nod off, Netmums claimed.
The website also revealed the dangers of sleep deprivation for new parents. Mums and dads reported incidents such as starting kitchen fires by putting sterilising equipment on the hob because they were over tired, while others said they had collapsed and been hospitalised.
Netmums health visitor Maggie Fisher said: "Sleep is key to health – for both parents and children. Without adequate sleep, parents can feel they are struggling to cope, be at risk of depression or see their relationship suffer.
"This research shows there is no 'one size fits all' solution to children's sleep."
The online poll questioned 10,766 UK parents to mark the start of National Child Sleep Week.
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