Saturday, August 25, 2007

One thing our little ones really need

(Our sleeping angel at 2 months old)

Before Samuel was born, I never knew how much sleep babies and toddlers need, so I was quick to research it. I wanted to make sure that Samuel wasn't ever sleep deprived. I bet you wouldn't believe the number of babies that ARE sleep deprived. Some parents don't realize how much sleep their child needs. Last night a friend of mine was curious about how many naps her child needs at 2 months old. She was saying that he's only up for about 1 1/2 hours at a time, and I was telling her that, that was normal. I looked up sleep guidelines for her in The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley, so I decided to post it here in case you are wondering how much sleep your baby or toddler needs. These are just general guidelines.

1 month old - Total of 15-16 hours per 24 hours (3 naps totaling 6-7 hours and 8 1/2-10 hours at night)

3 month old- Total of 15 hours per 24 hours (3 naps totaling 5-6 hours and 10-11 hours at night)

6 month old- Total of 14-15 hours per 24 hours (2 naps totaling 3-4 hours and 10-11 hours at night)

9 month old- Total of 14 hours per 24 hours (2 naps totaling 2 1/2- 4 hours and 11-12 hours at night)

12 month old- Total of 13-14 hours per 24 hours (1-2 naps totaling 2-3 hours and 11 1/2 to 12 hours at night)

2 year old- Total of 13 hours per 24 hours (1 nap for 1-2 hours and 11-12 hours at night)

3 year old- Total of 12 hours per 24 hours (1 nap for 1-1/2 hours and 11 hours at night)

4 year old- Total of 11 1/2 hours

5 year old- Total of 11 hours


3 comments:

  1. Hey! Thanks for this since I was your inquiring friend. What book did you pull this from?

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  2. marriana,
    Im so glad you signed Heathers Blog. I clicked on yours...and I just love it! Baby Samuel is a beautiful baby. Im looking for to reading more posts. Keep up the beautiful work!

    Love and Hugs...

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  3. I wish Macie would read the book on how much sleep she needs! She probably gets close to the total number of hours, but it is in many smaller naps. We tried hard this summer to get things together, but she never caught on to the idea of a schedule. Now Carson is about to start back to school and the transportation will really mess her up!
    Carson was always a good sleeper as a baby. He a long bout of not falling asleep at night. We finally gave up nap for the most part and is now sleeping better at night. He is the poster child for needing sleep. He cries all day long if he isn't well rested.

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