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Here s How Much Sleep Babies and Kids Need, By Age

Alice Park @aliceparkny

June 13, 2016

Sleep experts combed through hundreds of studies to determine how much children

of different ages should sleep to be at their healthiest

It s no secret that adults aren t getting enough sleep, and that s a problem

since more research is confirming that poor sleep can have lasting effects on

health, including things like obesity and heart disease.

And the same is true for children. While kids with bed times have an easier

time of getting enough sleep than adults, the intrusion of smartphones and

tablets and social media, not to mention growing pressures at school, are also

keeping kids up at night.

To help parents know how much sleep is enough, a group of 13 sleep experts

convened by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have issued sleep

recommendations that have been endorsed by a number of health groups, including

the American Academy of Pediatrics. Based on what they found in 864 studies

that tracked children s sleep and their health outcomes, they found that

children sleeping the recommended amounts below on a regular basis enjoyed

fewer attention, behavior and learning problems as well as lower rates of

obesity, hypertension and depression. But there was a limit to the benefit; too

much sleep was associated with higher rates of diabetes, obesity and mental

health issues.

Here s how much sleep they recommend for children at different ages:

Babies 4 to 12 months 12 to 16 hours

Children 1 to 2 years 11 to 14 hours

Children 3 to 5 years 10 to 13 hours

Children 6 to 12 years 9 to 12 hours

Teens 8 to 10 hours