Many young parents are not unreasonably worried about how much a child should sleep. The quality and duration of the baby’s sleep can be one of the criteria for assessing his general condition. At the same time, you need to know how much a child should sleep in order to make the correct regimen of the day, because sleep greatly affects the growth and development of infants and children of both early and preschool age. Of course, each baby is individual, but adhering to the average number of hours of sleep for one age or another should nevertheless be: this will benefit both the growing child and its parents. We will try to figure out how much a child should sleep in each of the pre-school age periods and how to organize a healthy baby’s sleep.
Sleep newborn baby
A healthy newborn baby sleeps almost constantly, waking up (and sometimes even a young mother has to wake him) only to enjoy breast milk. On average, it turns out that about 20 hours out of 24 of such a baby falls into sleep, during which he actively grows and recovers after the regular change of “habitat”. The duration and quality of sleep at this age greatly depends on the gestational age at which the baby was born, whether it was a natural birth or planned / emergency surgery, the baby’s condition after birth.
Also at any age, such characteristics as:
- The state of health, mood and degree of arousal of the child;
- The presence or absence of a constant adequate daily regimen;
- Observance of special rituals of going to bed (quiet games before bedtime, calm music, fairy tale therapy, singing a lullaby, etc.);
- Temperature and humidity in the bedroom;
- The quality of the baby’s bed, etc.
How much the baby sleeps in 1-2 months
Typically, these children sleep about 18 hours a day with 3-4 periods of daytime sleep. Kids at this age wake up several times a night in order to eat. Fortified, as a rule, they immediately fall asleep.
Baby's sleep from 3 to 6 months
Such a child sleeps on average 16 hours a day (some fall in 3 afternoon sleeps). Try to accustom the baby from the first months of life to a proper healthy sleep without motion sickness, when the child gradually learns to fall asleep himself, without additional exposure from adults.
How much should a baby sleep at 7 months
After six months, children usually sleep only twice a day, and the average daily need for sleep is 14-15 hours.
Baby's sleep from 8 months to a year
The sleep of such a child can not be less than 13-14 hours. The main part is, of course, a night's sleep, which closer to six months can become continuous. Daytime sleep should be divided into two approximately equal periods.
Baby's sleep from 1 to 1.5 years
One-year-old babies sleep about 13 hours out of 24, a night's sleep is about 10-11 hours, and the rest of the time falls on two daytime sleeps. Sometimes it’s very difficult to lay a grown-up active child twice during the day, tearing it away from games and communicating with loved ones. Therefore, if more often than not your baby prefers one daytime sleep, then review the regimen of the day: let him sleep once at the time you set, but this dream will be long (at least 2.5 hours).
How much should a child sleep in 2 years
By two years, all children sleep once a day for 2-3 hours, at night, on average, 10 hours. This sleep pattern lasts up to 3 years.
The dream of a preschooler and primary school student
A child aged 3-7 years sleeps about 2 hours during the day, and at night, 9-10 hours are enough for him.
It is advisable for the newfound first-grader to rest for at least 1.5 hours in the afternoon, so that it is easier for the child’s body to cope with the additional loads that have arisen. Older children no longer need to sleep during the day, but at the same time a night's sleep should be at least 8-9 hours.