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. Here is where you can find the remaining Full Moons for the current year.
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!
So, tell me, for my own informal research…
Kathy M Boice says
My Dad use to say if an infant had a hard time sleeping to place the head of their crib towards the moon. It works. I wonder how or why? I understand the “light of the moon” thinking, but is there other reasons?
Debbye says
Hi Emily,
I hope that your toddler is sleeping better now that the full moon is waning!
Emily says
I was wondering what was giong on this week when my son started to groan in his sleep at 4 a.m. and then woke up on the dot Wednesday and Thursday morning at 5:18 a.m. He fell asleep just fine, which is very normal for him, but the early morning wake up was awful. He was screaming and acting like he was scared, and at 14 mos old, it’s tough to tell what’s going on in his head! I subscribe to the idea that the moon does affect sleep for adults as well as kids, but especially kids.
Debbye says
Hi Rella,
Thank you for writing! I do think that with time your son should at least be better able to get himself back to sleep during these full moon tribulations, and also to be able to ahndle being overtired form a bad night or two. Often, just knowing what to expect can make thing easier. As you have said, now that you chalk it up to the moon cycle, you no longer need to stress about it. At least it is only once a month?! 🙂 Best wishes to you both!
Rella says
My son, who is now 3 yrs old, has had sleep issues that coincide with a full moon since he was born. I long ago chalked it up to the moon cycle and nothing else. It no longer causes me stress, I just keep an eye on the calendar and know to expect some disruption for 1-3 nights prior to and the night of the full moon.
Another full moon is due tomorrow and sure enough last night the drama began. He fell asleep at 8:30 p.m. easily enough but then woke only an hour or so later and was not able to fall back to sleep until almost 1 a.m.! Poor guy – he was SO frustrated at not being able to fall asleep, but it finally came due to utter exhaustion. I’ve tried melatonin (at the advice of our pediatrician) and have even given him some gravol on really bad nights, but nothing but the passing of the full moon seems to really help. Maybe one day he will outgrow/acclimatize to this?
Debbye says
@ Ann- Thank you for sharing! I hope that you and your doctor has solved the issue with the parasites?! How scary!
@ Sue- Thank you for sharing! I am sure that as time passes you will all get better at making it through these full moon tribulations! 🙂
Sue says
Just searching the web for some insight! My youngest daughter, now 11mths, has for at least the last 5mths, been really unsettled the night before the full moon. Only for the one night each time. I put the connection together about 3 mths ago, and I never monitor the full moon dates, however after an unsettled night, if I check the next day – guaranteed it’s a full moon that night. It’s bizarre! She was inconsolable Tuesday night, and was the full moon was last night. My eldest daughter is not affected at all. Here’s hoping to out growing the sensitivity she has!
ann says
It’s parasites! They reproduce at the full moon. My son has parasites and we have been fighting them for a while.
Debbye says
@ Kathy- I hope things have improved!? And I hope your 2 year old does not sleep better only one a month for the full moon! Ouch! We do hope to hear good news about both of your sleepers. 🙂
@ MP- Great reasoning! Yes, the extra light certainly could be upsetting some sensitive
sleepers around the full moon! Thanks for sharing!
@ Jill- Thank you for your great insight and for sharing the link! I hope things are improving with your little one. 🙂
@ Bron- Thank you for sharing your story!
Thank you all who commented!
While we may never truly know the reasons for our little ones’ sleep struggles, it is certainly more fun to “blame it on the moon!”
Bron says
A month ago I predicted to my father and husband that I reckoned my daughter, who is 3 1/2years, would probably have a night terror around the middle of January, when the full moon is. Tonight, January 12th, she had her 3rd noticble night terror, I say noticble because it was only 3 months ago that I actually realised that it was a terror and not a bad dream. She had woken once or twice recently before that. Day to day (or night to night) she is usually a very good sleeper and goes right through every night, but as I say, the last 5 months, about 2 days in of a full moon, she has had a night terror. I linked it to the full moon fairly quickly, as I remember an absent minded comment from my Health Visitor when my daughter was only a month old. We’d bought my daughter home from hospital after a few days being kept in for checks as she was born nearly 4 weeks early, (I think it was a full moon too) and she had her usual disruptive sleep/feed patterns as all babies do but nothing un-ordinary. Then one night she was just so unsettled, crying and frantic, neither myself or my husband could settle her at all. The next day I spoke of it to my HV, who just shrugged, smiled and said, “ahhh well it is a full moon”!…Now, for some reason that comment did stay with me, all be it it the back of my mind, I havent been looking for coincidence but I have to say I have definately recently noticed a link in my daughers behaviour not only during the night but during the day too when there is a full moon.