According to a survey, for being seen as a perfect parent, moms and dads are not telling the truth about a child’s sleeping pattern.

Less than 50 per cent of parents stated that their child takes a disturbance-free sleep throughout the night and claims that their child wakes up three to four times in the night was seen among only 11.1 per cent of parents.

The survey was conducted by parenting website Netmums and in all about 11,000 parents were asked questions about their child’s sleeping pattern and it saw that around a third of parents admit lying about their youngster's sleep habits.

This saw parents lying about the time their child goes to bed or wakes up, along with information on the child sleeping throughout the night and how well does a child sleeps. Coping with sleep deprivation was also lied about with three fifths not telling the truth about it.

Netmums health visitor Maggie Fisher said, “Sleep is key to health for both parents and children. Without adequate sleep, parents can feel they are struggling to cope, be at risk of depression or see their relationship suffer.”