How much sleep do babies need?
Your baby is sleeping too much or too little -- find out if they have a regular sleeping pattern.
Deciding how much sleep your baby needs varies parent to parent. There is no actual set standard for an exact amount of rest that babies need. But you can bet your baby will rest more when they are newborns than any other time. Sleeping is how they grow and regain strength for their little bodies.
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Baby sleep charts
Although there is no magic number of hours that is set in stone for a perfect night’s sleep for babies, there is still a baby sleep chart that helps guide you on what is commonly known as the norm in a baby’s sleep pattern. Remember these are just basic guidelines for sleeping. Many babies may sleep more or less and that is normal for them.
- Newborns will rest a combined total of 15 hours a day. This is nighttime and nap times combined.
- 3 month old babies will start to sleep a little longer at night with shorter nap times but will still use about 15 hours a day
- By the time they reach 6 months old, they will sleep almost 11 hours a night with only 2 nap times per day.
- A 9 month old will slumber 11-12 hours per night and take two naps during the day for 2-3 hours a piece.
These are basic guidelines and will vary from baby to baby. But they will give you a good idea on whether your child is getting enough rest.
The amount that your baby sleeps will change as they grow.
As They Grow
By the time they are twelve months old, your baby will be sleeping about 11 hours a night and many times will only take one nap per day. This is when you might start wishing they would sleep more. When they hit that toddler stage you may see a change in nap times. To be exact, they will not want to take one. If you can get them to sit quietly for just a few minutes, you might even find that they will fall asleep on their own.
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Close observations
There are a few good indicators that will let you if your baby is not getting enough rest. If you notice them always yawning or being excessively cranky, there is a good chance they are not getting enough sleep either during their nap time or at night.
Your child will let you know if they have had enough sleep or need to get more. Do not panic if they seem like they are sleeping more than they should.
Learning exactly how much sleep your baby will need is not hard. It sometimes seems difficult when we first bring them home, but just have some patience and know that things will get better and easier.
Do you have any tips on how to find out how much rest a baby really needs? From personal experience, how did you figure it out? Did your baby sleep a lot or too little? Tell us. We’d love to hear from you! For more on how much rest your baby needs, watch this video:
