As a new parent, that’s probably one of your biggest questions. The chart below is copied from Baby Center, and offers some general guidelines as to how many hours of sleep the average child requires at various ages. Of course, every child is different — some need up to two hours more or less sleep than others.
Take a good look, and remember that as your baby grows, he’ll need less and less sleep! Just as you think you’ve established a reliable sleep pattern, you’ll find that your baby has grown a little older and is moving on to the next stage, which includes a little less sleep! If you find your baby is not settling down as easily as he used to at the prescribed times, you might have to space naptime a little farther apart!
| Age | Nighttime Sleep | Daytime Sleep * | Total Sleep |
| 1 month | 8 1/2 | 7 (3) | 15 1/2 |
| 3 months | 10 | 5 (3) | 15 |
| 6 months | 11 | 3 1/4 (2) | 14 1/4 |
| 9 months | 11 | 3 (2) | 14 |
| 12 months | 11 1/4 | 2 1/2 (2) | 13 3/4 |
| 18 months | 11 1/4 | 2 1/4 (1) | 13 1/2 |
| 2 years | 11 | 2 (1) | 13 |
| 3 years | 10 1/2 | 1 1/2 (1) | 12 |
| * number of naps in parentheses | |||