# How many hours does your baby sleep per day?



## dillNY (Aug 15, 2007)

Total, with nighttime+naps. And also how long are naps?

Our little guy is 4.5 months, and he sleeps 8 hours TOTAL. (10 if I'm very lucky) He just recently started taking naps (30-60 minutes), which is wonderful except that now he sleeps less at night, wakes more frequently at night, and takes as long as an hour to get put down (nurse to sleep, put down, wake up, repeat). He used to have a 5-hour stretch at the start of the night, but now goes no more than 3 hours.

So, curious how much other babies, especially at this age, are sleeping. I'm having trouble getting enough sleep and long for those 5-hour stretches again!


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## Jadethehut (Oct 14, 2007)

Hey there! I also have a 4 1/2 month-old and she sleeps on average 15 hrs a day (I keep track in a little notebook). This is the minimum recommended for optimal development... It's 15-18 hrs up until... either 1 or 2 years, but I forget right now.

My baby also never used to sleep. She would wake up every 3 hrs at night, sometimes going 6-8 when not gassy, and never more than a few half-hour naps during the day. She was exhausted and just wasn't herself after awhile!

The problem was this: She didn't know how to go to sleep! She was relying on me to nurse her to sleep and then when I would try to leave her during the day, she would wake up. Thus, the lack of naps. I had to teach her how to sleep, just like how you teach them everything else!

If you're interested, basically all I did was never feed her in bed anymore. The bed is for sleep, the couch is for feeding. I would feed her on the couch. When I got up, she would wake, I would burp her, bring her to bed, make sure my chest was good and hidden, and then I would sing, read, whatever, until she was exhausted (you don't have to do anything except pretend to sleep and let her play with her toes unless she starts fussing and you don't want her to). Then she would let out a very short over-tired cry and bam! Out like a light. In less than 48 hours she knew how to sleep and that meant she could even sleep alone for her naps during the day! I just plunk her into bed, close the blinds, kiss her and say "bye-bye! go sleepies! Bye!" and she knows what to do!


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## onetrumpeter (Jul 21, 2007)

My little girl is only 9 weeks, but I'm with you on the sleep







She definitely has a hard time getting to sleep, both for night, and for naps. She'll be exhausted (I can tell by her eyelids and the tone of her sad, whimperish crying) but won't fall asleep. I bounce on the exercise ball, sway, rock, nurse, and then she'll finally fall asleep. I was trying to add up her sleep (we're logging her poops for food allergy issues







and try to also log sleep/fussiness) and yesterday she barely got 14 hours. We, too, had a few 5 hr long stretches at night a couple weeks ago, but now we're lucky for a 4 hour stretch. I'm trying to just think she's growing and will eventually be able to fall asleep more easily. Thankfully when she's in the Moby wrap she usually does fall asleep after anywhere from a bit of fussing to max 8-10 minutes of fussing.

I've also read she needs 16-18 hrs - I know she's a more happy girl when she's rested, I'm just having trouble helping her get that amount!

Jadethehut, thanks for the tips, I may try some of those.

Annie


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## PPK (Feb 15, 2007)

ds is almost 4.5 months and sleeps 15-17 hrs. Usually 11-12 at night and 2-3 naps at 1.5-2hrs each.

We learned to swaddle at 2 months and it helped w/naps tremendously! There's a thread recently titled "Addicted to swaddling" or something like that in this forum, and there were suggestions and videos on swaddling an older baby. (I posted pics too).

good luck!


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## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *dillNY* 

Our little guy is 4.5 months, and he sleeps 8 hours TOTAL. (10 if I'm very lucky)

this is very little sleep, though i do think the estimates of 15-18 hours a day are a bit high...at least IME.

DD is about 7.5 months and sleeps about 13 hours a day, which seems like enough for her. she's a very happy baby usually.

she has been sleeping about this same amount since about 2 months old, but now her naps are longer and there are fewer of them (usually 2 naps a day for a total of 3-4 hours, then night sleep is 9-10 hours).

anyway, i think you might consider looking into food sensitivities (assuming you are nursing here) or other issues. that is not much sleep for a baby, as i'm sure you know! that's rough!


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## Nicole R. (Nov 30, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *dillNY* 
Total, with nighttime+naps. And also how long are naps?

Our little guy is 4.5 months, and he sleeps 8 hours TOTAL. (10 if I'm very lucky) He just recently started taking naps (30-60 minutes), which is wonderful except that now he sleeps less at night, wakes more frequently at night, and takes as long as an hour to get put down (nurse to sleep, put down, wake up, repeat). He used to have a 5-hour stretch at the start of the night, but now goes no more than 3 hours.

So, curious how much other babies, especially at this age, are sleeping. I'm having trouble getting enough sleep and long for those 5-hour stretches again!

Hugs to you! That's really not very much sleep. Has he ever slept more than 8-10 hours total? How are you surviving? How does his mood seem?

Four months old is back in the past for us, but we used an awesome online baby-tracking software program so I can look it up -- when Isaac was that age, he slept between 12-13 hours per 24 hour period. (That's not "enough," according to the baby books, but he's been pretty consistent with that number no matter his age.)

Here's his chart for that age, although it's only for 9 days (we started keeping full records at 6 months):

http://go.trixietracker.com/site/izz...lchart=1&age=4

His naps were pretty bad at that point -- we were still scared that he woke up when set down, so we never set him down! He napped about four times a day, either for 30-60 minute stretches in my lap after nursing to sleep, or 60-90 minutes in the sling.

Good luck!


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## hipmummy (May 25, 2007)

Since birth no less than 12 hours total.


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## granolalight (Nov 1, 2006)

My baby is a year old. He sleeps 12 hours at night (still wakes to nurse) and takes two naps that are usually 1-2 hours each.


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## nylecoj (Apr 24, 2007)

Dd is a year old too and she sleeps 11-13 hours a day -- generally on the shorter side. Always has. She's always had a hard time getting to sleep too.


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## Mere (Oct 1, 2002)

Wow, you guys with your sleep charts are super organized! I'm impressed! Anyhow, 8 hours of sleep certainly does not sound like enough. Maybe you need to try some different ways of getting baby to sleep? I would certainly second JenRose's recommendation on swaddling - it *really* helped ds go to sleep.

Anyhow, at 4.5 months ds2 was starting to 'wake up' a little more (I swear he spent him first 3 months of life asleep) but he still slept a ton, I don't know how much exactly. Now he's 6 months and sleeps about 12 hours at night, plus naps for roughly 4 hours during the day.


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## psichick78 (Apr 23, 2007)

My baby never used to sleep much either, sometimes even less than 8 hours a day and I knew this wasn't helping her mood. She is only 9 wks now but she is sleeping much better.
I have a radio tuned to static and sometimes when she's really fussy and nothing is soothing her I put her in her crib, turn on the radio and after crying for a minute or two she's out. I think sometimes my efforts to sooth her are just keeping her awake.
It doesn't always work and I won't let her cry for more than a few mins but even a day like today, without that technique she wouldn't be sleeping right now.


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## momtoKailee (Nov 18, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *psichick78* 
I think sometimes my efforts to sooth her are just keeping her awake.

I have noticed this with LO at times too. I'll put her down all sleepy after nursing, and she'll start to fuss a little. Sometimes if I let her wriggle and grunt for a few minutes, she'll fall asleep where my picking her up and trying to soothe her back to sleep will cause her to wake up more.


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

My kids have all been different in their patterns, but it always averaged out to about 14 hours in 24. DD1 at that age slept about 10 hours at night and then about 4 hours during the day. DD2 at that age gave me about 11 hours at night and about 3 during the day. DS only slept about 9 hours at night, but he would nap for about 5 hours a day.


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## dillNY (Aug 15, 2007)

Thanks for the replies. We do swaddle (have since birth), keep the room very dark, play ocean sounds softly the whole night, and about an hour before bed we talk quietly and dim the lights. For naps, I can't get the room very dark, so might look into something to fix that.

Food sensitivities are a good idea. He does have some eczema on his chest/belly, and we haven't eliminated that, so food could be causing both problems. He also seems to be teething as he's chewing and drooling a ton and crying more, especially when he can't get something in his mouth. We're trying Hylands tablets to help with the teething.

The teething and eczema are newer things, but he's never really slept all that much. I'm getting pretty worn down, especially when he gets up 4+ times a night. He was so reliable before, getting up at 1am and 4am, so I was spoiled for a while!

Today he just took a nap for an hour and a half!!!!! No waking in the middle to nurse back to sleep, either. It may be a total coincidence, but I bundled him a touch warmer, and maybe he liked that.

If you've got any more ideas, I'm all ears!

p.s. He is a pretty happy little guy, smiling and babbling a lot and playing well, it's just that he has some bad periods during the day with his teeth.


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## kaspar (Nov 9, 2005)

one thing that helps our lo is having a humidifier in the room. it provides white noise, and makes it easier for him to breathe. we had it off for a while while we were moving amd he was waking 4 times a night; now he's back down to once (generally i nurse him to sleep in the glider, put him down at 7, and he sleeps through to 8).

also how much playtime does she get? lo is more likely to nap when he's had a lot of good playtime.

we stopped cosleeping when he was 7 or 8 months, when we figured out that he would wake whenever we could smell me (there were a few nights where he was in bed with my husband and i was on the sofa!)

naps in the day are difficult though - often all that works is if he naps in the sling. in total he probably sleeps 14 to 16 hours a day.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jadethehut* 
Then she would let out a very short over-tired cry and bam! Out like a light.

lo does this sometimes! it cracks me up.


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## cotopaxi (Sep 17, 2007)

How long are you keeping him up in the AM before trying for the first nap? From my experience and that of many friends, we were surprised to find that at that age, our babies really needed to go down for their first nap WITHIN two hours of waking up for the day, sometimes sooner. We found that if we watched for signs of sleepiness and put them down RIGHT AWAY when they started to show signs that they napped better. Waiting longer just made them overtired and irritable, and they actual slept shorter/worse.

At 4 months, dd was sleeping 8-9 hours at night and napping i think a total of 5-6 hours during the day. Usually she wasn't awake more than 2 hours at a time. So, she'd sleep overnight maybe 9pm-6am (waking to nurse several times, though), then nap 7:30am-9am, 11am-12pm, 2pm-3:30pm, 5-6pm. By 5 months she consolidated to 3 naps and a longer overnight sleep, and now at 7 months it's a loong overnight sleep of 11+ hours, and only two 1.5-2 hour naps during the day.


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## cotopaxi (Sep 17, 2007)

Oh, and I forgot to add that at 4 months I was still wearning dd for many naps. Sometimes she preferred the crib at that age, sometimes she needed cuddles, so I would try the crib and if she cried, then I'd tie her on and let her nap on me.


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## veganone (May 10, 2007)

DD is almost 4 months and needs to sleep about every 2 hours - especially in the morning! She needs that morning nap (she's taking it now). I find that if I can get her to sleep when she's been awake for 2 hours or so (watch for sleepy signs) she sleeps better in general. I have to wear her for most naps, though. At night, she's getting maybe 10 hours and at least 3-4 in the daytime. I think she needs more, but she's been gassy lately.

We went through a period of around 8 hours sleep for a while after a bout of reflux (now medicated) and I finally figured out that she was overtired, which made her sleep horribly. In our world, more sleep leads to more sleep!!!


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## yoginisarah (Dec 20, 2007)

My 15 month old sleeps 16 hours per day. 13 hours at night, 1 1 hour nap and 1 2 hour nap. When he was younger, he would often sleep more. He is an extremely active kiddo though and constantly on the move when he is awake.


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## veganone (May 10, 2007)

I'm so jealous of those of you getting 12+ hours at night!!! DD won't sleep without me in bed, so she gets pretty much what I do.


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## pehp (Aug 28, 2007)

8 does seem very low for a baby that age.

My little guy is 6 mos old. he sleeps about 12-15 hrs per day, depending on how he feels etc. Usually it pans out like this:
up around 8
morning nap by 9:30/10 (watch for sleepy signs--they need to go down sooner than you might think); sleep 30 mins or so
afternoon nap in early afternoon--usu try to sleep 2 hours (I must sleep w/ him to get that); if this is 30 mins he takes another nap in late afternoon
bed around 8 pm (he does not sleep thru the night)

And I nurse him to sleep nearly always.

So--

maybe cut out dairy (we have a dairy allergy)--then try wheat....soy...and other allergens if baby seems gassy/fussy
keep baby swaddled...
and (you may or may not like this!) you might encourage your little one to sleep 'on' or 'near' you.


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## dillNY (Aug 15, 2007)

OK, more info!
We do have a humidifier going, so that provides additional white noise. Babe usually does take a 5-minute snooze after his first nursing session of the day (usually about 2 hrs after getting up) but if I try to put him down he wakes up and won't go back to sleep, so I just hold him and then he's very alert and ready to go.
I have a really tough time sleeping if he's in the bed, so we don't cosleep as a rule. He's still in our room at all times, and usually around 5 am I pull him into bed to try to get him to sleep more, but that means I sleep very lightly. Napping with him I'm cool with since then it's just the 2 of us and I can get more space in the bed and sleep better. He has taken naps as long as 90 minutes by himself, just not reliably.
Also he gets tons of playtime (it's just me and him at home) and we try to go on 2 walks a day, one in a carrier and one in the stroller. He sometimes falls asleep in the stroller, but even with it flat he'll only stay in for 20 minutes after I stop walking. So sometimes I make it longer to get him some sleep, then I get tired. I'm trying to get out with other kids more, because that seems to make him really active and then he conks out better.

I'm also wondering if he might be hitting a growth spurt and needs more food, and that gets him up more often at night? (The frequency at night is what kills me, and I can't imagine it is good for him either) Maybe I can try pumping to increase supply and/or supplement the pumped milk to see if that helps. I'm also cutting back on the dairy drastically, but don't know much about label reading, so I'm sure I'll be getting small amounts from some things. That should help though, right? Or is food elimination really an all or nothing proposition (i.e. it only works when all traces of the foods are absent?)

Thanks so much ladies, all these comments are really helpful! The answer's got to be in here somewhere!


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## Miyelani (Nov 28, 2006)

Although some eczema is caused by non-food things, over 60% of it IS caused by food allergies...My daughter has food allergies and when I eat the wrong thing, she sleeps like that. Have you thought of keeping a food journal or just temporarily pulling milk and soy and all of their by-products for a week or two? The sleep will make the effort worth it, if that is what it is! Milk and soy are the biggest little babe culprits. We had to cut a lot more b/c DD had other symptoms, but it might be something worth trying. You must be EXHAUSTED!!!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *dillNY* 
Total, with nighttime+naps. And also how long are naps?

Our little guy is 4.5 months, and he sleeps 8 hours TOTAL. (10 if I'm very lucky) He just recently started taking naps (30-60 minutes), which is wonderful except that now he sleeps less at night, wakes more frequently at night, and takes as long as an hour to get put down (nurse to sleep, put down, wake up, repeat). He used to have a 5-hour stretch at the start of the night, but now goes no more than 3 hours.

So, curious how much other babies, especially at this age, are sleeping. I'm having trouble getting enough sleep and long for those 5-hour stretches again!


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## Jadethehut (Oct 14, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *psichick78* 
I think sometimes my efforts to sooth her are just keeping her awake.
It doesn't always work and I won't let her cry for more than a few mins but even a day like today, without that technique she wouldn't be sleeping right now.

Yes! I agree completely! Before Jade knew how to go to sleep, she was obviously tired all the time, so for the first few days of not nursing to sleep I did avoid real crying, but sometimes I knew she was overtired/stimulated and would have to cry for just a minute or two to get out all that energy and pass out.

Signs they're ready for bed are pretty obvious, like yawning and face rubbing, looking away, acting spaced out, but signs they're overtired include frantic, uncontrolled kicking and also when the head starts turning left, then right, over and over. Then if they do a coughy-cry when you put them down, you can know nothing's wrong, that's just somthing that has to happen at this point and singing, rocking, etc, may only make it worse.

Oh, and for teething, I have no idea why (the ingredients are so similar) but I find Camilia kicks Hylands' butt for teething! =)


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## TeaLeaf (Jun 19, 2007)

That's a nice tracker, but if you're interested in owning the software (cheaper in long run) and have the info on your private computer instead, there is The Baby Nanny:

http://www.positivelybreastfeeding.c...baby_nanny.htm

Too bad there is no MAC version though.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nicole R.* 

http://go.trixietracker.com/site/izz...lchart=1&age=4


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## jadzia's_mommy (Jun 9, 2005)

My 16 month old sleeps about 11 hours at night (not straight through, but total) and then takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day. My older DD needed slightly less sleep and still doesn't seem to need as much sleep as other kids her age. But 8 hours for a 4.5 month old doesn't seem like a lot to me. I think the PPs had a lot of good suggestions. We have a nice noisy air filter set to max in our room (where we sleep with DD#2) and a white noise machine in DD#1's room.

When my older non-sleeping DD was that age, I'd every so often have to declare a "sleepy day" and I'd dedicate the entire day to getting her to go to sleep and stay asleep. I'd wear her, rock her, walk her in the stroller for 10 miles if I had to--whatever it took to get some sleep in her. And then she'd get a little caught up and sleep better at night. If it sounds like a lot of work, it is. But it is a good investment.

Thank goodness DD #2 just likes her naps a lot more, because who the hell has that kind of time when you also have a toddler too!


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## jadzia's_mommy (Jun 9, 2005)

Oh, and I wanted to add that my older DD also could not be moved after I nursed her to sleep. So at that age, that left nursing her on a mattress on the floor, or rocking her in the Amby so that she'd fall asleep there and not have to be moved. See if you can figure out some options other than nursing and laying her down if that isn't working. GL!


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## kittysmama (Oct 13, 2003)

I would try keeping a food and sleep log, I agree that the bad sleeping and eczema might be linked (one of my kids has food allergies and her mild eczema cleared completely when we pulled the foods that she is allergic to). Foods have to be clearly labeled for milk, it will say in the ingredient list (milk) or at the end of the ingredients, there was a new law that requires them to use plain language. I'd leave soy in your diet for now and work with one variable at a time. I'd cut it out completely for at least 2 weeks, although dairy protein stays in breast milk for up to 6 weeks, you should see some improvement by 2 weeks. I'd also look into reflux (dairy is the #1 trigger for babies), one of my kids has silent reflux, so not a lot of spitting up, but has done really well on compounded Zantac. Reflux is always worse when lying down or at night - if you have swing or bouncy seat or could try keeping the stroller at an incline it might help if that is part of the problem. The testing for reflux can be kind of invasive and inconclusive so many peds will try reflux meds and diagnose after the fact if they work. If Zantac turns out to help your little guy just be on top of getting the dosage adjusted as his weight increases. Hope you are both getting some more sleep soon!


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## Twwly (Jan 30, 2007)

DS sleeps about 10-12 hours at night (until 3 nights ago, he was still nursing every 1-3 hours and refusing to come off the breast from 4am-8:30am, so nobody get jealous of HIS 10-12 hours at night, ha). And he usually takes 2 naps a day that can be 1-2 hours each.

So between 13-16 hours a day @ 15 months.


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## TaylorCopper (Jul 28, 2018)

*Sleep Chart by Age: Infant sleep chart*

There are many different reasons why kids, especially toddlers, stay up late at night or wake up frequently. Did you check the possible cause as below:

1. Feeling ill. Flu, headache, fever, or any other illness.
2. Teething.
3. Hungry. 
4. Too many naps in the daytime.
5. Uncomfortable mattress or bed.
6. Want to play with you.

According to kids sleeping chart, children age 4.5 month need about 12-16 hours a day including naps. If your toddlers don't sleep well, they need more hours on the other day to compensate for that.

Having a bad sleep or lack of sleep may lead to severe issues. Sleep deprivation during childhood can lead to less concentration, bad memory, bad temper, fatigue, gain on weight, weaken immunity, slow down growth and more.

My advice is: Figure out the real reason why your kids don't sleep well and try to solve the issue. If it doesn't get better, you'd better contact a pediatrician.


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## Jesica231 (Aug 11, 2018)

My Baby sleeps a lot – typically up to 15 to 18 hours a day. But most babies don't stay asleep for more than two to four hours at a time.A newborn Infant needs about 16 to 20 total hours of sleep per day


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## mirandawhyte (Jun 20, 2018)

Maybe he is still not used to it and he is taking some adjustments.


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