Researchers extracted three nights' worth of data at the one- and six-month marks while parents kept sleep diaries, recording their children's sleep and wake episodes.
While it's unclear exactly why this correlation exists, scientists speculate that getting more sleep promotes routine feeding practices and self-regulation, factors that mitigate overeating.
In the future, the researchers aim to extend this study to evaluate how sleep patterns impact growth within the first two years of life and identify key factors that mediate the correlation between sleep and weight gain.