New parents cover more than 1,300 miles a year driving their children to sleep (and it costs them £547 in fuel)

New parents drive on average 1,322 miles a year driving their babies to sleep, research has shown.

Fathers spend the most time using their cars in desperate attempts to get their little ‘uns to bed, with the average dad driving for 1,827 miles in the first year of their child's life.



Over half of all parents admit they use their cars as a ‘drop-off-to-sleep’ vehicle at least once a week, with the average journey lasting half an hour.

Expensive nanny: Over half of parents admit to driving their children to sleep at least once a week, costing hundreds of pounds in petrol

The task of driving babies to sleep appear to fall on new fathers as mothers only drive 860 miles in the first 12 months, according to research by Mothercare.

Parents from London drive the furthest distance a year, hitting nearly 3,000 miles paying a whopping £547 on petrol.

The capital was closely followed by the East of England on 1,987 miles and Scotland on 1,420 miles.



In order to aid parents and make the journey’s shorter Mothercare recruited 17-month-old Zara Kazim from London to find the Average Baby Sleep for their best-selling car seats.

Sweet dreams: Young 'test driver' Zara Kazim sound asleep in winning car seat Mothercare Malmo

Topping the list was the Mothercare Malmo 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 Madrid Highback Booster on 18.41 minutes.

Steve Abse, Director of Marketing from Mothercare comments: ‘We understand our customers’ needs and we’ve listened to the challenges they face with at bedtime.

‘Our vast product offering and expert car fitting service ensure our customers and their newborns are in safe hands when purchasing their first car seat.

‘Now with our tried and tested experiment we can help calm bed time stress, save time and save money for parents.’