Sleep is enriching. It’s the body’s way of restoring balance, replenishing energy, and reinvigorating to meet the challenges of a new day. Babies have particular sleep requirements, given that they are growing and developing at a rapid rate. One must consider developmental differences, temperament, and age in determining a child’s optimal sleep.
As a case in point, newborns require up to 18 hours of sleep daily, while infants sleep between 12 – 16 hours daily, including naptime. The average toddler should get between 11 – 14 hours of sleep daily, and preschool-aged children need between 10 –
13 hours of sleep. Further down the line, kids in elementary school typically require between 9 – 12 hours of sleep daily.
Based on information from the AASM (American Academy of Sleep Medicine), there are guidelines for age-specific sleep recommendations for juniors. These guidelines are flexible goalposts since every child is different. Assuming the four primary age groups, infant, toddler, preschool, and school-age children, these are the recommended sleep guidelines:
Recommended Sleep Guidelines for Babies
Baby: 4-12 months, 12-16 hours (including naps)
Young Toddler: 1-2 years, 11-14 hours (including naps)
Early Childhood: 3-5 years, 10-13 hours (including naps)
Primary School Age: 6-12 years, 9-12 hours
Source: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/children-and-sleep/how-much-sleep-do-kids-need
Why Don’t Newborn Babies Regularly Sleep Throughout the Night?
Newborn babies don’t subscribe to specific sleep suggestions, particularly babies under four months. There is insufficient data to corroborate the impact of sleep duration in infants under four months. Given the changes in sleep cycles for newborns, it isn’t easy to gauge reliable data in this regard. We know that many newborn babies can sleep between 16 – 18 hours daily, but it’s uncommon for newborns to sleep throughout the night.
Restless nights for newborns are a common occurrence. Given their erratic sleeping patterns, one of the pediatricians’ most commonly asked questions is: Do babies have nightmares? One school of thought posits that babies can struggle with unpleasant or scary thoughts while sleeping. These bad dreams, or nightmares, mainly occur in adults, but it’s still a relatively unknown quantity in babies.
Nightmares occur during REM sleep. Given that babies have more REM sleep than adults, some experts believe they can have nightmares. However, there is no way for a baby to validate or verify having had a nightmare. It’s a tricky question to answer.
On the other end of the spectrum, many scientists believe that babies can’t have nightmares because these are complex mental experiences. Young babies cannot understand what is happening around them and can’t process multi-sensory elements.
In short, the professional community does not have any substantive evidence confirming the presence or absence of nightmares in babies. Babies typically have their first nightmares between the ages of 1.5 years old and two years old, although there are cases where junior has nightmares as young as six months.
Infant and Toddler Sleep Pattern Development
0-3 months Sleep sessions mostly last less than 3.5 hours throughout the day.
3-7 months Sleep consolidates into 2 naps (~1.5 hours each) and ~10.5 hours of night sleep.
1-5 months Daytime sleep sessions decrease.
5-28 months Daytime sleep sessions (naps) increase monotonically.
5-36 months Morning wake time remains constant across age.
- Bedtime to Night: Sleep Later bedtimes lead to shorter night sleep duration.
- Night Sleep Duration: Starts to lengthen around 5-6 months as sleep consolidation occurs.
- Variability: Bedtimes show more variability than wake times.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27252030/
According to data from leading government health and wellness departments in Australia, toddlers tend to sleep much better from 12 months onwards. From that point, they sleep for extended periods and awaken less often. Between 1 and 2 years of age, toddlers will sleep up to 14 hours in 24 hours.
Note that this includes several hours of nap time. There are also changes in toddler sleep rhythms in that age range. Overnight sleep duration tends to increase, but night waking continues. The main reason for infant and toddler sleep pattern changes is brain development. Other aspects can impact sleeping patterns, notably separation anxiety, distress, resistance to sleep, etcetera.
Things get a little complicated during the teething stage of a baby’s life. This occurs from around 18 months. Another phenomenon that can occur is sleep regression. This temporary situation can arise in many different points in a toddler’s life. Things like routine changes, aches and pains, teething, traveling, stress, anxiety, stimuli, and diet can interrupt an otherwise regular sleep pattern.
Positive sleep behaviors can be cultivated by removing stressors and returning to a predictable life pattern, a.k.a. a routine. Parents and caregivers are best positioned to understand, recognize, and react to toddler environment anomalies. Look for signs of fatigue, maintain a consistent bedtime routine, and build strong and secure relationships with the toddler to encourage healthy sleep patterns.
