London - It sounds like the kind of nit-pickingly irritating detail that could fuel a domestic argument in its own right.
But new parents are probably too busy rowing about other things to realise that they typically have 3.6 tiffs a week, according to a study.
This amounts to 187 arguments in the first year of parenthood, a 40 percent increase from the 134 before their new arrival.
Not surprisingly, two thirds of parents admit these are often “silly” rows caused by stress and exhaustion.
The study found new parents typically get four hours and 20 minutes of sleep a night, around half the eight hours widely recommended. More than half of parents (54 percent) say ‘tiring’ is the word that best describes their first year with a baby.
The most common causes of arguments are whose turn it is to change nappies (33 percent) and do the night feeds (24 percent).
One in five of the 3 000 parents polled said they did not receive enough attention from their partner after having a baby.
Nearly 40 percent considered it the “biggest learning experience of their lives”.
The study, commissioned by Morrisons, also found parents spend an average of £3 388 on baby products in the year after their child’s birth. For one in five, it was even more expensive, with clothes, food, nappies, sterilisers and bottles costing at least £5 000. - Daily Mail