London - A baby bawling at night can strain its parents’ relationship to breaking point.
But far from being an unfortunate side effect, researchers claim it is the biological reason for the infant’s crying.
Babies are programmed to monopolise their mother’s attention, say Harvard University scientists – and making parents too tired for a romantic night together is a way of preventing the arrival of a new sibling.
The report claims breastfeeding at night also extends a mother’s post-birth infertility, known as amenorrhoea.
Author Professor David Haig said: “Night waking increases in the second half of the first year of infant life and is more pronounced for breastfed babies.”
He said this suggests waking at night to suckle is an “adaptation of infants to extend their mother’s amenorrhoea, thus delaying the birth of a younger sibling and enhancing infant survival”.
The evolutionary biologist added: “Natural selection will have preserved… behaviours of infants that suppress ovarian function in the mothers because infants have benefited from delay of the next birth. Maternal fatigue can be seen as an integral part of an infant’s strategy to extend the IBI [inter-birth interval].”
A recent Japanese study claimed babies can fake crying to get the attention of their mother. - Daily Mail