Infant Sleep Requirements

Babies sleep for different amounts of time, depending on various factors. Sleeping Baby image by sarkee from Fotolia.com

Every infant has a different sleeping pattern, and that pattern will change several times during the first year of life. An overtired infant is an unhappy infant, so you must help your baby fall asleep often enough to keep him well-rested and content. Understanding the sleep requirements of an infant can help you make sure your baby is getting the right amount of sleep, but be careful about making any changes to your baby's sleep schedule.

Infant Nighttime Sleep Requirements

At night, a newborn will probably sleep about eight or nine hours, which will slowly lengthen as she gets older. By 3 months of age, your infant may be sleeping nine to 10 hours, and by 9 months, she may be sleeping 11 hours at night. These hours, however, may not be consecutive. In fact, newborns will definitely not be getting eight or nine consecutive hours of sleep; instead, they'll be waking up every few hours (or even more often) to feed. Newborns, and to a lesser extent older infants, need this nighttime nutrition and will wake up to get it. Most infants do not begin sleeping through the night (six to eight consecutive hours) until they are at least 3 months old or weigh at least 12 or 13 pounds.

Infant Daytime Sleep Requirements

During the day, a newborn will usually get about eight hours of sleep, spread across several short naps. As the infant gets older, he may begin taking longer naps, but his daytime sleep hours will shorten to four or five hours at 3 months and about three hours at 9 months. By the end of the first year, these sleeping hours will probably be divided over two naps, with some babies taking only one longer nap.

Your Baby's Sleep Requirements

Your baby's sleeping patterns may differ, and you may be concerned your baby is not meeting those important sleep requirements. But you probably don't need to worry; some babies just sleep more or less than others. For example, co-sleeping or breastfeeding babies often sleep less than their crib-sleeping or bottle-fed counterparts. Babies from various cultures and with different activity levels also vary in sleeping patterns. If you are concerned about whether your baby is meeting her sleep requirements, talk to a pediatrician about whether your child's overall demeanor and activity level are normal for a child her age. If they are, your baby is likely meeting her own sleep requirements, even if she's not going by the books.

References

• Lucile Packard Children's Hospital: Infant Sleep
• Parenting Science: Baby Sleep Requirements