---
title: "How much sleep does a baby need?"
description: "Babies, 4 to 12 months: 12 to 16 hours a day, counting naps. What the consensus statement actually says, and how to work a bedtime back from it."
url: https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/babies/
site: "At One Place"
---

# How much sleep does a baby need?

**Babies, 4 to 12 months need: 12 to 16 hours a day, including naps**

A range, from a consensus statement

Counting naps. Sleep at this age is still spread across the day and the total is what matters, not the shape of it.

## What the recommendation is and is not

The figure comes from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's pediatric consensus statement, which was arrived at by a panel reviewing the published evidence on sleep duration and health outcomes rather than by measuring what children actually sleep. It is a range within which outcomes are good, not a prescription, and a child consistently at either end of it is not doing anything wrong.

## Every age band

| Age | Per day | What it covers |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Babies, 4 to 12 months | 12 to 16 hours | Including daytime naps |
| Toddlers, 1 to 2 years | 11 to 14 hours | Including daytime naps |
| Preschoolers, 3 to 5 years | 10 to 13 hours | Including daytime naps |
| Children, 6 to 12 years | 9 to 12 hours | Night sleep |
| Teenagers, 13 to 18 years | 8 to 10 hours | Night sleep |
| Adults, 18 and over | 7 or more hours | Night sleep |

## Working out a bedtime from it

*Using the lower end of the range and allowing 15 minutes to fall asleep.*

| Wake at | Asleep by, for 12 hours | In bed by |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 6:00 am | 6:00 pm | 5:45 pm |
| 6:30 am | 6:30 pm | 6:15 pm |
| 7:00 am | 7:00 pm | 6:45 pm |
| 7:30 am | 7:30 pm | 7:15 pm |
| 8:00 am | 8:00 pm | 7:45 pm |

## Common questions

### How much sleep does a baby need?

12 to 16 hours per day, counting naps. Counting naps. Sleep at this age is still spread across the day and the total is what matters, not the shape of it.

### Where does that figure come from?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine pediatric consensus statement, published in 2016 after a panel review of the evidence linking sleep duration to health outcomes.

## Related pages

- [How much sleep does a toddler need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/toddlers/)
- [How much sleep does a preschooler need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/preschoolers/)
- [How much sleep does a child of primary-school age need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/children/)
- [How much sleep does a teenager need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/teenagers/)
- [How much sleep does an adult need?](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/how-much/adults/)
- [What a sleep cycle actually is](https://atoneplace.net/sleep/cycles/)

## Sources

- Recommended Amount of Sleep for Pediatric Populations: A Consensus Statement — Paruthi et al., Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 12(6), 2016 (https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.5866)