Concerned about your baby’s sleep?

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How much sleep is enough?

Is your baby getting enough sleep at the right times? Just like adults, babies all sleep for different amounts of time, but as a guide:

• an 8-9 month-old baby will sleep for about 14-15 hours every 24 hours
• an 8-9 month-old baby will have two naps per day lasting at least one hour each
• wakeful, grizzly babies probably need more sleep
• wakeful, contented babies are probably getting enough sleep!

When do babies aged 6-12 months sleep?

Day sleep is important for babies up to and beyond 12 months of age. The following relates to babies aged 6-12 months.

In the daytime:

• 85-90% of babies will have a daytime nap.
• Naps usually last 1-2 hours. Some babies will sleep longer, but up to a quarter of all babies of this age nap for less than an hour.

At night:

• Most babies at this age go to bed between 6 pm and 10 pm.
• Most babies take less than 30 minutes to get to sleep, but about 10% take longer.
• About 60% of babies wake at least once during the night and need an adult to settle them back to sleep. About 1 in 10 babies will do this 3-4 times a night.
• Waking up is partly related to the child’s worry about being separated from his parents. Overcoming this worry is normal and necessary for all children as a step to becoming more independent.
• More than a third of parents report problems with their baby’s sleep at this age.

What happens after 12 months?

Some babies start to resist going to sleep at night, preferring to stay up with the family. This peaks at around 18 months and tends to improve with age. Parents report this sleep problem more than any other.

After one year of age, children tend to sleep better and less than 5% of two-year-olds wake three or more times overnight.

What about your baby’s sleep?

Before embarking on the journey to change your baby’s sleep, you might want to keep a simple record of your baby’s sleep. Making a chart is easy. Divide the day into hourly blocks, colour the intervals when your baby is asleep and record when your baby wakes. Keep your chart for 5-7 days. Once completed, the chart will tell you things like:

• when your baby is sleeping
• how much sleep your baby is getting
• how many times your baby is waking during the night over the course of a week
• when your baby is waking at night
• how long your baby is taking to settle when he wakes.

Compare the information you collect to the information in this article:

• How does your child compare to other babies his age? All babies are different, but if he is getting much less sleep than others, then he may be tired and need more opportunity for sleep.
• How many times is he waking up during the night? Fewer than one in 10 babies of this age wake 3-4 times a night. If this is happening to you, it’s no wonder you are feeling tired and want to change things. If he is only waking once or twice, he is not that different from the majority of babies his age.

Keep your chart going as you try some of the suggestions in these articles. It will allow you to assess your progress and see just how much change is occurring.

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