How long does it take for a baby to sleep every day?
Lauren F. Friedman, based on a multi-country study, identified 20 hazards of chronic sleep deprivation, including irritability, low mood, weight gain, weakened vaccine effectiveness, and gastrointestinal problems. From this, it is not difficult to see that a small sleep has an impact on the body that should not be underestimated. Let's talk in detail about how long babies of different ages should sleep.
The above picture is the reasonable sleep time for different age groups given by the American Sleep Foundation, among which infants from 0-3 months: the sleep range is reduced to 14-17 hours per day (previously 12-18 hours); 4 - 11 months infants: sleep range expanded to 12-15 hours (previously 14-15 hours); toddlers 1-2 years old: sleep range expanded by 1 hour to 11-14 hours (previously 12-14 hours); Preschoolers 3-5: Sleep range expanded by 1 hour to 10-13 hours (previously 11-13 hours).
In the above figure, the blue part represents the middle value, and the upper and lower light blue parts represent the lower and upper limit values. Generally, the sleep time of children is between the upper limit and the lower limit, which is reasonable. Having said that, parents are relieved, the scope is still very broad, and there is no need to worry too much.
And in fact, the best way to judge whether the child is awake and has enough sleep is to look at the child's state. If the baby does not feel tired after waking up, and is in good spirits when playing during the day, generally there is no need to worry too much.
However, babies at different ages also show different patterns of sleep and some minor problems. Let us take a closer look at:
●(0-3 months) Recommended sleep time: 14-17 hours
In the first month after the baby is born, he may need to drink milk every 3 to 4 hours, and most of the time is in sleep, occasionally wake up to eat and eat, and play emotional cards with his mother.
Don't underestimate this soft little man. In the first month of life, he can already form his own relatively stable rule of eating, drinking, playing, and making trouble according to his mother's work and rest rules.
From the second month onwards, your baby's waking hours during the day will gradually increase a little bit. And his stomach has grown a bit, at this time, the mother can appropriately reduce breastfeeding once at night.
By the third month, the baby can sleep for 6-8 hours at a time, and the mother can have more time to rest.
Note: Babies at this age need to sleep on their backs. When they are awake, the mother can let the child lie down for a while, which will help the child's physical development. (Don't let the child lie on his stomach alone, you need someone to take care of you)
● (4-11 months) Recommended sleep 12-15 hours
Babies at this time will need about two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Generally, if the child's sleep time during the day does not affect the night's sleep, the child can sleep as long as he or she can. However, when the child takes a long nap in the afternoon and it is difficult to fall asleep at night, it is necessary to wake him up earlier during the afternoon nap.
At 4-7 months, you can establish a sleep pattern for your child, and you can give your child a fixed ritual. Take a hot bath or tell a story to help your child relax and be in a good mood before bed. Insist on doing this for your baby before going to bed, and let your child habitually associate these activities with sleep to form a good sleep pattern.
Note: Parents need to persevere for a long time, so as to allow their children to form a habit.
Babies aged 7-11 months still have the habit of taking two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. After the baby is 8 months old, he can basically sleep 10-12 hours at night, that is, sleep through the night. Therefore, if the baby does not wake up to ask for milk during this time period, the mother does not need to give the baby additional milk.
Separation anxiety will increase around 9 months, when the baby may be reluctant to go to bed and wake up more often at night. During this period, mothers can prepare some soft and safe toys or small objects for the children, and let the children use them as empathy objects to soothe them.
Note: It is not recommended for children under the age of 1 to leave soft objects on the bed after the baby sleeps to prevent the risk of suffocation.
● (Infants 1-2 years old) Recommended sleep 11-14 hours
Babies 1-2 years old have some changes in their sleep patterns as they grow up. At this time, the child's two naps during the day may gradually become one, but not all babies are like this. Parents do not need to worry too much when they encounter such a change in the baby, just focus on the habits of the baby. Note: During this time, you can work with your child to develop a bedtime ritual. Take your baby's advice and make this bedtime ritual a reality every night in your baby's crib. Pay attention to the time when your baby is sleepy and make a reasonable sleep plan for your baby.● (3-5 years old for preschool children) 10-13 hours of sleep is recommended
Babies around 3 years old, most children will have a nap during the day, about 1 to 2 hours.
The cartoons or toys that babies of this age may have watched during the day will evolve into monsters in their dreams. So you may encounter a child crying and waking up in a dream, telling you that he had a terrible dream and was afraid to sleep because he was afraid.
At this time, what the child needs more is your comfort. You can give him a hug in time and comfort him until he is completely calm.
Note: Parents can also read some picture books about dreaming to their children every day to help children understand the meaning of dreams.
It's normal for 4-5 year olds to stop taking naps during the day. Babies during this period may experience night terrors, which are when the child wakes up a few hours after falling asleep with round eyes, kicking, screaming, and crying.
At this time, parents should not panic first, give the child a strong hug, tell him that it's okay, both parents are here, and let the child calm down. Usually the child will go back to sleep after 10-30 minutes. When parents and children talk about it the next day, it is normal for children to remember nothing at all.
Note: Some children experience only one night terror, while others experience many. However, it is generally not very frequent. If your child has particularly frequent night terrors, you can consult your pediatrician.
Will Sleeping Late Affect Your Baby's Growth?
"At ten o'clock in the evening, growth hormone begins to be secreted. If you sleep late, it will affect the child's height." I believe many mothers have heard this sentence. Therefore, many parents, when encountering a night owl baby at home, are so anxious that they are afraid that the child will not grow taller if he sleeps late.
In fact, growth hormone is continuously secreted 24 hours a day, but sometimes more and sometimes less. When the baby goes into deep sleep, the secretion is more. So for babies in infancy, growth hormone is related to the quality and duration of sleep, but it has little to do with how late the baby sleeps.
When the child enters puberty, the growth hormone will usher in a peak every 4 hours or so, and the height of the child during this period will be affected by sex hormones, so sleep sooner or later, the impact is not very big.
Baby sleeps and eats hands?
Babies eat their hands when they first start, mainly because of their physiological responses (foraging response or sucking reflex). Most babies stop sucking after 6 or 7 months, but some babies may still suck their fingers after 8 months .
Finger sucking can play a soothing and calming role, so many babies suck their fingers when they sleep, and in most cases use their fingers as a comforter. As long as the child is not 4 or 5 years old and still sucking fingers, parents don't need to worry too much.
To prevent the baby from inhaling too much bacteria from the hands, it is recommended to use a baby-specific silicone teether.
Which is better to sleep on your side, on your stomach, or on your back?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that healthy babies stay on their backs (on their backs) as much as possible. This sleeping position is the safest for small babies and reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
Sleeping on your back not only reduces the incidence of sudden death syndrome (SIDS), but also avoids parotid gland compression and drooling.
Both side sleeping and prone sleeping are at higher risk. If some older babies (closer to 1 year old) like to sleep on their tummy, after the parents turn the baby to lie down on their back, the baby can go from supine to prone, from prone to supine, and turn over freely. The baby chooses a comfortable position to sleep, and there is no need to watch the baby all night to see if it has turned over.
In addition, if the child has birth defects or breathing, lung, heart, etc. problems, it is recommended to consult a professional pediatrician before determining what position to use to fall asleep.
Sleep Regression?
Many mothers will find that the angel baby who has been sleeping obediently before may suddenly start to cry loudly one night, which may be the child's sleep regression period. Children usually experience their first sleep regression when they are 3 to 5 months old. During this period, the baby's sleep begins to gradually transition from the infant sleep mode to the adult sleep mode.
This "hard" mode is difficult for babies to adapt to, so the correct guidance of parents is particularly important during this period. Faced with the baby becoming sleepy overnight, parents should not be too anxious. The sleep habits established by the baby in the first few months will not disappear all at once. At this time, parents should focus not on how to make the child fall asleep quickly, but on how to assist the baby to adapt to the new sleep pattern as soon as possible. It is suggested that parents can first observe whether the baby can comfortably fall asleep, that is, after the child hums and chirps twice, he falls asleep again.
If not, parents can continue the previous way of soothing, and use the way of tapping or humming to soothe the baby. In short, use the method of breastfeeding or hugging sleep with caution to avoid breastfeeding or hugging to sleep in the child's new sleep mode. As part of this, it will increase the difficulty of healthy sleep habits in the future. In addition, parents should also let their children try to self-soothe. They can gradually improve their children's self-soothing ability by gradually weakening the parents' comfort.
A very important point at this stage is to help your baby establish a healthy sleep pattern. Let the children form a regular sleep of eating-playing-sleep, which can make the sleep coaxing life of mothers much easier in the future.
Child's nap habits?
Some mothers asked Nao Nao, how can the child sleep with his parents at noon? You are super sleepy at noon every day, but the bear child is full of energy and refuses to sleep?
In fact, naps are also a type of nap in children. Some babies may stop taking morning naps at 10-12 months, and others may stop taking morning naps after 13 months, but most babies need a daytime nap by age 3. This allows them to avoid becoming more difficult to coax in the evening when they are tired from the day's play.
However, the child's nap time may not be synchronized with that of the parents, and there will be a problem of poor nap time. This may be because the child's habit of taking naps all the time is more afternoon. If you want to adjust, parents can try to advance the child's sleep time at night, so that the child's nap time is correspondingly earlier, and make adjustments step by step, gradually synchronizing with the parents.
In addition, it is suggested that parents should be close to their parents' biological clocks when they start to cultivate their children's sleeping habits, so that it will not be too difficult to adjust.
Cultivating children to develop regular sleep habits is a long and persistent process in itself. Here, I would like to remind parents not to easily change their children's sleeping habits. For example, when they encounter festivals, travel, etc., it is recommended to use their children's sleeping habits. Don't be happy and lively for a while, you can't afford to hurt you when you sleep and make trouble!
