Sleep Chart
| Age | Daytime Sleep (hours) | Night time Sleep (hours) |
|
Newborn (up to 3 months) |
Up to 19/20 hours between day and night |
|
|
Infants (from 3 to 6 months) |
4 hours |
11-12 hours |
|
Infants 6-12 months |
Up to 3 hours |
11 – 12 hours |
|
Toddlers (12 months -2.5 years) |
2 hours |
11-12 hours |
|
Pre-school Children (up to 5 years) |
11-13 hours |
|
|
School age children (5 years +) |
10-12 hours |
Encouraging Good Sleep Patterns
1. Always put down awake
- Wind properly (younger babies)
- Make sure baby wakes up if they have fallen asleep – use winding time to rouse them
- Watch their eyes flicker so you know they are not fully asleep
2. Ensure good last feeds of the day (7pm and tea or 7pm and dream feed)
3. Don’t worry if baby grizzles (not screaming furiously) when you put them down
- They may be creating a wall of sound around them, that is familiar
- They will be trying to cut out other sounds
4. Use soother at beginning of sleep
- Don’t put back in again unless necessary to re-settle
- Soother allows the body to calm down and get into a natural rhythm
- It is a SLEEP ASSOCIATION for them. It tells the baby “I am expected to go to sleep now”
5. Maximise the difference between day and night (use lights and curtains to your advantage)
6. Help the baby to develop their own internal body clock
7. Have a regular bedtime routine
- It is the anchor of your day so allow 20-40 mins to wind down
- Routine should be manageable by one person and not complicated
- Tea, Bath (if you wish), Pyjamas, story, bed
8. Ensure the bedroom is a peaceful place
- The bedroom should be just that – a bedroom
- Toys downstairs or packed away
9. Check temperature of bedroom (too cold is better than too hot)
- 16-20 degrees approx.
- Use a sleep bag for babies in cots
10. Once baby is weaned onto solids (around 5/6 months), they should be able to start sleeping through the night without feeds (with the exception of B/F babies).