A long time ago, a reader commented on one of our blog posts about the moon affecting her baby’s sleep. I thought this would make for an interesting article to research! There was a full moon just a few nights ago, and lo and behold both my sons woke up at night. You all know that one kid waking up is bad, but both, especially at different times, is downright brutal! (Bowing down to those of you with multiples right now!)
My youngest started crying at about midnight. I went in, cuddled him for a couple of minutes, and put him back down with his crib music on and left. No more peeps out of him!
Flash forward to about three in the morning, and to me almost back to sleep. My other son came running into my room saying he had a bad dream (See our series on nightmares and night terrors here). After I gave him a few minutes of cuddles, I took him back to his bed. He called out for me a little later to turn his fan on. Interestingly enough, I had also turned on my youngest’s ceiling fan a few hours earlier, too. I thought they were both hot (I was too)! But then, I remembered I wanted to do an article about the moon’s effect on our sleep – if there was any! So that night, at about 4 am, I looked it up, and what do you know? It was a full moon that night!
So, does the moon affect our baby’s sleep?
Mostly what I found was that the moon affecting human behavior and sleep, in general, is not proven and generally accepted as untrue among scientists.
In theory, the full moon affecting humans could be true – as it does have an effect on the oceans/tides. After all, the human body is made up of 60% water! However, the amount of water in the oceans is so much greater than our “tiny” human bodies. The water in the ocean is considered “unbounded”, and it’s also been said that a mosquito on our arm would have more of an effect than the moon.
It’s also been said that the term “lunatic” comes from our history that at one time we did believe the moon was to blame for strange behavior, but this has remained unproven by numerous scientific studies. I’m inspired to track my sons’ sleep for the next month and see what happens during the next full moon! For tonight, I’ll stick to reading Goodnight Moon to my boys.
I have subscribed to a website about the full moon where they send you an email reminding you it’s coming. They posted an article about the connection (or lack thereof) between sleep and the moon, here: Full Moon Info Website.
A Study May Prove The Moon Impacts Sleep
Research finally caught up and there is now some evidence the moon impacts sleep, especially for children. However, other studies are showing no link. I think we know who’s right!
