New research reveals that parents of new babies drive the equivalent of John O’Groats to Land’s End one and a half times a year – spending an average of £547 on petrol – to get their little treasure to sleep.
Dads are said to take to the car more often than Mums to achieve this unless their driving style takes them longer to get them to sleep that is?
The research was carried out by Mothercare who asked some 1,000 new parents about their driving habits. Over half (56 per cent) admitted they use their cars as a ‘drop-off-to-sleep’ vehicle at least once a week – with the average journey starting at 9pm and lasting nearly half an hour (29.40 minutes).
New dads drive an average of 1827 miles in the first year compared to mums who drive 860 miles and parents from London drive the furthest distance a year (2957 miles) closely followed by the East of England (1987 miles) and Scotland (1420 miles).
Best performers in the Average Baby Sleep League
To help parents get a good night’s sleep Mothercare has recruited their youngest ever product tester – 17 month-old Zara Kazim from London – who has spent the last two weeks putting the retailer’s range of car seats to the test against an Average Baby Sleep (ABS) rating. Topping the list was the Mothercare Madrid Car Seat, which sent Zara to sleep in just 10.37 minutes. The Sport Car Seat came second registering an ABS of 15.25 minutes followed by the Malmo Highback Booster (18.41 minutes).
Sadly the research doesn’t say whether Mum or Dad was driving or the car that was used. All we’ll say is that some cars offer a smoother ride than others and in our experience some drivers we know well but who don’t work for FOXY seem to like hurling cars round corners more than we do
Top Ten UK regions re distance driven and associated costs
In order of distance travelled, parents in London spend more time getting their babies to sleep than in other regions listed below and in declared mileage order.
1. London – 2957 miles (£547)
2. East of England – 1987 miles (£367)
3. Scotland – 1420 miles (£263)
4. Northern Ireland – 1150 miles (£213)
5. South East – 1140 miles (£211)
6. Yorks/Humber – 1113 miles (£206)
7. North West – 1069 miles (£198)
8. West Midlands – 986 miles (£182)
9. East Midlands – 911 miles (£168)
10. North East – 508 miles (£94)
FOXY Steph