Baby sleeping right?
As a new mother you get concerned about anything unusual, and if one of the issues is your baby's long sleeping hours then just relax and have a cup of tea while you go through this article. In the initial days, the more your baby sleeps the better it is for his growth. In the early days, babies sleep twice as much as adults, but half of the baby’s sleep will be in the day time. As a new parent you would be curious to know if your baby is sleeping right. Below are a few general guidelines that you can look into and assess your baby's sleeping habits. Note that every baby is different and the guidelines given below talk about average sleep patterns of a particular age group.
1 - 4 weeks old baby: 15 - 16 hours of sleep
Since the biological clock of the newborns is not yet set, their sleep patterns do not depend on day and night. New born babies tend to sleep for almost 15 to 18 hours in a day. Premature babies tend to sleep for longer hours.
1 - 4 months old baby: 14 - 15 hours of sleep
Your baby is more likely to develop regular sleep patterns by the time he turns 6 weeks old. He would sleep for a long time towards the evening or by night. Day and night confusions end to an extent. They would be in a position to sleep for a maximum of 6 hours at a stretch at night.
Tip: Get your baby used to the same kind of lighting when asleep. Make sure that the surroundings are calm when your baby is asleep. When he is awake, brighten up the room and do not be worried about the regular noise around. Slowly you should expose him to the outside world and noises. If you’ll have to run your grinder or your washing machine, wait till your baby is awake.
4 - 12 months old: 14 - 15 hours of sleep
Although sleeping for 15 hours is ideal, most babies up to 11 months old sleep for only about 12 hours. Their biological clock starts setting in this period. With each passing month, your baby's naps would last for about two hours each during the day and he would be sleeping for longer periods during nights. In case your baby has not set his sleep pattern yet in the night, try to extend his waking hours in the day. Give frequent feeds through the evening so that his tummy is full allowing him to sleep for longer periods. Even when he gets up for nursing in the night, do not brighten up the room. Nurse him in a dark room and put him back to sleep. This is one method that should be followed to teach him to differentiate day and night.
1 - 3 years old toddlers: 12 - 14 hours of sleep per day:
When your child completes his first year, he would slowly cut short on his morning nap and would like to take a nap only in the afternoons. While ideally he would require about 14 hours of sleep, he would take only 10 hours of sleep in a day. Most of the kids around 18 months of age still need to take at least one nap in the afternoon for about 3 hours at a stretch. Ensure to fix sleep timings for your toddler so that his biological clock works as expected. Having a disciplined sleep training will help your toddler develop a healthy sleep pattern.
3 - 6 year old kids: 10 - 12 hours of sleep per day:
Children in this age group sleep for about 10 hours in a day. They would go to bed around 8 in the evening and get up around 7 in the morning. 3 year olds generally tend to take naps and when 5 they would not be napping often.
7 - 12 year old kids: 10 - 11 hours of sleep per day:
Having a routine social regime, kids in this age group indulge in various activities during the day and do not have to take naps in the afternoons. The bed time would gradually be pushed later and later and each of them would fall into their individual sleeping time slots.
12 - 18 year old teenagers: 8 - 9 hours of sleep per day:
Sleep is as important for teenagers as it is for young children. It is observed that teenagers require more sleep than in their previous years. It is always good to encourage teenagers to sleep for at least 9 hours per day. Note that amount of sleep for different age groups vary. It is a good practice to teach and discipline your child to develop healthy sleep habits since birth.
