Do you find yourself doing the night feeds and seeing to your baby when they call?
Parenting on Female First
And you find that your partner is sound asleep as usual?
It seems dads are telling a few pokies and are actually pretending to be asleep!
More than half of dads pretend to be asleep to avoid getting up in the night with their kids, a study revealed yesterday.
Millions of dads admit to lying still and keeping their eyes closed when their child calls out in the night, so that their other half gets up instead.
The excuses are at the ready if any questions are asked as three in ten use the excuse of having work the next day to avoid having to get up while another 24% claim it's not their turn.
It also emerged that dads are most likely to fake sleep when it comes to night feeds, a child having a nightmare, teething problems, a lost dummy or because they've wet the bed.
Top five reasons men pretend to be asleep:
- I know/knew my partner my get up instead
- I just couldn't be bothered to get up
- I was too tired
- I didn't want to deal with the thing my child was complaining about
- I usually get up so thought it was my partner's turn
Top five excuses men give to get their partner to get up instead
- I've got work tomorrow
- I did it last time
- They are calling for you, not me
- I just pretend to be asleep
- You're better at dealing with it than I am
Top ten reasons for a child waking dads are most likely to pretend to sleep for:
- Night feeds
- Nightmares
- Teething
- Lost dummy
- Wetting the bed
- Just because they can't sleep
- Kicking their quilt off
- Falling out of bed
- Needing the toilet
- Being too hot/cold
Emma Kenny, child psychologist and spokesperson for DryNites® who commissioned the research, said: "Deciding who gets up in the night can often be the cause of arguments between parents from the moment their baby is born, right through to pre-school age when they are dealing with nightmares and wet beds.
"It's important that both mums and dads share the responsibility if their child wakes up in the middle of the night.
"The good news is that parents can often manage the causes of sleepless nights by being aware of the support and products available to ensure their kids sleep through."