How Much Sleep Does Your Child Need?

The amount of sleep your child needs every night varies according to their age.

Do you know how much sleep your child needs? After many studies, researchers came up with this guideline for parents to follow:

• Infants need an average of 12-18 hours
• Toddlers need 11-12 hours
• Grade school and high school kids need 9-10 hours of sleep

In order to make sure your child gets the right amount of sleep, you should establish a routine for your child's sleep schedule.

A typical bedtime routine is something like this:

Your child eats dinner, brushes their teeth, bathes, and gets dressed for bed. They need time to wind down. You can read a story to them, they can read one to you or read to themselves. After that, close the book and it is lights out.

Don't give your kid's large meals or drinks a couple of hours before bedtime. A full belly will make it too uncomfortable to drift off to sleep. If your child drinks too much, they will be making multiple trips to relieve themselves.

Also, make sure the temperature in the house is comfortable. Keep the noise level in the house low before bedtime too. A loud television from the other room will interrupt your child's attempt to sleep. Children and infants should be put to bed as soon as they start to show signs of being sleepy.

Sleeping recharges the brain. Children who get the right amount of sleep are better tempered, more alert, less stressed, are more social and perform better at school overall.

If they are having trouble sleeping, it could mean that they are not feeling well, their clothes might be uncomfortable or some other cause. Relieve the issue and send them back to bed.

Make sure where they will be sleeping is safe. Don't put too many toys or stuffed animals in bed with your child. This could cause them to suffocate.

Check out this video from WebMD for more information:
www.webmd.com/video/breus-child-how-much-sleep