What's normal? An evidence-based baby sleep chart
© 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved
This evidence-based baby sleep chart can't tell you exactly how long your babe needs to sleep.
Researchers don't fully sympathise baby sleep patterns, let alone baby sleep requirements.
Only researchers take collected information from parents about their babies' sleep habits.
Based on these surveys, we accept a pretty good sense of what's typical — the normal range of variation that parents report.
So what does normal sleep look like in babies?
The quick answer is summed upwardly in this infant sleep chart.
0-2 months.
- Total sleep elapsing is 14-15 hours (average)
- Ranges between ~ 12-16 hours for well-nigh one-half the population*
- Ranges between ~ ix-20 hours for most 95% of the population
- Nearly parents study multiple nighttime wakings
- Total dark sleep duration approximately 8-10 hours*
- Babies take 3-four daytime naps (on average); more during the first weeks postpartum
3-five months.
- Total sleep elapsing is 13-13.5 hours (average)
- Ranges between ~ 12-14 hours for about half the population*
- Ranges between ~ 9-18 hours for nigh 95% of the population
- Virtually parents report at to the lowest degree one night waking
- Full dark sleep duration is approximately viii.5 – 10.5 hours*
- l% — or more — of parents say longest sleep bout is at least 5 hours
- Babies 2-iii daytime naps (average)
vi-12 months
- Total sleep duration is 12.v-13 hours (boilerplate)
- Ranges betwixt ~ 12-14 hours for about half the population*
- Ranges between ~ 9-17 hours for about 95% of the population
- Total dark sleep duration is 9-11 hours*
- Most parents report at least one night waking
- Babies accept approximately 2 daytime naps (average)
12-24 months
- Total sleep duration is 12.5 hours (average)
- Ranges between ~ 11.v-13.5 hours for about half the population*
- Ranges between ~ 10 and 15 hours for almost 95% of the population
- Most parents report approximately 5 night wakings per week (average)
- Babies accept 1-2 daytime naps (average)
* Nighttime sleep duration and range for middle 50% of the population derived from a report of Canadian and U.S. parents just (Sadeh et al 2008).
Other estimates derived from review of multiple, international studies (Galland et al 2012). Numbers rounded to nearest 0.five.
Interpreting the baby sleep chart: Where do the numbers come from?
To create this nautical chart, I accept relied primarily on a meta-analysis past Barbara Galland and her colleagues (2012).
These researchers estimated average values for infant slumber statistics by combining data from studies conducted in Australia, Canada, Mainland china, Italian republic, Israel, Russian federation, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Information in my chart about boilerplate total sleep duration, the range for 95% of the population, naps, night wakings, and the longest reported sleep bout reflects these values.
But Galland's squad didn't provide estimates for every variable. For example, their analysis didn't include detailed data nigh the range for total sleep duration for half of the population. Nor did they written report information about nighttime slumber duration.
Then I used some other source to fill up this gap — a survey of Canadian and U.S. parents (Sadeh et al 2008).
We shouldn't assume that information from this North American written report volition exist representative of babies internationally (see below).
However, for every age group, the average total sleep duration for the North Americans was very close to the international averages. And the range for total sleep duration looked roughly consequent with graphical information provided by Galland's team (figure 3, p. 218, Galland et al 2012).
Regional and cultural differences
Averaging together international information is helpful for getting the large film. Only if we take a look at specific countries, we larn something more than:
Studies report substantial variation from one order to the next.
For example, in a study conducted in Switzerland, the boilerplate total slumber elapsing for babies anile 6-12 months was most 14 hours — an hour higher than the international boilerplate (Iglostein et al 2003; Galland et al 2012).
And researchers take found prove for a broad cultural tendency. Children living in Asian countries tend to sleep less than do children living in Western, predominantly Caucasian countries (Galland et al 2012; Mindell et al 2010).
Understanding private differences
As you can meet from the infant sleep chart, there is consideration variation.
What does this variation hateful? Is there an optimal sleep duration for infants? Should you be worried if your babe sleeps less than average?
Information technology's hard to answer these questions because researchers lack a clear agreement of the behavioral and health consequences of baby slumber patterns. We need more than studies to sort this out.
As a issue, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine has declined to offer concrete recommendations for sleep elapsing in babies under four months of age (Paruthi et al 2016).
For older babies (4-12 months), the Academy has advised that babies who go 12-16 hours every 24 hours are less likely to experience behavioral bug (Paruthi et al 2016).
But there is at least one reassuring observation for parents with babies who get less sleep than normal: For most of these babies, total sleep duration moves closer to average as they get older (Magee et al 2014).
And when researchers rails these individuals over time, they have constitute no obvious long-term differences in emotional or social functioning. Infants who slumber less than boilerplate tend to be more than irritable. Simply every bit long as sleep duration becomes more typical over fourth dimension, kids seem to turn out pretty well (Magee et al 2014).
It'southward also helpful to keep in mind that the slumber times reported in this baby sleep chart don't reverberate objective measures of how much babies slumber.
Instead, the reports are based on the (fallible) impressions of parents.
In some studies, parents are asked to go along careful sleep diaries. In other studies, parents just fill out cursory questionnaires nigh their children's by habits — questionnaires which they answer from memory.
Either way, parents can be wrong, and inquiry suggests that parents tend to overestimate how much their babies sleep.
This is understandable, because parents don't lie awake all night to confirm what their babies are doing. If the night seems placidity, parents may only presume that their infants are sleeping. But are they really?
When researchers have measured babe sleep using objective methods — similar continuous, overnight video recordings — they've found that babies slumber less (and awaken more than often) than parents realize.
For instance, ane study found that babies 6-12 months woke up, on boilerplate, about three times during the night (Goodlin-Jones et al 2001). Yet many parents with babies this historic period report only one waking per night.
For more than help interpreting this baby sleep chart, see my manufactures about infant slumber requirements and baby slumber patterns.
Finally, ane last snapshot of infant sleep patterns:A infant slumber chart based on the reports of Swiss parents
The Swiss study mentioned above (Iglowstein et al 2003) included data well-nigh total hours ofdaytime sleep, a statistic that wasn't provided in the international assay by Galland and colleagues.
For this reason, I offering this last babe sleep chart based on the Swiss inquiry. Simply call back that infant sleep patterns may vary past civilisation and region. Nosotros can't presume that the average number of daytime sleep hours is the same in other places.
Baby sleep chart based on Swiss study (Iglowstein et al 2003)
More information about baby sleep
If you establish this article to be helpful, run into these Parenting Science manufactures about baby sleep.
- opens in a new window15 evidence-based baby sleep tips
- opens in a new windowDream feeding
- opens in a new windowFinding the right babe sleep aid
- opens in a new windowGentle methods of infant sleep training
- Infant sleep issues: A troubleshooting guide
References: Baby sleep chart
Blair PS, Humphreys JS, Gringras P, Taheri S, Scott North, Emond A, Henderson J, Fleming PJ. 2012. Childhood slumber elapsing and associated demographic characteristics in an English accomplice. Sleep. 35(3):353-60.
Bottino CJ, Rifas-Shiman SL, Kleinman KP, Oken Eastward, Redline S, Gold D, Schwartz J, Melly SJ, Koutrakis P, Gillman MW, and Taveras EM. 2012. The association of urbanicity with babe sleep duration. Health Identify. 18(five):1000-5.
Galland BC, Taylor BJ, Elder DE, Herbison P. 2012. Normal sleep patterns in infants and children: a systematic review of observational studies. Slumber Med Rev. sixteen(three):213-22.
Goodlin-Jones BL, Burham MM, Gaylor EE, and Anders TF. 2001. Night waking, slumber arrangement, and cocky-soothing in the first year of life. J Dev Behav Pediatrics 22(4): 226-233.
Iglowstein I, Jenni OG, Molinari Fifty, Largo RH. 2003. Sleep duration from infancy to boyhood: Reference values and generational trends. Pediatrics 111(2): 302-307.
Kohyama J, Mindell JA, and Sadeh A. 2011. Sleep characteristics of immature children in Japan: net study and comparing with other Asian countries. Pediatr Int. 53(5):649-55.
Magee CA, Gordon R, Caputi P. 2014. Distinct developmental trends in slumber duration during early childhood. Pediatrics. 133(vi):e1561-vii.
Matricciani L, Blunden Due south, Rigney G, Williams MT, Olds TS. 2013. Children's sleep needs: is in that location sufficient evidence to recommend optimal sleep for children? Sleep. 36(iv):527-34.
Paruthi S, Brooks LJ, D'Ambrosio C, Hall WA, Kotagal S, Lloyd RM, Malow BA, Maski K, Nichols C, Quan SF, Rosen CL, Troester MM, Wise MS. 2016. Consensus Statement of the American University of Sleep Medicine on the Recommended Amount of Slumber for Healthy Children: Methodology and Discussion. J Clin Sleep Med. 12(xi):1549-1561.
Quillin SI and Glenn LL. 2004. Interaction between feeding method and co-sleeping on maternal-newborn sleep. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 33(5): 580-588.
Sadeh A, Mindell JA, Luedtke K, and Wiegand B. 2009. Sleep and sleep environmental in the first 3 years: a spider web-based study. J Sleep Res eighteen: 60-73.
Content of "What's normal? An bear witness-based babe slumber chart" final modified five/2018
Image credits
image of sleeping newborn by opens in a new windowGuian Bolisay/flickr
Source: https://parentingscience.com/baby-sleep-chart/
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