Some kids are genetically predisposed to be bad sleepers, it turns out

A lack of sleep is just something that comes with the territory when you’re a parent—especially a parent of an infant and/or toddler. And people sure love to tell you how exhausted you’ll always be and how you’ll never sleep again when you’re pregnant, which is less than helpful. Especially if you have a “bad sleeper.”

I was not prepared for how wild infant sleep schedules are with all the wake windows, sleep windows, being overtired, not being tired enough, etc. But honestly, some parents have it way harder than others when it comes to their child’s sleep. 

For the first six months of my son’s life, he slept in thirty-minute increments day and night. I’d have to drive him around in my car for hours and stop in parking lots to write my articles for work while he slept—for 30 minutes. I feel like his case may be extreme—though maybe not, according to this new study about insomnia and sleep issues in children.

When I was a kid, I was also a bad sleeper. I never wanted to go to bed because I had major FOMO even as a baby, and I still struggle with falling asleep quickly some nights even now. My mother is the same way. So maybe my son really is genetically predisposed to being a horrible sleeper? 

“We tend to think that insomnia develops later in life, but here we clearly show that the earliest signs of the risk of insomnia in adulthood are present already in early childhood,” said Dr. Eus van Someren, head of the department of sleep and cognition at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam, via email for a report by CNN about the study.

While we have plenty of studies on insomnia in adults, this recent study focuses on children, and it gives us a little insight into why some kids may not sleep as well as others. The sleep study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry concluded, “Children who are genetically predisposed to insomnia have more insomnia-like sleep problems, whereas those who are genetically predisposed to longer sleep have longer sleep duration, but are also more awake during the night in adolescence.” 

So there may be some answers as to why you’re having such a hard time, but a genetic predisposition to sleep issues is “only a part of the puzzle,” CNN reported. This is why it’s important to instill good sleep hygiene early on if you can, which includes having an ideal sleeping environment, proper nutrition, a set routine, and following wake windows, among other things. 

Just know things will get better, they do. And while you feel like you could pull your hair out over the exhaustion and frustration that comes with a child that doesn’t sleep, when they get older, a lot of the time, things just fall into place. Even if you can’t stick to the “sleep hygiene rules.” For now, if you also are a troubled sleeper, just know that this is one of the many things they’ll inherit from you—the good and the bad.