Watch NZH Local Focus: Does sleep affect your baby's learning?

We all feel better after a good night's sleep.

But what is the relationship between learning and sleep in babies? That is the focus of Waikato University's School of Psychology researcher, Dr Sabina Seehagen's study.

She's been granted $300,000 from the Marsden Fund to compare emotional reactions of babies to see if sleep plays a part in their memory and learning.

"The idea comes from the fact that babies learn just so much every day in comparison to us, I think it's really astounding how much babies pick up."

In doing her research Dr Seehagen creates emotional experiences.

"So I'm creating something that might be mildly frustrating, similar to things babies experience every day."

In day one of this experiment, the baby is shown how to pull a raisin out of a tray - but it's harder than it sounds.

"How much do they actually try, or will they give up easily, or will they be happy just to have a little look?"

And the following day Dr Seehagen comes back and the baby is given the opportunity to play - to see if they remember what they were shown the previous day. Dr Seehagen also notes whether they've slept or not. A sleeping monitor gives a breakdown of the baby's sleeping patterns.

Results could help parents identify when babies have a greater chance of learning and remembering.

Mereika Bourke's daughter Ainsley has been part of the research and she says it will be interesting to see the final results of the research.

"I think it's quite important for studies on children to be able to learn new things about how they work, and the things they gain, and just making sure their education and knowledge is continually improving."

It's a three year study and Dr Seehagen is looking for babies and parents, in return they'll get free raisins and jelly beans - and a chance to be part of this important research .

If parents want to find out more or be part of the research they can visit www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/weds

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