New study: Eating fermented foods during pregnancy can help a baby sleep for 10 hours or longer

QUICK SUMMARY: A new study from Japan finds that babies and toddlers are more likely to sleep for 10 hours or longer if their mothers ate fermented foods (like cheese or miso soup) during pregnancy. The scientists looked at the impact of eating fermented foods during pregnancy and length of sleep at age one years old until three years old.

New research: Eating fermented foods during pregnancy may help a baby sleep for longer. Inoue M. et al., BMC Public Health (2022) Take our FREE mini-course to learn about the infant microbiome https://microbirth.teachable.com/p/taster

I love studies like this — especially it combines three of my favourite things: babies, sleep and the gut microbiome.

A new study finds that what someone eats during pregnancy can affect the length of time her child sleeps — even 3 years after the baby is born.

And it’s all down to the wonders of the gut microbiome.

Children need good quality sleep for healthy development. As the child ages, sleep patterns change.

If an infant doesn’t sleep so well, this has been shown to negatively affect physical and neurodevelopment.

And lack of sleep can also increase the risk for obesity in childhood, plus risk for hyperactivity at age 6 years old.

So this new study from Japan provides really helpful info for expectant mothers — that if they can eat fermented foods like cheese and miso soup during pregnancy, this could affect how long their baby sleeps later on.

Note: The research did not look at duration of sleep for newborns. The scientists looked at the impact of eating fermented foods during pregnancy and length of sleep for babies/toddlers at age one years old and up to three years old.

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About The New Study:

Previously, Japanese scientists showed the risk of sleep deprivation in 1-year-olds was reduced if the expectant mother ate a higher intake of fermented foods during pregnancy, particularly miso soups.

In other words, the higher the intake of fermented foods, especially miso soup, the more likely it was for a one year old baby to sleep for at least 11 hours.