How much sleep does my child need?
Sleep is the brain’s primary activity in early development. It promotes mental and physical growth. The sleep and wake cycles of babies are often irregular because it can take time to develop circadian rhythms. By six months of age, most infants fall into a more typical sleep pattern, which means being active during the day and asleep at night.
Understanding how long your baby or child should be sleeping can help you identify if there are any problems. It’s important to know that every baby is different, so there can be some variation in the number of hours each baby sleeps.
Newborns (1-2 months): Newborns need a lot of sleep. They only wake to eat, have their diapers changed, and feel the presence of their parents. Most newborns sleep up to 18 hours a day with one to three hours awake at a time throughout the day or night.
Infants (3-11 months): Infants begin to sleep through the night when they don’t need as many feedings. By four months, many don’t need any feedings at night, but some take longer to get to that point. Infants can sleep up to 12 hours at night, and then will sleep up to three hours 1-4 times during the day.
Toddlers (1-3 years): Toddlers are active but they still take a nap during the day, which can last up to three hours. Toddlers can sleep between 12 and 14 hours in a 24-hour period.
Preschoolers (3-5 years): Naptimes are a thing of the past by age five, but they might end sooner for some children. At this age, preschoolers need about 11-13 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period.
School-aged children (5-12 years): School-aged children need between 10 and 11 hours of sleep. Many children will sleep more on the weekends, as they lose some of those hours with extracurricular activities, homework, and early morning wakeups to get to school on time.
Sleeping too little or too much can be a sign of a medical problem. If your baby or child is not sleeping the recommended amount of hours, speak to your pediatrician.
Takeaways
- Naptimes can vary, but children normally sleep longer at night if they don’t get enough sleep during the day.
- At 5 years old, most children are no longer taking naps because they get all of the sleep they need at night.
- Sleeping too little or too much can be a sign of a medical problem.
I just recently got rid of my 4 year olds nap time because it was too exhausting fighting her everyday to lay down. She now has “quiet time” which is working well. Now she is falling asleep pretty quickly as soon as she goes down for bed at night instead of talking and trying to procrastinate, so the all dreaded no more napping has actually been a blessing in disguise.
I have a pretty good sleeper too. He sleeps 10-12 hours each night with one 3-4 hour nap during the day. He also seems to be on the upper end of the sleep scale, but he plays full-out when he’s not sleeping, so I’m not worried about it. I dread the day that he gives up that nap, though!
My girls have always been excellent sleepers. My mom (who is a mother of 5) gave me some advice when I gave birth to my first child, “Never wake a sleeping baby.” I took this advice to heart and never woke my babies up at night for feedings, etc. Babies are very good at letting you know when they need something. 🙂
I’m glad I found this article. I’ve recently been wondering if my 4-month-old is sleeping too much (seems like a good problem to have, I know, but it worried me just the same!) She sleeps 12 hours at night and will still take 3 full naps of roughly 2 hours each during the day, plus an occasional 20-30 minute catnap. Seems like she’s ok, just on the higher end of the sleep scale!