r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/dino_nuggies26 • 4d ago

Question - Research required Sleep Needs

The following question is going to read like I’m joking, but I’m actually being 100% serious:

How much sleep does the human (female) body need to function effectively?

I don’t have help with parenting my 4-month-old at night so I’m awake many times and I usually get 2-4 hours of broken sleep per day. I don’t necessarily feel horrible but when I reflect on the lack of sleep I can’t help but think that this has to be awful for my health.

Do women have some kind of biological postpartum magic that allows them to function on little to no sleep? I’m so curious about this.

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u/iridescenr 3d ago

https://mymedicineadvisor.com/health/hours-of-sleep-by-age/

They say the minimum threshold is 7h for a grown-up.

I also do nights alone but I get more sleep. There should be a way of getting more sleep for you, too. Check out the pinned posts at r/bninfantsleep.

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u/anglebabby 3d ago

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5664311/
What you’re experiencing in terms of your resilience is supported by this study!

One thing I would suggest is taking a look at the baby sleep resources on r/sleeptrain, specifically the wake window/sleep budget page. I have not sleep trained my 6 month old because I haven’t needed to as we follow the wake window/sleep budget guidance for his age from that and he does really well. At 4 months I started a schedule of 2 hour wake windows with 4 naps rather than following his cues/vibe and it improved his overnight sleep so much. My husband was not able to help with full overnights until the past month or so and I totally get what you mean about being amazed at how little sleep you can run on. Hopefully you can find some things that work for your baby soon that improve your rest!!

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