Total Sleep Needs of Babies & Toddlers

baby sleep, baby sleep help, online program, online sleep program, Nurture Sleep Program, Nurture Parenting

The Developing Brain

Sleep is important for the developing brain and body. By 3 years most children will have slept for more time than all the wakeful activities combined. Many parents worry their baby isn't getting enough sleep. However, you need to know there is a large variation from baby to baby and toddler to toddler. Just like there is with developmental milestones.

Approximately 25% of children will experience a sleep problem of some kind.

Physiology of Sleep

The Circadian Process - an internal clock dictating periods of wakefulness and sleep based on a light-dark cycle. This is connected to the secretion of melatonin.

The Homeostatic Process - sleep pressure builds up during wakeful hours and is relieved by sleep.

Here are my TOP 5 Tips that you're winning.

Your baby is going down FULLY AWAKE (not drowsy - there is no drowsy but awake!) and putting themselves to sleep (no sleep crutches)
Your baby can do one long sleep once a day (more than 40 minutes)
Your baby wakes happy from naps
Your baby can get to bedtime happy on the day naps they are getting
You're happy

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently updated the sleep needs of babies and children as a guideline. It's really important to take note of the word GUIDELINE. It is exactly that, a guide, it is not set in stone.

Strong Personalities

Temperament is an important indicator of total sleep needs. The baby with a strong personality is often a resistant day napper and falls towards the lower end of the scale. Culture also plays a large part in how much sleep. Babies in New Zealand get the most sleep compared to babies in SE Asia. Sleep needs are trending lower across many cultures than they ever have. Are these babies getting enough sleep or has modern living compromised their sleep routines together with the adults?

Have a look at these bedtimes from around the world and their bedtimes!

sleep needs and bedtimes

https://www.parentingscience.com/baby-sleep-requirements.html

Sleep Charts

Sleep charts are definitely not the last word on baby sleep requirements. To estimate your baby’s own, individualized needs, you need to supplement information from sleep charts together with your own observations of your baby’s behaviour.

Mindell et al (2009) research

0-2 month old - Total sleep was 10-19 hours and the average was 13-14.5 hours

2-12 month old - Total sleep was 9-10 hours at night and 3-4 hours in day naps, the average was 12-13 hours

1-3 year old toddlers - Total sleep was 9.5-10.5 hours and 2-3 hours of day naps, the average was 11-13 hours

3-5 year old children - Total sleep was 9-10 hours, the average was 9-10 hours

Longitudinal Swiss Study

Iglowstein et al (2003) tracked 493 Swiss children from birth to 16 years. Here are the sleep patterns they observed for children under the age of 2 years. They may serve as a rough guide to baby sleep requirements.

1 month old - The average baby got a total of 14-15 hours of sleep, 50% of babies got between 13 and 16 hour, 96% of babies got between 9 and 19 hours

3 months old - The average baby got a total of 14-15 hours of sleep, 50% of babies got between 13 and 16 hours, 96% of babies got between 10 and 19 hours

6 months old - The average baby got about 14.2 hours of total sleep, 50% of babies got between 13 and 15.5 hours, 96% of babies got between 10.4 and 18.1 hours

9 months old - The average baby got about 13.9 hours of total sleep, 50% of babies got between 12.8 and 15 hours, 96% of babies got between 10.5 and 17.4 hours

1 year old - The average baby got about 13.9 hours of total sleep, 50% of babies got between 13 and 14.8 hours, 96% of babies got between 11.4 and 16.5 hours

18 months old - The average baby got about 13.6 hours of total sleep, 50% of babies got between 12.7 and 14.5 hours, 96% of babies got between 11.1 and 16 hours

2 years old - The average baby got about 13.2 hours of total sleep, 50% of babies got between 12.3 and 14 hours, 96% of babies got between 10.8 and 15.6 hours

So, as you can see there is a large variation from baby to baby. This blog made me recall a mum from the Inner West of Sydney whose 3-month-old baby regularly did 20 hours every single day. Everyone in the mother's group shot daggers her way! Her 2nd child was equally sleepy.

And just to add more to the mix...

Feeding, Co-sleeping and Sleep

Breastfed babies tend to sleep less.

Studies of 4 week-old infants found that breastfed babies got less sleep than did formula-fed babies (Quillin and Glenn 2004; Quillin 1997).

Cosleeping babies sleep less.

A Swiss study has reported that children over 9 months of age who shared their parents’ beds slept less than did children who slept alone (Jenni et al 2005).

Every baby is different. Try not to worry, most babies will regulate their own sleep needs. And if you need help please contact me. I'd love to help you with your baby's sleep.

This article was in response to a question from a mum in my Nurture Sleep Program. To learn more about this program and support group click this link.

https://nurtureparenting.com.au/superfine-merino-sleepwear-is-better-for-baby-than-cotton/

https://nurtureparenting.com.au/7-things-need-know-baby-sleep-naps/

https://nurtureparenting.com.au/3-reasons-why-your-baby-needs-good-day-naps/

Learn about my new online Nurture Sleep Program. It will stop the guesswork and give you:
✅ A tried and tested approach (20 years of helping families with baby & toddler sleep)
✅ Evidence-based
✅ Gentle baby sleep methods
✅ Holistic assessment
✅ Nurture & Nourish nutrition program - all recipes have sleep-inducing ingredients and a perfect balance for a good nights sleep
✅ Access to a closed Facebook group for one on one support from Karen and 90+ timecoded Facebook Live videos
✅ Prevention for under 4 months so no need to do sleep training ever

Can you tell Karen is getting rather excited for all you parents who need a good nights sleep and one that happens EVERY SINGLE NIGHT and not just in a blue moon ? .

CLICK on the link below to find out how my new online program can help you and your baby

https://nurtureparenting.com.au/nurture-sleep-program/

Tags: 3 months 4 months 5 months 6 months baby not sleeping baby sleep Baby sleep problems Baby Sleep Schedule baby sleep training fil_Baby Sleep and Settling toddler sleep Toddler sleep problems toddler sleep training

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Karen really understand Toddler Behaviour

I have been going to Karen since my daughter was 7 weeks old. Even through her toddler years, Karen has been spot on and has helped immensely with toddler behaviour related questions. Karen guided me through potty training issues and how to best navigate them based on my strong willed child.

Nurture Parenting - knowledgeable, supportive and gentle

Karen was understanding, kind and supportive with clear strategies to help improve our toddlers sleep. She explained what was happening and gave us a plan to follow. This is the second child we have used Karen’s methods with and I would recommend Nurture Parenting to any parents wanting to better understand their babies sleep and gently help them to self soothe and sleep better.

After buying Karen’s newborn program and successfully using it on baby 2, i decided to start even earlier with baby 3. I got a little confused on certain things since she’s preemie but Karen helped me go back to my core and center, listened attentively and answered all my questions. She also went beyond that and shared new ideas with me. It was ace. I might book another in a few weeks if needed. For now baby is doing everything by the book

Advice and videos are so clear and succinct

I just wanted to write and say thank you. We started your program almost three weeks ago, and it has dramatically changed our babies sleep for the better. Toby (10 months) went from waking 6+ times each night. We fumbled during each wake, as we offered dummies, bottles, whatever we thought would stop the crying for a moment. The only thing that we achieved, was waking him up even more and frustrating the **** out of him!

The first night of magic presence took 40 minutes, and now he is down within minutes once he is placed in the cot. We have had a few sleep throughs as well.

Your advice and videos are so clear and succinct. We found them so easy to follow. To compare, we looked back on a sleep consultant plan that we paid $300+ for with our firstborn and were stunned at how complicated and convoluted the plan was. No wonder it didn't work!!

I was so nervous about going back to work being so sleep deprived, and I was also concerned about how Toby would cope with the transition to day care. However, I now feel a lot more confident (and well rested!).

All the best and thank you again.

Christina

I'd pay 10 X what I did for this sleep program

never wanted to sleep train, I didn’t think I could personally tolerate listening to my baby cry endlessly. It surprised me how quickly my 7mo picked this up. Night one we removed the dummy and overnight feed cold turkey. We’re on night 11 and bub has been sleeping through almost every night since night 2 (we’re still battling early wakings every now and then). Day naps have also improved remarkably! I’ve also got one of the mums in my mother’s group onto this who is having huge success with her 8mo boy who she fed to sleep previously!

As my title says, I would pay 10x the amount for this program knowing how well it worked! Listening to the crying whilst in the room with bub was hard, but I know my presence was reassurance for her and it is the only reason I went with the program!!

Thanks so much Karen for this program, it’s working beautifully for us and I know it’s setting us up for long term success! I will recommend to anyone who will listen 😂

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