During his baby stage, a child needs more sleep than what he needs when he is around 2 years of age. But still your child need to sleep for more hours than grown ups. Sleep requirement is different for every child.
Age Average total sleep Daytime (naps) Nighttime sleep:
- 1month 15 ½ 7(3) 8 ½
- 3 months 15 5(3) 10
- 6 months 14 ¼ 3 ¼(2) 11
- 9 months 14 3 (2) 11
- 12 months 13 ¾ 2 ½ (2) 11 ¼
- 18 months 13 ½ 2 ¼ (1) 11 ¼
- 2 years 13 2 (1) 11
- 3 years 12 1 ½ (1) 10 ½
Sometimes if a child is troublesome at bedtime or refuses to settle for the night, it is taken as a sign of less sleep requirement. But it could be opposite case and the child is overtired due to less sleep and so is behaving overactive or irritable.
Good sleeping habits would cure this bedtime problems. So regular pattern of feeds, naps, playtime and bedtime throughout the day helps the child in overall progress as well as in getting the sleep your child needs. Later the growing child naps for less time during day and afterwards may completely stop taking day nap. All their sleep is restricted to 10 – 11 hours at night.
Every parent wonders how much sleep does the child need and whether the child is getting enough sleep. Psychologists have quoted that lack of sleep may cause behavioral problems or behavioral problems can result in disturbed sleep pattern.
But it was observed that when a child’s sleep time was increased, there were lot many positive changes in behavioral problems. So it may not be a guaranteed remedy, but it is worth trying t put the child to bed an hour early, if hi is often overtired or irritable at bedtime. If this doesn’t work fruitfully for a child, then the parents should consult a doctor for it.
As the baby grows, the number of naps during day reduces and so the baby’s bedtime could be that much earlier. Parents assume that earlier bedtime would result in earlier wake time. But generally, if a child goes to bed early, he sleeps for a longer time. Keeping baby awake till late will only make baby more restless during night.
If a child cries while being put to bed or during night and if the parents attend to it, the child might make a habit of it. It is better to let the child soothe himself, unless he is unwell or hungry. This way he can learn to go to sleep without parental aid.
Growing babies are more interested in playing and practicing their new skills like sitting, crawling or standing up. So they try to resist the nap times. But the skipped naps would result in tiredness. So parents should stick to daily routine of feeds, naps, playtime etc. It is observed that many sleep problems in babies develop because the parents fail to change the bad sleep habits.
