Is Your Baby Getting Enough Sleep?
What is Enough Sleep?
The amount of sleep recommended is derived from the American Academy of Pediatrics and adjusted by age. Your child's adjusted age is calculated by their due date instead of their birth date. Based on that calculation, you will see a more accurate target for recommended sleep and wake times. Below is the chart which can help you determine what your age-appropriate sleep goals should be for your child. This includes the amount that should be allocated by daytime and nighttime.
Note, however, these are simply ranges, and should not be used to cause any guilt or stress in your sleep journey. Every child is unique, and as you start laying healthy foundations and routines for sleep, your child WILL start getting the sleep they need.
Depending on your child's age, you should expect the number of daytime sleep to also range across anywhere between 5 - 1 naps which are very important to successful nights, with the remaining hours to be attained at night time.
Log their sleep
Your first task in beginning your sleep journey is to start logging your child's sleep if you aren't sure how much they are getting in a 24 hour period! This will also help us troubleshoot if and when you decide you need support. I get wanting to be a bit chill with sleep, but if you don’t track anything, you’ll never know how to improve your situation and that can cause even more stress. For example, if your child is overtired, you will have a child who is fighting the nap or bed time, and perhaps even waking at the next sleep cycle. If you have a child who is under-tired, they may play for a while and take a while to go down, but then also not sleep as long because they simply haven't collected enough need for sleep.
Wake Times
Wake times are measured between the time your child wakes from the time they are asleep. The reason these are important, in addition to total sleep, is because the amount of time your child is awake is important to avoid overtiredness and under-tiredness. Use our wake times chart above to see what the appropriate waketimes might be for your child.
As you identify the right wake times, you will use this to prepare your child for the next "sleep." While there is a bit too science to this, it's also a bit of an art. Finding the right waketimes is the key to a schedule that supports good sleep.
Wake Window Troubleshooting
Push out your nap a bit (longer wake window) if:
* Your child is resisting the nap and takes longer than 15 mins to fall asleep
* Your child falls asleep in under 5 mins but takes only a short nap
Pull in your nap a little earlier (shorter wake window) if:
* Your child falls asleep quickly, but then wakes up after a short nap and is upset
The ultimate goal is to have a child who falls asleep within 10-15 mins or less, has a nap that is longer than 1 hour, and wakes up happy. I promise you, it is possible!
Reach Out for Help
If you just have no idea, reach out for help— that’s what we’re here for! We are trained & certified Pediatric Sleep Consultants who help 100s of families a year, all day, every day. You don’t have to manage this alone— you have enough on your plate as it is! Steps you can take to get on track:
Book an Intro Call HERE to chat about your options!
If a call is too overwhelming, fill out our Baby Sleep Quiz and we will get back to your about your options.
Start our Group Support Package for $199 (on sale until May), which gets you a FREE Baby Sleep Course, 4-5 live calls with me, and unlimited email support for an entire month! Approaches and timelines are in the photo below:
Wishing you the very best on your sleep journey… we’ve got this!
Best,
Jackie & team
