Sleeping
Like adults, the sleep patterns of babies and children vary. Below are the average amounts of sleep babies and children at different ages need:
- Newborns to three months: A newborn baby spends roughly the same amount of time asleep as awake, but may spend as many as 16-18 hours out of 24 asleep, or as little as 8. The toughest test for any parent will be night feeds. Feeding your baby through the night (up to every two hours in the first few weeks) makes it hard for you to sleep for any real length of time, and this can be tough (mentally and physically) to cope with. Make sure you listen to what your body is telling you - nap when your baby sleeps in the day, not just in the night, or you'll never catch up on all those missing hours.
- Three to six months: As your baby grows the need for night feeds becomes less frequent and periods of sleep get longer. Some babies will sleep for around eight hours or even longer at night and by four months may spend on average twice as long asleep at night as they do during the day.
- Six to twelve months: At this age night feeds are no longer necessary and some babies may even sleep for up to 12 hours at a stretch at night. However, teething discomfort or hunger may cause some babies to wake during the night.
- By twelve months: Babies sleep for about 12-15 hours altogether.
- Two years old: May sleep for about 11-12 hours at night with one or two naps in the day.
- Three or four years old: Most need about 12 hours sleep but this can vary from 8 hours upwards.
Some sleep problems can be solved early by deciding on a simple bedtime routine, which might include a bath, changing into night clothes, feeding, cuddling then putting to bed. Try to put your baby down awake rather than getting him or her to sleep in your arms otherwise your baby might not learn to fall asleep in the cot.
Difficulties in settling down to sleep and waking up in the night are really common in young children. The important thing is to change bedtime habits, have a 'winding down' or quiet time before bedtime and make sure you stick to the same bedtime each night. This will help your baby to relax.
If you have continuing problems with your baby's sleeping patterns speak to your doctor or health visitor.
