Children and Their Sleep

Babies and their sleep are a big topic. Just as we, mothers, are all different, there are differences in our children too. No one can say that our baby is poorly rested just because it napped for forty minutes and the neighbor’s baby is great because it slept for an hour and a half. Or because mine sleeps ten hours at night and my friend’s sleeps twelve.

There are big differences, but there is always some average (for sleep over a full day and night combined).

So how is it then?

The first three months, a baby sleeps roughly 14-17 hours a day and has a wake window of about an hour to an hour and a half.

At the age of 4-6 months, the baby is usually awake for 1.5 to 2 hours and the total sleep time is 12-15 hours.

Between the 7th-9th month, the total sleep time for day and night is still between 12-15 hours, but the wake window gets longer; the baby is awake for 2-3 hours.

And finally, between the 10th-18th month, sleep is roughly 11-14 hours, and the child can usually stay awake for 5 hours.

Don’t forget that these are average figures. You may have a baby with a low or, on the contrary, a high sleep need. So always follow your child’s lead.

Sleep in young children, especially in the first year of life, changes incredibly quickly. You settle into some routine and then suddenly there’s a leap and the baby is developmentally somewhere else, and so is their sleep. Transitions between sleep periods happen all the time, and that can make us mothers feel dizzy. In any case, it’s always good to realize that a huge number of things affect sleep (experiences during the day, the quality of daytime sleep, enough contact, illness, diet…) and we can’t always influence everything.

We also shouldn’t forget that every family has different sleep habits, and that is reflected in expectations too. Let’s free ourselves from the idea that we all have to do everything the same way, and do it in the way that suits you. It’s not a problem if your child gets up at 7:30, if that works for you.

Sometimes, though, a baby’s sleep situation is truly challenging, so don’t hesitate to ask for advice. Find a holistic consultant who will help you understand biologically normal sleep and look for gentle ways to make changes. In this case, we send understanding and keep our fingers crossed that it works out 😊.