Sleep Patterns for your baby at different ages
By
the age of around three months, your baby should be beginning
to establish a sleep pattern and distinguishing between longer night-time
sleeps and shorter daytime naps.
As a rough guide (and it’s important to
remember that these timings are approximate, as different babies need more or
less sleep than others), your baby will need these amounts of sleep depending
on his age:
• Before around three months Your baby will sleep for longer
during a 24-hour period but will wake more frequently and sleep less than you
might like at night. For example, he might have three two-and-a-half-hour
naps in the day and seven to eight hours at night; perhaps
decreasing to three one and a half hour naps during the day and 10 hours at
night by the age of three months.
•
From six months Your baby will be sleeping less
during the day, usually between two and three and a quarter hours split into
two or three naps, and 11 to 12 hours at night.
• By 12 months Your baby should be sleeping
for 11 to 12 hours at night, but only having one daytime nap, typically lasting
for about two hours.
As
you can see, the correlation between night and sleep gets stronger for your
baby as he grows, so the early months are, in most cases, the toughest –
meaning it gets easier as he gets older! Good news for you.
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The information in this feature is intended for
educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the
health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a
doctor or other healthcare professional.