No worries: intelligent babies sleep less and wake up more often

I don't have children myself, but in recent years there has been a real baby boom in my circle of friends. Of course, that's really nice, and they are all cuties, but it's easy for me to say. I can cuddle with them and then go home very relaxed where I lie down in my bed and then get woken up the next morning by my alarm clock. No crying baby to disturb that. Unfortunately, that's quite different for many parents, where sleepless nights are more the rule than the exception. If you are one of them, then I have a (meager) consolation for you.

Meager consolation because right now you have very little to gain from it, BUT you might benefit from it in the future. Your baby could be a genius. Yes, the cutest, sweetest, most fun is he of course already, but if he sleeps little or wakes up a lot, he might also be the smartest. Because it has been researched that babies who wake up a lot, or pull all-nighters, are often a lot more intelligent than Sleeping Beauties who sleep for nights on end.

The man behind this reasoning is child psychologist Peter Fleming. He links frequent waking or inability to sleep to ‘exceptional development and intelligence’. Well, doesn't that sound good? Okay, you have bags under your eyes down to your knees, but you do have the new Einstein to take care of.

By the way, a child psychologist named Navarez also had something to say about it. When your baby can't sleep, according to her, it's wise to keep your baby as close to you as possible. This way, babies ultimately increase their empathetic ability, develop a good conscience, and are less likely to have a predisposition to depression.

Well, there you have it. You have sleepless nights because your baby is busy trying to grasp the theory of relativity and solve physical problems. There's a good chance it will become the next prime minister if the sleeplessness continues. Just one more night of staying up then?  It's for a good cause.