How Much Sleep Do Babies And Kids Need

We know that babies sleep a lot, and we don’t mean to exaggerate. There is a reason for the idiom ‘sleep like a baby’.

Did you know that when the baby is inside the womb, he spends 90-95% time sleeping? It’s true! And, the US Office on Women’s Health attests that. The baby’s sleep, like an adult’s sleep, is also of different types and is classified as either REM sleep (sleep that occurs at intervals and is characterized and named after the rapid eye movements, bodily movement, and dreaming), deep sleep (a state which babies usually enter many times in a night), and an indeterminate state (which is neither REM nor deep sleep and often occurs because of the baby’s underdeveloped brain). Fascinating isn’t it? But, it’s quite obvious too. With that little space to move around, there is not much to do but sleep.

Here, we talk about sleep, babies, and children. How much sleep do they need? And, more importantly, at what age will a baby need how much sleep.

Below is a table detailing the age at which your child requires a recommended amount of sleep.

AgeSleep Time
Infants (4 to 12 months)12 to 16 hours
Babies (1 to 2 years)11 to 14 hours
Toddlers (3 to 5 years)10 to 13 hours
Teens (6 to 12 years)9 to 12 hours
Teenagers (13 and above)8 to 10 hours

Predictably, infants require the most amount of sleep in a day, spending nearly a third of the day on the train to dreamland. And, we notice that as children age, they begin to need less sleep than they earlier did. Teenagers need only eight to ten hours of sleep every day, while infants need 12-16 hours of sleepy-time every day.

In This Article

Why Does This Happen?

Now that we know that children of different ages need different sleep times, the next question that springs to mind is “why”.

Infants don’t sleep for long stretches. They usually sleep for short bursts and awaken at rather ungodly hours. This is because they are still adjusting to sleep, and their resting times are erratic. Lack of sleep is the most common cause of complications for mothers of newborns.

As babies age, their sleeping patterns become tempered, and they begin to settle into a routine, and the amount of sleep they need reduces. Their sleeping patterns are still erratic, however, and you will have to wait until your baby is three years old before he begins to follow a bedtime routine.

At this stage, your child is still sleeping for 10 to 13 hours. But, as he grows up and nears his teens, his sleep time is now almost like that of an adult (eight to ten hours).

What Can You Do To Help Your Baby Get Enough Sleep?

Interestingly, babies can understand routines. They may not now the complexities of it, but they can relate sounds like gushing water to bath time. You can harness your baby’s recognition of routines to create a bedtime routine for your little one. Try singing to your baby before you put him to sleep.

You can also consider scheduling nap times for your little angel so that he gets the right amount of sleep his body needs. Just ensure that daytime naps aren’t too long, as they may affect your baby’s nighttime sleep.

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