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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…
Does your baby wake up during a full moon?
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Jill Church says
Three points I’d like to make:
1. As a previous poster mentioned- a full moon is really bright so it might be the extra light that’s causing worse sleep
2. If sleep gets worse the week before and the week after the full moon then that’s 2 out of every 4 weeks. Certainly something besides the moon could be affecting this. My daughter is like this and I’ve realized that after a couple “good sleep” weeks I tend to get more ambitious about making little tweaks to her sleep- trying for a later wake time or trying to move from 2-1 nap. then after 2 crappy weeks I give up and go back to our familiar routine. So for us, we ARE on a 4 week cycle, but it’s based more on me and how rested I feel instead of the moon
3. And to me, this one is the clincher: Tides don’t coincide with the fullness of the moon. Tides are based on how close or how far away the moon is from the earth- perigee and apogee, respectively. Full moons are NOT necessarily closer moons (except for the harvest moon). So if you’re feeling that the moon has an affect on sleep (and you’ve got room-darkening shades installed) then it seems more possible it’s linked to perigee and not to its fullness.
here’s a link giving perigees and apogees
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html
MP says
I have more trouble sleeping when it is a full moon because we have a skylight right above our bed. I wake up and find the giant moon shining right in my eyes and it makes it harder to go back to sleep. I think a few people mentioned this, but the extra light may be affecting babies’ sleep too.
Kathy says
I think something’s up with the moon. My son is a horrible sleeper in general – we had such a rough time with him. A couple weeks ago it was full moon and he was sleeping perfectly!! Like 12 hours at night and 2-3 hour nap, and he just turned 2. Now this week he has been up crying a lot of the night and not taking naps, waking up before 7am and its been nuts.
My 8 week old is nasty this week too, but she’s so young I don’t know I account it for the moon. Perhaps its just something I ate. Really hoping it all goes away soon!
Naomi says
Ok… here doing a bit of snooping on the net regarding the subject. We’ve noticed that there is a definite pattern. It’s not just the night of the full moon, it’s the days leading up to and away from the full moon. It’s happened now for the past 3 months that we’ve kept a record, but it happened every month before, too, we just didn’t notate the bad nights then. Last night it happened again, we are less than a week from the full moon. He went to bed, fell asleep as normal, woke up at 11 upset, got himself SO upset that he threw up about 45 minutes later, cleaned the bed and kidlet up, tried to get him to sleep again, he snoozed fitfully for a while, then was up and awake again by 12:30 and cried, fussed, tossed and turned until after 4. Asked him again and again if he had owie or didn’t feel good, negative head shakes every time. Got desperate (I have to be up for work at 5:40) and gave him some children’s benadryl around 2, he was up until a bit after 4 when he finally knocked out. Like I said, this is the third month in a row that we have kept records of his sleep cycle, and there is a DEFINITE correlation and we just don’t know what to do. We have GOT to be able to sleep and get to work! Suggestions?
Nicole says
@Naomi Both my boys were up last night, too, and tonight is the full moon! You didn’t say how old your son is, but considering you’re asking him about an “owie” I assume around 18 months to 2 years old or so. Does he fall asleep independently? Did he just have insomnia and didn’t want to be alone? If he has a lovey or crib aquarium or something of that nature, it can help him find something else to do when he can’t sleep. Usually, as they get older, even if they have a bit of insomnia due to something temporary like the full moon, they can learn to get through it without parental involvement. Think of ways to help him be content to be on his own. Hang in there and hopefully tonight is a better night for both of us!
Wendy says
My daughter is very restless in the days leading up to the full moon – usually in the middle of the night. She thrashes about in her cot and then gets distressed because she wakes herself up all the time and can’t get back to sleep. If we have her in the bed with us, she appears to sleep but it is fitful and her arms thrash about and we can’t sleep but at least she’s not distressed…once we are past 1 or 2, she then sleeps well again… I didn’t click for a while until I realised that it happened on a monthly basis, then checked the moon cycles and realised that it is the full moon. I sometimes am affected by the full moon too and feel like I’ve had cups of cofffee even though I rarely drink caffiene and have trouble getting to sleep until 1 am or so (similar to her). The problem with research is that if only 8% or so of people/babies etc. are affected by it, they assume it isn’t true as this could be due to random variation by scientific standards, however that’s the equivalent of arguing that if 100 people are in the room, and only 8 are asthmatic, then they can’t be asthmatic!! Clearly, some people and babies are affected and some are not. I have heard of some people sleeping better at a full moon too so we are all very different…now what I can do about our daugther at the full moon is another matter!!
Sarah says
My 6 month old daughter woke just about every hour last night during a full moon. The last time she did this was on 20th March, the last full moon. I will be more prepared for a night of no sleep on 17th May!!
Jeff says
Last night full moon our 8 month old was up all night (17 Feb 11). I recall the same thing last month having to get up with her and seeing how much light shown in our living room. I thought it odd, so I googled it this morning. I am thinking I am not so crazy. I will take the day off next cycle to prepare for the all nighter. Funny how our wonderful kids give new meanings to all nighters.
Trina says
Hi,
I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old who rarely wake at night, but last night the 4 year old woke 3 times and the 2 year old woke twice. I noticed the moon was huge last night, and checked online this morning and it was a full moon. Both boys had dreams each time they woke. I am going to keep a diary from now on to see if it is all linked to the moon!!
Katy says
I had to look up something about the full moon and babies sleep after noticing my 9 month old having trouble sleeping for the last 3 months with each full moon. I was glad to see your article and that so many other parents have experienced this.
Jen says
I have always had problems sleeping during a full moon and just recently my 8 month old son had the same issue. So, there we were both wide awake at 3 am. Thank goodness for head phones, I can watch my iPod while my husband or my son sleeps…or doesn’t.