How much sleep is enough?

Have you seen the latest sleep research by Ferber? In the most recent issue of Babytalk, he explains that babies need less sleep than we’ve thought. “We’ve found that infants don’t need nearly as much sleep as we once thought. The idea that 4-month olds can sleep 15 or 16 hours a day is wishful thinking…”

I gotta say, this is the news I’ve been waiting to hear. For months, since Kaia was born, really, she’s needed less than the recommended number of hours of sleep. For a mom desperately trying to provide her child with the optimal environment, it has been a lesson in acceptance to realize that she just doesn’t need that much sleep. Most days she gets a total of about slightly less than 12 hours total sleep; nighttime and day sleep included. She does about 10 hours at night on average and a good one to two hour (on the good days) nap.

Turns out that’s right on target. According to Ferber, an 18 month old needs a total of 11 5/8 hours of sleep per day, 9 5/8 hours of that occurring during the night and a 2 hour nap during the day. He says that a 1 week old baby is the only age that needs 16 hours total sleep per day, then it goes down to 14 hours at 1 month, 13 hours at 3 months, 12 ½ hours at 6 months, and down to 11 5/8 hours by 18 months.

Maybe there are some extraordinary toddlers that will sleep 12 hours at night and take a two to three hour nap during the day. But not my Kaia. I wish it were so. Aah, I wish it were so. You can lead a baby to the crib, but alas, you just can’t make her sleep.