Are you a parent of a baby? A toddler? A pre-schooler? A teenager?

How much time does your child sleep for?

How much sleep does he ACTUALLY REQUIRE?

Indian Baby Sleep Chart

Understanding Baby Sleep
Our sleep is characterized by two distinct phases. There are periods of sleep where our eyes dart from side to side actively just like they do when we are awake- rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep; our brain activity is high at this phase. These short periods of active eye movement are sandwiched between longer phases of still eyes – the brain is calm at this phase. Together, these two phases make up our sleep cycle.

We usually have sleep cycles that last about 90 to 120 minutes, whereas babies have much shorter cycles that last only around 50 minutes max. Since their cycles are so short, you get a baby that is wide-awake multiple times every night. The good news is, after 6 months your little one’s sleep cycle will transition and begin to look a lot more like yours as they grow, reaching around 100 minutes by the time he/ she begins school.

As your child grows, his sleeping requirements will change.

Let me break this down for you.

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0-1 MONTH

15-18 hrs of total sleep

• A newborn baby sleeps a lot.
• Infants do not have their circadian rhythms developed yet. So they cannot distinguish day from night.
• He is often restless and wakes up easily.
• Cuddle him and help him go back to sleep.

1-2 MONTHS

15-18 hrs of total sleep

• At this age, your baby’s sleep pattern will be very similar to that of the previous month.
• Infants do not know how to put themselves back to sleep. You have to comfort them using swaddling, breastfeeding, gently rocking or using a pacifier.
• Letting them cry themselves to sleep will not work and is an abuse that can be dangerous to the baby.
• Infants do not have fully developed reflexes yet, so it’s common for them to twitch, smile or make suckling actions when deep sleeping.

2-4 MONTHS

14-16 hrs of total sleep

• You can begin teaching sleep schedules to your little one at this phase.
• You can gently progress towards a good nights’ sleep by exposing her to warm direct sunlight early in the morning.
• Dim your lights in the evenings and avoid simulating, loudly playing or taking her out after dark to not disturb her onset of sleep.
• You can begin a sleep routine for your baby. Warm baths followed by full tummy feeds, a song or a story will help relax your baby and help them doze off longer.
• At night, he may sleep for 5-6 hrs at a stretch.

4-6 MONTHS

14-15 hrs of total sleep

• At this age, your baby may stop waking up for a feed at night. He/she will have settled into a predictable sleep routine.
• You can try shortening his/her late evening naps to help him tire for the night.
• According to research,

6-9 MONTHS

14-15 hrs of total sleep

• At this stage, your baby may develop SEPARATION ANXIETY.
• That is, if he sleeps with you around, but wakes up and finds that you are not there, this may scare him.
• By 6 months, your little one’s stomach will have grown a bit, so if everything else is good, you can expect him/her to sleep through the night at this stage.
• DO NOT feed him if he wakes up and cries. Just pat him on the back, soothe him and put him back to sleep.

9-12 MONTHS (1 YR)

14-15 hrs of total sleep

• This stage is very similar to the previous stage.
• Keep checking on your baby while he is sleeping.
• If your little one is sleeping through the night and sometimes you hear sniffles during the night, don’t turn on the lights or pick her up immediately. Wait for a second – many times, they’d go right back to sleep. Soothe the baby and duck out quickly without making them fully awake.

12-18 MONTHS (1-1.5 YRS)

13-14 hrs of total sleep

• Play with him while he is awake.
• Expose him to sunlight.
• Establish a sleep routine.

18-24 MONTHS (1.5-2 YRS)

13-14 hrs of total sleep

• Your baby will become very naughty at this stage.
• He will want to start snuggling and sleeping close to you.
• Make sure that you strictly follow the sleep routine that you started in the previous stage.

2-3 YRS

12-13 hrs of total sleep

• This stage is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.
• You can start SLEEP TRAINING.
• Sleep training is basically a way to teach your child to sleep alone.
• Resist procrastinating bedtime and stick to their schedule consistently to get fresh, well-rested toddlers every morning.
• Avoid bright lights/ games/ television or too much liquid in the late evenings.

3-5 YRS

11-13 hrs of total sleep

• Bed-time stories are an excellent way to put your child
• NEVER scare your child of the dark.
• DON’T DO THIS!
• Aim to avoid caffeine completely. Caffeine does not refresh your brain, it simply attracts and parties with the sleep chemical receptors, distracting them, ignoring your body’s cry for sleep. It’s a façade. Even worse, caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours, which means, if your kid had an evening 7:30 p.m. caffeinated soda, her body will have only cleared half of it by 1:30 a.m.! Caffeine can sneak up into your kid’s diet in many ways, so keep an alert eye around to stop this sleep killer.

5-12 YRS

10-11 hrs of total sleep

• Your child will be big now.
• TV before bedtime is a strict NO-NO.
• Avoid junk food and sodas/aerated drinks before bedtime.
• Maintain a cool and child-friendly environment in your child’s bedroom.

We hope this Indian Baby Sleep Chart helped you gain some valuable insight to help your little one sleep better. Check us out regularly for more articles!