The first thing to remember is that infants do not have regular sleep cycles till around six months of age. The average newborn sleeps as much as 16-17 hours in a day. That is a lot of sleep! Unfortunately, you don’t realize that your baby sleeps this much because it is in packets of 1-2 hours each. The baby gets up, demands a feed or that he be cleaned up and then falls back into blissful sleep after having ruined yours. Adults are used to sleeping at a stretch and they get very disturbed by the associated psychological and physical ill-effects by the lack of continuous sleep. There is no other way out but to adjust to this, until the child outgrows it.

By six weeks of age, most babies begin to sleep for shorter periods during the day and longer periods at night, though most continue to wake up to feed during the night. The sleep also becomes deeper and sounder. Most babies by the time they are about 5-6 months of age are able to sleep 8-12 hours through the night (much to your relief!) but usually not before that.

This may be small comfort to parents whose children sleep much less than this but there are variations and really nothing to be done about it.

How many hours do infants ‘normally’ sleep?

It depends on the age of the infant and also that there are many variations in individual infants. Some may sleep more and some less than average.

Usually:

• Newborns to 3 months: 10-12 hours at night, 4-5 hours day in 4-5 naps

• 4 to 5 months of age: 10-12 hours at night, 2-4 hours day in 3-4 naps

• 6 to 8 months of age: 11-12 hours at night, 2-3 hours day in 2-3 naps

• 9 to 12 month of age: 11-12 hours at night, 2-3 hours day in 1-2 naps

When should I be concerned that my child is sleeping too much?

This usually is not a problem. Some infants simply need more sleep than the average infant does. It is only when the child does not get up even to feed and you have to wake her up regularly, is it a matter of concern and should be evaluated by your pediatrician.

When should I be concerned about my child sleeping too less?

There are many causes of an infant who sleeps less and you need to find out why and requires its own post (coming soon)