How much sleep does your baby need?

Most parents will tell you the first year with a new baby is a blur. The 

challenges of getting a child to sleep are many.

For the first few months your kid may have her/his days and nights confused.

 She/he may sleep all day and stay up all night—kind of the same schedule

 she'll keep when she/he's a teenager. But by three months old, just about

 the time when their parents are ready to send them back, most babies sort

 out day and night and start to sleep "through the night"

For some parents, getting their child to sleep on their own seems nearly 

impossible. To begin with, it's important to set up a series of sleep 

transitions before you run to pick them up.

Probably one of the main reasons that babies who don’t sleep through the 

night are such a big issue is that parents don’t have realistic expectations of 

the sleep patterns of babies. Babies were designed to wake up often at night

 to feed and cuddle, and keep in mind that many adults wake during the 

night, too. If our expectations for babies were not so different from our 

babies’ expectations for themselves, much of this “problem” might disappear.

When your baby is crying in the crib, some parents fear there is something

 wrong and tend to the baby. Allowing your child to settle themselves is a

 necessary achievement.

It's okay for your child, within reason, to settle themselves in bed and you

 can differentiate between the kind of whining or crying that comes with not

 getting everything perfect and the kind of crying or screaming that signals 

there is big emergency.

How Many Hours a Day Should Baby Sleep...?

It all depends on a child's age There's no magical number of hours

required by all kids in ascertain age group.  Two-year-old Sherin

might sleep from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM, whereas 2-year-old

Rahul is just as alert the nextday after sleeping from

9:00 PM to 6:00 AM.Still, sleep is very important to kids' well-being.

The link between a lack of sleep and a child's behavior

isn't always obvious. When adults are tired, they can be grumpy or

have low energy, but kid scan become hyper, disagreeable,and

have extremes in behavior.Most kids' sleep requirements

fall within a predictable range of hours based on their age,

 but each child is a unique individual with distinct sleep needs.

Here are some approximate numbers based on age,

 accompaniedby age-appropriate pro-sleep tactics.

Birth to six months

Infants sleep approximately 17 to 20 hours in a 24-hour cycle. It is rare for an infant under six months to sleep more than 6 hours in a spurt. It is more likely they will sleep for three to four hour cycles at a time throughout the day and night.

Six months to one year

Babies still need approximately 16 to 18 hours of sleep in a 24-hour cycle; 

however their schedules should begin to shift and regulate. They will most 

likely start sleeping through the night for an 8 to 12 hour period, and require 

two to three naps during the day, lasting anywhere from 2 to 4 hours each.

This is an ideal time to begin arranging your schedule and meals around 

naps. Set bed time and waking times to encourage sleep pattern regulation.

One year to two years

As babies approach their toddler years, they will slowly decrease the amount 

of sleep in a day to 12 to 14 hours. They are more likely to sleep 8 to 10

 hours per night, and probably down to one nap out during the day. As you 

see your baby's sleep needs lessening, gradually shift scheduled naps, bed 

and waking times to accommodate it.