How much sleep does the typical child get at different ages, and when
do nap patterns change?
Not exact matches
Between 10 - 12 weeks, you can start to skip the micro
nap and establish a
pattern that combines eating and sleeping but doesn't always link the two.
Babies who like routine and follow predictable
patterns — that's most babies — but who don't get rattled if on occasion a morning
nap happens on the way to the store rather than in the crib or when a playdate runs 20 minutes into the usual
nap time.
They'll continue with this
pattern until they're 3 or 4 years old, although some don't taper off
napping until they are 5.
Important note: The
nap times mentioned above are general in nature and
do not apply to all babies since all babies are unique and they might have a different sleeping
pattern which
does not correspond to these guidelines.
If she's
doing great with
naps and doesn't miss a beat in regards to her demeanor, follow the 15 - min
pattern discussed above!
One woman Greenfield interviewed for her piece tracked all of her daughter's
naps and nighttime sleeping
patterns in the hopes of getting her to sleep better — and it didn't help at all.
Some babies don't settle into the two
naps a day
pattern right by 12 weeks — you might get more of a series of catnaps throughout the afternoon and early evening.
Regardless of your baby's tendencies, there are a couple of things you can
do to encourage him to sleep longer at night so that his
pattern becomes more family friendly: Keep
naps short, about one to two hours.
Half the people I talk to and books I read say that the things you
do now set a
pattern, and she'll be dependent on me to
nap if I keep this up.
Start watching him like a hawk during the day to see if he's
doing anything like the 2 -3-4
nap pattern.
Sleep debt will never help your child's sleeping
patterns, so don't try to cheat by skipping the
nap.
Maybe if I go to the office wearing black - white - blue - yellow
patterns on my clothes, I might give the impression of
doing some work when really I'm having a
nap.
However, if you're sleeping more than 9 hours a day regularly (more than 5 days a week for over 2 weeks), or if you are feeling exhausted well before your regular bedtime (2 - 3 hours before) every day, or if there is a change in the
pattern of your sleep and you're sleeping longer, or if a
nap does not make you feel less tired, your fatigue may warrant further investigation.
Like you had energy, you may have been stressed, you may have been anxious but you had the energy, you know, behind you to
do all the things that you needed to
do, and then at some point, it started to teeter out where, you know, you're having less energy, you're feeling more fatigue, you need more
naps, you need more time sleeping, you spend more time resting on the weekend, and most people when we
do a detail history, we see that
pattern kind of unfolding and we progress, that's called stage 1 — again, depending on what lab you use, there's a lab called Diagnos - Techs out of Washington, they have like a 7 phases of adrenal fatigue — I like keeping things really simple.