How much sleep does your baby actually need?
Top Tips for Understanding Your Baby's Unique Sleep Needs
the Gentle
By Claire Fair Sleep Coach
A
s a gentle sleep coach for babies, I've seen countless parents struggle with baby sleep advice that doesn't seem to fit their child. From pregnancy onwards, parents are bombarded with advice around sleep routines focused on what I consider to be the biggest misconception in the world of baby sleep: that there is a one-size-fits-all sleep schedule for babies at certain ages.
Many parents are told that following strict, age-appropriate awake times will result in a perfectly sleeping baby. If only it were that simple! The truth is that babies are individuals with varying needs and temperaments, which significantly impact their sleep patterns.
WHAT SCIENCE SAYS ABOUT BABY SLEEP NEEDS In 2015, a panel of 18 specialists from leading organizations reviewed over 300 publications to update official sleep recommendations. Their findings, published in the Sleep Health Journal, provide average sleep durations for different age groups: • Newborns: 14-17 hours in a 24-hour period • 4-11 Months: 12-15 hours in a 24-hour period • 1-2 years: 11-14 hours in a 24-hour period • 3-5 years: 10-13 hours in a 24-hour period
66 Peninsula Kids – Summer 2024/25
Importantly, the panel noted that sleep needs could vary by up to two hours on either side of these averages. This means there can be up to an eight-hour variation in sleep needs within each age bracket! Given this wide range of normal sleep needs, it's clear that a one-sizefits-all approach simply doesn't work. Trying to force your child into a prescribed schedule can lead to stress and overwhelm for parents, wasted time trying to settle a baby who isn’t tired and nighttime sleep issues like split nights, early rising or frequent waking. I tell the parents that I work with that we can't force low sleep needs children to need more sleep, just as we can’t make high sleep needs children happy with less. Neither end of the spectrum is better than the other – sleep needs are just what they are for individual babies. So where to from here? How do you determine your baby’s unique sleep needs? Here are my top tips:
1. TRACK YOUR BABY'S NATURAL RHYTHMS Instead of following generic schedules, keep a basic sleep diary for a few days. The CuboAi Smart Baby Monitor can be incredibly helpful here, as it provides sleep reports without pushing generic awake time recommendations. This data can give you valuable insights into your baby's unique patterns.
