Baby Sleep Guidelines

Broadly speaking, guidelines for how much sleep babies need are fairly similar. Here's a look at a recommendations from a few different sources:

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (as published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine), here's the amount of sleep kids need. This was determined by 13 sleep medicine experts and researchers :

Infants 4 to 12 months – 12 to 16 hours of sleep every 24 hours (including naps).
Children 1 to 2 years – 11 to 14 hours of sleep every 24 hours (including naps).
Children 3 to 5 years – 10 to 13 hours of sleep every 24 hours (including naps).
Children 6 to 12 years – 9 to 12 hours of sleep every 24 hours.
Teens 13 to 18 years – 8 to 10 hours of sleep every 24 hours.

Recommendations for babies younger than 4 months aren't included because there is such a wide range of what's normal when it comes to sleep patterns in newborns, and there isn't enough research to back up guidance in the youngest of infants.

Once babies start sitting up and being active, it is sometimes harder to get them to sleep!

When kids meet the adequate number of sleep hours for their age on a regular basis, they're likely to see benefits including better behavior, attention span, learning, memory, emotional regulation, and overall quality of life, said consensus paper author Dr. Lee Brooks, an attending pulmonologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep Duration Recommendations :

Age	Recommended	May be appropriate	Not recommended
Newborns 0-3 months	14 to 17 hours	11 to 13 hours 18 to 19 hours	Less than 11 hours More than 19 hours
Infants 4-11 months	12 to 15 hours	10 to 11 hours 16 to 18 hours	Less than 10 hours More than 18 hours
Toddlers 1-2 years	11 to 14 hours	9 to 10 hours 15 to 16 hours	Less than 9 hours More than 16 hours
Preschoolers 3-5 years	10 to 13 hours	8 to 9 hours 14 hours	Less than 8 hours More than 14 hours
School-aged Children 6-13 years	9 to 11 hours	7 to 8 hours 12 hours	Less than 7 hours More than 12 hours
Teenagers 14-17 years	8 to 10 hours	7 hours 11 hours	Less than 7 hours More than 11 hours
Young Adults 18-25 years	7 to 9 hours	6 hours 10 to 11 hours	Less than 6 hours More than 11 hours
Adults 26-64 years	7 to 9 hours	6 hours 10 hours	Less than 6 hours More than 10 hours
Older Adults ≥ 65 years	7 to 8 hours	5 to 6 hours 9 hours	Less than 5 hours More than 9 hours