Some blissful babies start out sleeping more than 20 hours a day and continue sleeping nearly that much throughout the first year. On the other hand, very active babies may, after their first few days, sleep less than 12 hours a day. Unfortunately for their exhausted parents, the sleep needs of these infants are not likely to increase as they grow older. Your baby will let you know through her sleeping patterns just how much sleep she needs. As long as she can function throughout much of the day without fatigue, general misery, and crankiness, she’s getting enough sleep–no matter how little that is. Because your baby probably sleeps somewhere around half the day, you may wonder why you feel so tired all the time. The reason is that babies don’t get their sleep all at once, as most adults do. If your baby slept 13 hours in a row, you’d be the most rested new parent in the world. Unfortunately, they don’t. During the early months, your baby probably slept no more than two to four hours at a stretch. At three months, your baby was probably able to sleep six hours or more without waking. Even at six months, most infants only sleep six to eight hours at a stretch. But after half-waking at four or five A.M., your child can drift back to sleep fairly easily after some comforting or feeding. Just because she can sleep that long, however, doesn’t mean that she will. Your baby’s schedule may seem entirely random to you, with no set patterns to sleeping, waking, or eating. If so, don’t despair. You can take steps to make her schedule more predictable.
