Find out how much sleep your child should get per 24 hours, from baby on up through teenager. Learn how long naps and night should be as well as how many naps to have per day.
A common question parents have is how much sleep should their child be getting. This is true at any age, from newborns on up through teenagers.
While people often worry about their child getting too much sleep, in most cases, your child probably needs more sleep than you would think they would. Remember that sleep begets sleep, and if your child is getting too little sleep, it will make it harder for them to sleep overall. If your child gets too little sleep consistently over time, it will lead to a sleep deficit and cause sleep problems and overtiredness.
With that said, it is possible to have too much sleep in your day. If your child is getting too much sleep, it will lead to struggles sleeping at night or for naps.
So we are looking for the just right amount of sleep for our kids. This post will outline the range for sleep your child should get based on age. This is a range and often has hours of difference, so you will have to find that sweet spot for your individual child. Some children have lower sleep needs and some have higher sleep needs.
Get your free Sleep Totals by Age reference sheet here! This covers newborn through teen!
Sleep Totals for Babies
Overall, your baby should be getting 10-12 hour of sleep at night and should be taking 1.5-2.5 hour long naps. There are times your baby will have a short catnap at the end of the day that will range from 30-60 minutes long. Remember that naps can be different lengths, so one nap might be 2.5 hours, another might be 1.5 hours, and a catnap might be 30 minutes.
Here is how many naps you can expect from your baby:
- 0-3 Months = 4-5 naps a day
- 3-4 Months = 4 naps a day
- 4-6 Months = 3 naps a day
- 6-10 Months = 2-3 naps a day
- 10-12 Months = 2 naps a day
Night sleep should always start around 7-8 PM. This is true even if you have a dreamfeed at night. You still want to consider bedtime to be around 7-8 PM, so when you put your baby down at that time of day, it is bedtime and not a nap.
With this information, this is the range of sleep totals you should be working toward for your baby:
- 0-3 Months = 16-22 hours a day (yes! Newborns need a lot of sleep)
- 3-4 Months = 15-22 hours a day
- 4-6 Months = 14.5-20 hours a day
- 6-10 Months = 13-19 hours a day
- 10-12 Months = 13-18 hours a day
An important part of knowing how long your baby should be napping is understanding their optimal waketime length (aka ideal wake window). This is vital to healthy sleep! Learn how to do that here.
Baby Sleep Totals Poll Results
I asked readers of this blog what their baby’s sleep totals were by age. Here are the results. It is helpful to see what others have done. I will say, however, this just shares what the totals were and doesn’t share if the sleep was going well overall.
Poll Results: How many hours did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 0-3 weeks? (approximate)
Results:
22-23 hours: 11 votes (9%)
20-21 hours: 48 votes (42%)
18-19 hours: 38 votes (33%)
16-17 hours: 10 votes (8%)
14-15 hours: 5 votes (4%)
112 votes
Poll Results: How many hours did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 3-6 weeks? (approximate)
Results:
21-22 hours: 11 votes (14%)
19-20 hours: 24 votes (30%)
17-18 hours: 24 votes (30%)
15-16 hours: 11 votes (14%)
13-14 hours: 8 votes (10%)
Total of 78 votes
Poll Results: How many hours did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 7-10 weeks? (approximate)
Results:
21-22 hours: 2 votes (3%)
19-20 hours: 16 votes (26%)
17-18 hours: 29 votes (47%)
15-16 hours: 8 votes (13%)
13-14 hours: 6 votes (9%)
Total of 61 votes
Poll Results: How many hours did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 11-13 weeks? (approximate)
Results:
20-21 hours: 5 votes (7%)
18-19 hours: 17 votes (26%)
16-17 hours: 24 votes (38%)
13-15 hours: 17 votes (26%)
Total of 63 votes
Poll Results: How many hours total did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 3-4 months (13-16 weeks)? (approximate)
Results:
18-20 hours: 17 votes (14%)
16-17 hours: 43 votes (37%)
14-15 hours: 33 votes (28%)
12-13 hours: 20 votes (17%)
less than 12 hours: 3 votes (2%)
Total of 116 votes
Poll Results: How many hours total did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 4-5 months (17-22 weeks)? (approximate)
Results:
18-20 hours: 7 votes (7%)
16-17 hours: 41 votes (44%)
14-15 hours: 37 votes (39%)
12-13 hours: 6 votes (6%)
less than 12 hours: 2 votes (2%)
Total of 93 votes
Poll Results: How many hours total did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 5-6 months (22-26 weeks)? (approximate)
Results:
18-20 hours: 7 votes (10%)
16-17 hours: 26 votes (38%)
14-15 hours: 24 votes (34%)
12-13 hours: 10 votes (14%)
less than 12 hours: 2 votes (3%)
Total of 69 votes
Poll Results: How many hours total did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 6-7 months? (approximate)
Results:
18-20 hours: 4 votes (4%)
16-17 hours: 43 votes (40%)
14-15 hours: 45 votes (42%)
12-13 hours: 10 votes (9%)
less than 12 hours: 5 votes (5%)
Total of 107 votes
Poll Results: How many hours total did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 7-8 months? (approximate)
Results:
18-20 hours: 3 votes (2%)
16-17 hours: 28 votes (24%)
14-15 hours: 66 votes (57%)
12-13 hours: 12 votes (10%)
less than 12 hours: 7 votes (6%)
Total of 116 votes
Poll Results: How many hours total did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 8-9 months? (approximate)
Results:
18-20 hours: 0 votes (0%)
16-17 hours: 29 votes (32%)
14-15 hours: 42 votes (46%)
12-13 hours: 19 votes (21%)
less than 12 hours: 1 vote (1%)
Total of 91 votes
Poll Results: How many hours total did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 9-10 months? (approximate)
Results:
16-17 hours: 41 votes (27%)
14-15 hours: 76 votes (49%)
12-13 hours: 30 votes (19%)
less than 12 hours: 7 votes (5%)
Total of 154 votes
Poll Results: How many hours total did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 10-11 months? (approximate)
Results:
16-17 hours: 24 votes (15%)
15-16 hours: 43 votes (27%)
14-15 hours: 48 votes (30%)
13-14 hours: 22 votes (14%)
12-13 hours: 17 votes (11%)
less than 12 hours: 6 votes (4%)
Total of 160 votes
Poll Results: How many hours total did baby sleep in a 24 hour period for ages 11-12 months? (approximate)
Results:
15-16 hours: 136 votes (33%)
14-15 hours: 138 votes (34%)
13-14 hours: 73 votes (18%)
12-13 hours: 41 votes (10%)
less than 12 hours: 16 votes (3%)
Total of 404 votes
Sleep Totals for Toddlers
Overall, your toddler should be sleeping 10-12 hours at night and be taking naps that are 1.5-3 hours long.
Here is how many naps you can expect from your toddler:
- 12-14 Months = 2 naps a day
- 14-20 Months = 1-2 naps a day
- 20-24 Months = 1 naps a day
- 2 Year Old = 1 nap a day, but will likely have some days they just don’t sleep
When your toddler is almost ready to drop to one nap a day, but not quite ready, it will be common for one of the two naps a day to be only 30-60 minutes long.
>>>Read: What to Do When Your Toddler Cries at Nap Time
It is also common for a two year old to have some days they just sit in bed and stay awake the entire nap and do not sleep. This is totally normal. If your toddler takes a short nap, watch for sleep cues close to bedtime. Sometimes the toddler can do bedtime as usual, but sometimes toddlers need to go to bed 30 minutes earlier.
Here is how much sleep to expect per 24 hours:
- 12-14 Months = 13-16 hours a day
- 14-20 Months = 12-16 hours a day
- 20-24 Months = 12-15 hours a day
- 2 Year Old = 12-15 hours a day
Remember that there can be outliers, meaning some kids might need more or less sleep than what is typical.
Toddler Sleep Totals Poll Results
These are the results for the poll on sleep totals for children ages 12-15 months old.
1-What was your child’s optimal waketime length for 12-15 months old?
1.5 in morning: 1
2 in morning: 7
2.5 in morning: 2
2 afternoon: 3
2.5 afternoon: 2
3-3.5 after nap: 5
4.5: 2
5 Hours: 3
2-What time was your child’s morning waketime (what time did he/she get up) at 12-15 months?
6:00 AM: 1
6:30 AM: 3
7:00 AM: 5
7:30 AM: 2
8:00 AM: 2
8:30 AM: 2
3-What time was your child’s bedtime at 12-15 months?
6:30: 1
7:00 PM: 3
7:30 PM: 6
7:45 PM: 3
8-8:30 PM: 2
4-How many hours did your child usually sleep at night at 12-15 months?
10-10.5 Hours: 2
10-12 depending on number of naps
11-11.5 Hours: 3
12-13.5 Hours: 9
5-How many naps did your child take a day at 12-15 months?
1: 5
2: 8
2 then 1: 2
6-How long was each nap usually at 12-15 months?
1.5 hours: 2
2 Hours: 5
2-3 Hours: 7
7-Looking at all of the sleep as a whole, do you think your child was getting the sleep that was ideal for your child at that age range?
Yes: 14
Unsure: 1
Sleep Totals for Preschoolers and School-Age Children
Overall, your preschooler or child should be sleeping 10-12 hours at night and taking 1-3 hour long naps, if applicable. If your child takes a nap at this age, it should just be one nap a day.
- 3 Years Old = 1 nap a day (but will likely skip the nap 1-3 days a week)
- 4-5 Years Old = 1 nap a day OR rest time (most kids totally drop the nap by 5 years old)
- 6-8 Years Old = No nap
If your child is home during the day and doesn’t really nap, it is still a good idea to have some rest time.
>>>Read: How to Do Rest Time Instead of Naps
Once the nap is fully dropped, you might find your child needs to sleep a little longer at night.
Here is how much sleep to expect per 24 hours:
- 3 Years Old = 11-15 hours a day
- 4-5 Years Old = 11-15 hours a day
- 6-8 Years Old = 10-13 hours a day
Sleep Totals for Tweens and Teens
Overall, your preteen or teen needs 8-10 hours of sleep at night. Naps will not be typical, but preteens and teens start to enjoy naps again. Help them be aware of how the timing of a nap plus length of nap might affect their night sleep.
- Preteen = 9-12 hours at night
- Teen = 8-10 hours at night
Sleep needs can vary, just like they did for babies. There can also be outliers, so if your preteen really needs 13 hours of sleep at night, that is totally fine. Read more at Sleep Tips and Needs for Teens and Tweens
Reader Questions
ProudMum: hello, My baby is dropping her third nap and sometimes she does not take it at all. so we have 3 hrs in evening. Her normal time of sleep is b/w 7 and 7;30 , but now a days I take her earlier even at 6:30. now in next month clock will be back by 1 hour in UK. I am disturb what to do. How to extend her bedtime.
Babywise Mom: if she is ready to drop that third nap, she should be able to move back to a more “normal” bedtime (say closer to 7) before long. Otherwise, one idea would be to put her down at 6:30, let her sleep thirty minutes, get her up for an hour, then back to bed.
Noelle: A Question:My 2 1/2 year old girl goes down for her nap between 1 and 1:30. For the past month there are 2 or 3 days a week that she doesn’t sleep during naptime, just quietly (usually!) talk and play in her bed. I’ll get her up after 1.5-2 hours. Does this sound relatively normal for her age, like I don’t need to change anything? Or should I try changing her naptime or bedtime? I like the current naptime because it coincides with my 11 month old’s afternoon nap. Thank you!
Babywise Mom: That sounds pretty normal. If she is happy after her lack of nap, I wouldn’t worry about it. If she is pretty cranky, I might try a strict 1:00 PM nap. Keep in mind that for a toddler, going down 15 minutes too late can mean it takes her time to fall asleep. They can get a second wind
Kate: Just a quick question… We have begun transitioning to one nap a day with my 14 month old. I feel like it is too young – but he is showing all the signs – so we are going for it. Here is the problem: He’ll nap (just the one nap) one day fine, but then wake up an hour earlier the next morning, so he ends up needing the two naps the second day. I feel like we are going back and forth. Would it be better for me to just work really hard on getting to one nap a day and let the wake up time get back to normal eventually – or is it fine to keep going back and forth every other day? Thanks! Kate
Babywise Mom: Hmmm…I would question true readiness if he is waking early the next day. That sounds like an overly tired issue. Plus, in another month one hour early will turn into two hours early (time change), so I would consider that. Have you tried shortening the morning nap instead? If he slept fine in the night, I would totally say go for it and do two naps if needed one day and one nap the next day, but with the decreased night sleep, I would say either earlier bed time or stick with two naps for a while longer. You can also try longer wake times between naps.
Jennifer: question. I have an 8 month old boy who still isn’t sleeping through the night. He is my second child and I am pro baby wise! It worked great with my first and the scheduling works great with #2 but still no sleep. He is on a 4 hour schedule. He goes to bed around 7 or 7:30 then he wakes around midnight. I have let him cry for up to 30 minutes at a time and then feed. Then he is up again between 5&6 and since I want extra sleep I end up feeding him in a hurry so that he doesn’t wake up the oldest because we are in a small apt. Then he goes back to sleep and feeds again at 7:30 to start the day and is pretty consistent with every 4 hour schedule. Please Help! Thanks
Babywise Mom: Jennifer, Does he eat well at 7:30? If so, then my inclination would be that he needs those night feeds. BW says to not move to a 4 hour schedule until baby is STTN. Babies needs X amount of calories a day, and usually need X number of feedings to get those calories in. If baby isn’t getting enough calories in during the day, he will look for them at night.My guess would be that he doesn’t need two feedings a night, though. He might be waking due to you not being able to fully do CIO with him. I would suggest you not even start it if you can’t finish it, since that will teach him that if he cries long enough you will come. I would be sure he is warm enough or cool enough, that he is eating solids well, and see also this post: 5-8 Month Sleep Disruptions
Devin: My daughter is 3 1/2 months old and about 12 pounds. She’s a great night time sleeper (7 to 8 hrs through the night). We just got her on a longer night time sleep schedule about 3 weeks ago. She’s never been a good day-time napper. I think she would nap one hour each eat, play sleep cycle, but lately she seems to want to sleep longer. Should I let her sleep longer than 2 hrs? And will letting her sleep longer than 2 hrs affect her night time sleep?
Babywise Mom: Devin, you can let her go up to 2.5 hours, but don’t let her go longer than that. So long as you get the correct number of feedings in for her, she should sleep just fine.
Michelle: Question – My baby will be 4months old in two days. He take four 2hr naps throughout the day and sleeps 11hrs at night with two feeding at 1am and 5am. Shouldn’t he be sleeping through the night by now? We’ve been doing BW since 7 weeks. Do you think he isn’t STTN because he’s sleeping so much throughout the day? Should I lengthen his wake time throughout the day? He sleeps for 2hrs and is up for 1hr. That’s his schedule throught the whole day. Help!
Babywise Mom: Michelle, yes, I would take him down to three naps a day.
Reds: I have a question regarding my 9 month old, he takes two naps a day, and he always goes down for his first nap at 10am but the time he sleeps until can vary from 11:30 to 1pm. If he sleeps until 1pm then I have no idea when he’s ready for a second nap…I’ve tried putting him down earlier than usual, and later than usual but he just cries. Would you suggest that I wake him up from his first nap at the same time every day so he’s more on a schedule for the second nap? thanks so much!
Babwise Mom: wouldn’t let him nap longer than 2.5 hours. If it were me, I would pick a time to wake time every day so things can be more consistent. It sounds like he might sleep shorter some days, but those days could be adjusted. I would take notes for a week or so to see what is his most typical time to wake up and go for that time.
Jeanne: I’ve recently read that Dr. Ferber says that typical sleep total for 3 mo. olds is 13 hrs and 6 mo. old is 12.5 hrs. What are your thoughts on this and why such a hge discrepency between his findings and your poll results? My main reason for asking is that he states that a big obstacle for STTN is too much total sleep time between the night and day. So since my son is not quite STTN, I am wondering if I am oversleeping him and expecting too much. For now, he naps about 4 hrs and “sleeps” from 8pm – 7 am but wakes around 5 or so for an extended period of talking and fussing and sometimes crying before going back to sleep. I am now starting to wonder if he has reached his sleep quota at 5 am and I should put him down for the night later (since I don’t want to start my day at 5 am.). Thoughts?
Babywise Mom: Is that his totals for a 24 hour period? If so, that sounds so little to me! My 3.5 year old gets at least 11.5 hours at night, plus about 2 hours of nap for usually 4 of 7 days in the week. My 21 month old sleeps 12 hours at night, plus a three hour nap each night.It is possible that your son doesn’t need 11 hours at night. BW states 10-12 hours is normal. My son was a shorter night sleeper until he shortened his naps in the day. But I believe sleep begets sleep and lack of sleep creates sleep problems.
Becca: My twins are 6 months old and go to bed at 10:00. They sleep until 8am. Is this too late to put them to sleep?My husband and I work all day so we like to spend time with them in the evening. They eat at 6:00, play and are awake for a few hours. take a 30 minute catnap, and then have a bottle at 9:30 before going to bed at 10:00. Is this too late to put them to bed?
Babywise Mom: Becca, This is a situation to consider context. When Brayden was a baby, my husband was still in school and also working. He didn’t get home until 8 PM. For a while, Brayden’s bedtime was somewhere between 9-10 PM…I can’t remember for sure. This was so he could see his Dad.If they are happy in the morning, it is fine. But do be aware that as they get older, they are going to need an earlier bedtime.
Alison: Hi again,I have a question regarding sleep totals. My 5 month old son is sleeping a total of about 18 hours a day. I am wondering if this is too much from looking at some past polls on your site. He is taking (3) 2 hour naps and (1) 45 minute nap each day. I have considered dropping this last 45 minute nap but each night when 700 comes he gets cranky and so I put him down because i think he needs that nap. He has started to wake earlier in the morning some days then he should and I wonder if it is because he gets to much day time sleep. We are currently on a combo schedule 2.5-3.25 hours and I have to wake him from every nap. Would you recommend trying to eliminate this 4th nap (45 minute nap) at this point even though he still takes it? I wasn’t sure if he would let me know when he is ready to drop this nap by not taking it or if I can just eliminate it. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. Hope all is well with your new little one!!
Babywise Mom: What time is bedtime? I would get rid of it no matter what time bedtime is, but that is close to what bedtime is for most kids. You might need to move bedtime up once this nap is dropped.
