How long should a newborn baby sleep between feedings? This is a fairly common question for pediatricians from young parents who want to get a good night's sleep. The baby needs to be fed day and night. It turns out that his mom and dad have no time left to sleep. But those whose babies sleep for a very long time should not rejoice. Such a dream threatens to dehydrate the body.
Why does a baby sleep for a long time?
A baby who has just been born sleeps really a lot. The average duration of his sleep is from 15 to 20 hours a day. But you should also take into account the nuance that sleep must be interrupted for feeding. Ideally, no more than 1.5-2 hours pass between meals.
Since the baby's stomach has a small volume, it needs to be fed little but often. Breast milk is very quickly absorbed by the newborn’s body, and therefore its reserves must be replenished on time. If a child sleeps for more than 5 hours in a row, this means that he does not have enough food, and therefore vitality, or he is sick. In this case, you should measure the baby’s body temperature and, if necessary, consult a doctor immediately.
You should also take into account the fact that after using strong medications during childbirth with complications, the baby may also sleep a lot of time. This is explained by the fact that the drugs could affect the baby’s nervous system. Therefore, their use had a sedative effect on the child. In this case, you should consult a doctor about this. This phenomenon usually goes away on its own, but there are exceptions when the intervention of a pediatrician is vital.
How long should a child sleep?
The average figures for total sleep duration per day, as well as recommendations for daytime and nighttime sleep by age, are as follows.
How long should a baby sleep before 1 year of age?
- 1st week - sleeps 18-20 hours a day, wakes up every 2-4 hours to eat. During meals (before and after feeding), he stays awake for a short time and falls asleep when full. Some children have a night feeding break of 5-6 hours.
- The first month - he sleeps 16-17 hours a day, and also wakes up to feed every 2-4 hours. But he stays awake longer. Eats 6-8 times a day. Gradually, a night break in feeding is formed.
- 3 months - sleeps 15-16 hours a day. Eats 5-7 times a day. A daily routine is gradually being formed. Night sleep becomes longer and differs from daytime sleep. The child experiences long periods of active wakefulness. He can stay awake for 1.5-2 hours. Gets used to walking, playing, swimming, eating and sleeping.
- 6 months - sleeps at 14-15 hours, eats 5-6 times a day. With the introduction of complementary foods, food becomes thicker and more satisfying, and stays in the stomach longer. The child retains a feeling of satiety for a longer time. The baby becomes older, stronger, more mobile. Can be actively awake for 2-3 hours. At this time, the baby sleeps 2-3 times during the day for 2-4 hours. And at night he can withstand a break between feedings and sleep continuously for 6-9 hours.
- 12 months - Sleeps 13-14 hours, eats 4-5 (preferably 5) times a day. Sleeps 2 times during the day for 1.5-2.5 hours. At night 10-12 hours.
How much should a child sleep between the ages of 1 and 4 years?
- 18 months - 13-14 hours. By this time, most children take one nap during the day. The duration of daytime sleep is 2-3 hours. The duration of night sleep is 10-11 hours.
- 24 months - 12-14 hours. Daytime sleep is 2-2.5 hours, night sleep is 10-11 hours.
- 3-4 years - 12-13 hours. Daytime sleep is 2 hours, night sleep is 10 hours.
How much sleep should an older child have?
- 5-7 years - 11-12 hours, daytime sleep 1-2 hours, many children at this age stop sleeping during the day. Night sleep 10 hours.
- 7-14 years - 9-10 hours, no need for daytime sleep.
- Over 14 years old - the recommended duration of night sleep is 7-8 hours.
However, your child may sleep 2 hours less or more than the daily norm. This may be his individual feature. And do not threaten his health. But it may be a sign of illness or discomfort.
How to distinguish a child’s individual characteristics from a disease?
Harm of long sleep for a newborn
Since feeding a baby is often postponed to another time due to his prolonged sleep, there are a number of dangerous consequences that can even threaten his life. If the baby does not wake up on time, and therefore does not eat or defecate, then this may indicate some kind of abnormality. In such cases, you should seek help from experienced professionals. Often, such a baby’s regime can create many additional problems.
Among them, pediatricians identify such problems as:
- Dehydration.
- Weight loss.
- Difficulty breathing.
It should be remembered that every child is unique. This also applies to his sleep. Some babies sleep more, some sleep less.
Many pediatricians believe that the baby knows better when and what he needs to do. Little children obey their biological clock. And therefore they wake up exactly when they really need it.
If a child was born small, he should be fed more often and more abundantly than one who was born with a normal weight.
But it will be more difficult for him to wake up than for the second baby. You should not force feed your baby. He eats as much as his stomach allows.
Danger of dehydration
Dehydration itself is dangerous because it can be fatal. To prevent this in any case, you should definitely wake up the baby after 2 hours of continuous sleep. This must be done delicately and extremely carefully, as he may get scared. The ideal sleep phase for a baby to wake up from is active.
To make it easy to recognize, you should look carefully at the baby. If in a dream he waves his arms and legs, his eyelids actively move and his eyes even open slightly, and on his face one expression quickly gives way to another, then this is exactly what you need. It is worth touching his shoulder or slowly running a warm hand over it. The baby will gradually begin to wake up. The lighting in the room should be dimmed.
Before feeding, the mother must adhere to strict hygiene. If the nipples are too hard and the baby is unable to draw milk out of them, it is recommended to express the breasts in advance, then they will be a little softer. But if nothing changes, it is better to bottle feed the baby. Malnutrition has consequences, as does dehydration.
Weight loss as a result of long sleep
After birth, young children usually lose some weight. But if after the first week of life the baby continues to lose weight, then the reason may be hidden in his too much sleep. To prevent weight loss in your baby, you should wake him up every 2-3 hours after the last feeding.
Even if the baby refuses to eat, it is necessary to breastfeed him while half asleep. Awakening requires additional expenditure of energy from him.
Children during this period are very weak, they need a lot of energy for their harmonious development. Therefore, they are not always able to wake up on time. This applies to feeding in the first half of the day. The maximum gap between feedings at night should not exceed 5 hours. After this time, the child experiences strong feelings of hunger and thirst, which will lead to dehydration.
Night feedings should be a little less frequent, but much more satisfying, so that the baby has enough strength for a full, healthy sleep. If the baby previously slept for 2-3 hours, and then suddenly began to sleep more, this may indicate that he does not have enough milk. In this case, you should think about choosing baby food. Breast milk can be replaced with artificial nutrition not completely, but only partially.
The child does not sleep at night
Confused day with night or inverted mode disease.
This problem most often plagues young parents of children under 1 year old. The baby does not sleep at night, but sleeps well during the day. During the day he gets enough sleep and at night he doesn’t sleep again, and so on every day.
Adapt to the child?
In this case, everything depends on the adults around the child: parents, grandparents. Children quickly get used to the routine. If the child’s entire environment adapts to him: the child sleeps during the day for 4-5-6 or more hours - and the whole family rests, at night he is awake, and the whole family entertains him. The child gets used to this regime. And it will be more difficult to rebuild it to a different mode every day and, especially, month.
Show firmness?
If parents show firmness: you need to sleep at night and stay awake during the day. They will entertain the child during the day, walk with him, play, not let him sleep for a long time (wake him up after 2 hours), then at night the child will sleep.
Create comfortable conditions
In addition, you need to create comfortable conditions for the child to sleep. Cool and humid air (temperature 18-20°C, humidity 50-70%), comfortable clothes and bedding, dry, clean, not too tight diaper. If a child suffers from colic, measures must be taken to combat it. And if he often wakes up at night to eat and is fed artificially, there are special night formulas. If you are breastfeeding, weigh all the pros and cons of sleeping together and make a decision: most children eat at night without fully waking up and, having eaten, immediately fall asleep, only the mother will have to wake up.
Some parents do not want to put diapers on their child. But they stand up to him all night to change his wet diapers. As a result, no one sleeps at night. And during the day, the mother puts pamers on the baby. And his grandmother takes him for a walk in a stroller. The baby sleeps well outside after getting tired during the night. And mom is resting at home. but at night everything repeats all over again. And the solution to the problem is quite simple - put a diaper on the child at night.
Swaddle
Some children do not sleep well without diapers (with clothes on). By moving freely, they wake themselves up. But if such a child is swaddled tightly, he will sleep well. You can swaddle your baby as long as you can (up to 6-9 months). By this time, the child will gradually get used to sleeping at night.
If the child does not have significant deviations in health, visiting a doctor and prescribing sedatives to a child who has confused day with night will not lead to the desired result. The child will sleep even better during the day and remain awake at night. This problem cannot be overcome without efforts on the part of parents.
Difficulty breathing
If your baby breathes quickly and intermittently while sleeping, he may have a fever. Perhaps the room where he sleeps is very hot. In the first case, you need to urgently contact a pediatrician, and in the second, turn off the heaters and open the window a little. Because the room temperature is too high and therefore the humidity level is low, this can cause the baby's mucous membranes to dry out.
The cause of slow or almost inaudible breathing, which sometimes disappears, may be an incorrect sleeping position or the presence of gases in the esophagus. Therefore, before putting your baby to bed, it is strongly recommended to pick him up and pat him on the back. Thus, the “extra” will be removed. But, if the child is breathing irregularly, and his lips and nose turn blue, parents need to urgently call a doctor.
In the case when a newborn baby turns around too much in his sleep and seems to be “swallowing” air with his mouth, it is imperative to wake him up. The reason for this behavior can be both colic and hunger. Therefore, before each feeding, it is strongly recommended to massage the tummy, and during the feeding, press the nipple tightly against its lips to avoid air getting in.
The child sleeps little or does not sleep well
If your child sleeps less than the recommended daily amount and
- Capricious.
- Sleepy during the day.
- Not active.
- Not attentive.
- He has a poor appetite.
- The baby is not gaining weight well.
He needs more sleep. It is necessary to look for the cause of poor sleep.
Possible reasons
- Starving (not eating enough) - reconsider the diet, feed more often.
- Poor diet, deficiency of protein, vitamins or minerals. Review and change your diet. Take a course of vitamins (minerals).
- Poor sleeping conditions. It is very hot - reduce the temperature in the children's bedroom to 18-20C. Dry air - buy a humidifier. Noisy, bright light, etc. - find and eliminate the cause.
- Insufficient physical activity during the day - you need to play more with the child, walk with him. Enroll a child of preschool and school age in sports sections.
- Excessive physical or mental stress - reduce the intensity of exercise.
- Active games or stimulating cartoons before bed, scary bedtime stories - exclude these factors. Instead, read your favorite book at night or sing a lullaby to your baby.
- Child's illnesses. The most common: - intestinal colic, teething, calcium deficiency during periods of active growth. The child can be given calcium supplements for 10-30 days.
- A school-age child may have trouble sleeping because of problems at school or with friends. A preschooler may not sleep because he is afraid to go to kindergarten tomorrow or because of night terrors. Then parents need to find the cause of the child’s problems and fears and try to eliminate it.
Poor sleep can be caused by serious illnesses in the child. If simple measures do not help in combating this problem, you need to consult a doctor.
If your child sleeps less than the recommended daily amount and
- He has a good appetite.
- He is gaining quite a bit of weight.
- It is active while awake.
- Calm, attentive, does not look tired.
- This means his individual need for sleep is less than average. He gets enough sleep and there is no need to make adjustments to his regimen.
