To think children who are bad sleepers are clearly much more intelligent than dream sleepers?

[Picante]

Ok slightly inflammatory thread title... I wonder if you can guess what kind of sleepers my children are?!

Any truth in this?

Me thinks I will get YABU's from parents of good sleepers, and YANBU's from parents of bad sleepers!

[Firawla]

sleep is supposed to be good for brain developmemt though so i think yabu

[HesterPrynne]

Ahh but what about us with both, eh?

DD1 (16) very bad sleeper always has been, average intelligence
DD2 (14) of the sleeps-like-a-log variety, above average intelligence
DS (8) as DD2 on sleep front, like DD1 on intelligence

So therefore I would say YABU

[StealthPolarBear]

oh definitely, and the worse sleepers the more intelligent
(see last night's 10pm thread saying why won't my children sleep??)
the health visitor told my mum this when i was a baby ( apparently I didn't sleep AT ALL for 9months) I think it took her a few years to realise it was a consolation attempt

[NaccetyMac]

I have been told this by HV while in the depths of despair with my non-sleeping evil geniuses. I thought it was a beautiful lie to make me feel better.

Like the "only bright kids lie." No. Only bright kids lie convincingly.

On the whole, I will give you a YANBU simply because I sympathise.

[StealthPolarBear]

but have heard the same as Firawla so i think ya prob bu

[TrillianAstra]

Not based on me and my brother. I have a sample of 2 so I must be correct.

[StealthPolarBear]

but i is very clever not fik me

[expatinscotland]

No.

I was a dream sleeper as a child.

I have a high IQ according to tests.

I've been plagued by insomnia since I was 13 and have been a complete loser most of my adulthood.

[Coldhands]

Do you mean in the day or night?

My DS only used to sleep for 3 half hour naps in the day when he was a few months old! I would say that he is pretty switched on, his language and understanding are very advanced (so I have been told). It was exhausting though and I also read that children who don't sleep as much in the day are brighter as they are learning more. But at night they do need more sleep to give their bodies and brains chance to develop and heal etc.

So it is a bit of both really.

[bruffin]

Both mine are supposed to be well above average intelligents and have not been bad sleepers.
DD brilliant sleeper as a baby but had problems getting off to sleep when she was older, but once asleep she was fine.

DS has always slept well but an early riser.

They both slept through from 3 months

[nickytwotimes]

Yabu.
Guess what mine does?

[belgo]

DD1 and ds: both 'bad' sleepers - but both very fast, very lively and very confident. Both seem quite intelligent.

DD2: good sleeper, quiet and dreamy in personality but I think she's quite bright.

[bruffin]

sorry that should be intelligence not intelligents

[ImSoNotTelling]

YABU

DD1 has always slept v well
DD2 not great

They are both highly intelligent, natch

[ImSoNotTelling]

PLus with DD2 and her antics I have been getting little sleep and as a result feel as thick as a bucket of slops. I am unable to have a normal conversation due to my tendancy to drift off halfway through and just sit there with my mouth hanging sliglty agape and my head full of nothing.

Not sure how that fits in with things

[midnightexpress]

YABU. First of all I have one of each and both are prodigies (obviously).

Secondly, I think they can go from being appalling sleepers to being good sleepers. DS2 has done this. He was the world's worst and now sleeps like a log.

[nomoresleep]

Ah but doesn't everyone on mumsnet have gifted children? !!

I want to agree with you though!! I was a dreadful sleeper apparently - I would guess that I've got a high IQ (e.g have an Oxbridge 1st) though I'm a bit lacking in the emotional intelligence department.

Both my kids appalling sleepers - too early to say about their intelligence though.

Doesn't Weissbluth comment on this theory in his sleep book? I have a feeling that he says there might be something in it at the extremes, i.e. that the real genius types are bad sleepers (you know, the sort that get maths A level at 8 years old) and that highly placid children with average/below average IQ's are likely to have been placid babies/good sleepers. But he is talking about the very ends of the spectrum, not the vast, vast majority in the middle.

Or maybe thats not in his book but on one of the US forums he writes on - I'm pretty sure I've read it though.

[stleger]

I was told this when ds didn't sleep. I have filed it away in the same folder as 'nits love clean hair' as a way of cheering myself up! (DD2 who is now 13 is both a bad sleeper and a nit magnet, but a smart cookie)

[Picante]

[MollyRoger]

I dunno. I have a 12 year old who to this day is a bad sleeper. The good thing being, obviously, i no longer have to wait until he is asleep before I go to bed and who gets up at 5.30am by himself...Actually he has an iq in the top 2 percent.
His brother is a 12 hours a night sort of chap. And is 'able'. But no genius. Unless you ask him a question about pokemon
So nice theory and all but....

BTW, I need a lot of sleep and i am a thickie!

[gladders]

LOL

MIL actually said to me that dh had been a v bad sleeper when he was little because he was so intelligent!! she actually believes that and was quite taken aback when i laughed at her!

ds is also a bad sleeper so they have him lined up for oxbridge already

[Longtalljosie]

We could start a separate thread about old wives tales which exist to cheer you up if you get dealt a crap hand - eg -

It's lucky if it rains on your wedding day

Your child will be blessed if s/he cries during the christening

Bad morning sickness is a sign of a strong pregnancy (my mum kept telling me that one)

[pantomimecow]

Just done a quick google and it seems that gifted children sleep badly even as infants.

[Picante]

Horah! Link please?!

[weegiemum]

I'm obv gifted then cos though my kids sleep 8-6 (at least, 7 more often) I hardly sleep more than 2 hours at a go!

Hey!

I'm gifted!