Has anyone's baby always slept under the required amount?

[Lelophants]

Ours has always slept under at night and in naps, only just under on a good day but always under. E.g. should be napping 2-3 hours a day and we get anything from 30mins up to 1hr 30 on a very good day.

Should be 12+ hours at night and we get 10 and a half up to 11 and a half max.

He just just 8 hours last night after a late bedtime and refusing to go back to sleep. He just sleeps way less than he's supposed to and can't help worrying about his development but honestly my life is about his sleep. It drives me mad.

Yes..you are getting way more than I ever did with my two. They've never needed much sleep.

Yes, I had a baby like that too. Once, he was awake, he was awake. He liked being up in a bouncing cradle so he could see what was going on.
But, once he became a teenager he definitely made up for all that lost sleep....

I had one of those, drove nursery crazy because she wouldn't sleep. From about a month she wouldn't sleep more than a few minutes a couple of times a day. She wasn't upset, just not tired. Teenager planning to do medicine, still doesn't sleep much. It is as if she has been training for long shift work all her life. It works well because she can manage a late night with little impact on her the next day. I know sleep can affect longevity but if you can't sleep then you can't sleep.

@paganbilly

Yes..you are getting way more than I ever did with my two. They've never needed much sleep.

How much did they get?

Yeah my 3yo is like that. Since dropping naps totally she finally sleeps 11/12 hours a night for the first time in her life. She used to sleep about 10 (broken) hours and rarely napped! Even as a newborn she was constantly awake. Never understood the whole "sleep when the baby sleeps" / "newborns sleep all the time" thing until I had DS who was a sleepy little chap! Thought something was wrong with him 🤣

My DD was and is like that. She's nearly nine now, bright has a button and sweet as anything, so it doesn't seem to have done her any harm.

My DC are older now and I don't remember there being any kind of required amount (so much seems have changed in a relatively short time) and everyone's babies had different sleep patterns. Sleep was a constant topic of conversation but we weren't aiming for any kind of set amount per day, that sounds like a step towards negative mental healthiness to me.

Good to know it hasn't seemed to have done any harm. Also when I say 10 hours at night it's very broken so probably much less.

Health visitor drove me crazy so I didnt even go into it with her. She asked if he had bags under his eyes though and I said no. I think he does though:( all the NHS advice makes me panic!

@satnighttakeaway

My DC are older now and I don't remember there being any kind of required amount (so much seems have changed in a relatively short time) and everyone's babies had different sleep patterns. Sleep was a constant topic of conversation but we weren't aiming for any kind of set amount per day, that sounds like a step towards negative mental healthiness to me.

Yeah it hasn't helped tbh.

How old is your little one? Sorry if I missed that bit. Sleep obsession drive my anxiety and I’ve finally started to chill out about it and has definitely helped

DS1 never ever slept more than 9-10 extremely broken hours in a 24 hours period. From birth until age 7 years. As a parent it was fucking awful. When ill he would sleep even less.

Now aged 9 he sleeps an average of 11 hours straight every night. Bliss.

I also spent the first 3 years clock watching. The minute he went down, the minute he woke up. Desperately adding up the 45 minute segments at night to see how much he slept. Hated it.

My ds is 11 months and has just started doing about 10 hours (about 6 hours at the start, then a feed, then down for about another 4) but sometimes we only get 9. In the day he has anything from 1.5 to 3 hours. I've stopped obsessing now because it was taking over everything! He's happy and healthy so I'm trying to relax about it!

@Jojo19834

How old is your little one? Sorry if I missed that bit. Sleep obsession drive my anxiety and I’ve finally started to chill out about it and has definitely helped

Just over 1 year, sorry forgot to mention!

It's always been bad. In the first few months I didnt realise newborns were supposed to nap and it didn't bother me as much!

@InvincibleInvisibility

DS1 never ever slept more than 9-10 extremely broken hours in a 24 hours period. From birth until age 7 years. As a parent it was fucking awful. When ill he would sleep even less.

Now aged 9 he sleeps an average of 11 hours straight every night. Bliss.

Glad it's better now!

Mine. He’s 7 months. Bedtime is on average 9pm-6am. In those 9hrs he usually wakes every 90mins, and is wide awake at some point for around an hour. So has max 7hrs sleep most nights.
He naps 1-3 hrs daily depending

He just won’t sleep. Yesterday he woke 6.30am, was tired by 8am. Wouldn’t sleep. I put him in pram by 9am and walked miles 9am-11.30am, didn’t fall asleep. Still tired. Tried again in cot, tried in arms feeding. Eventually put him back in pram at 1pm and he fell asleep in living room. After 6 1/2 hrs awake. He slept 45mins.

Last night I tried feeding him back to sleep, then in cot patting back. He spend 2-4am just rolling around cot laughing

I think it depends on whether or not he's getting enough sleep for him

The bags under the eyes thing is a clear marker for me when DD is chronically tired, plus being grizzly and whingey and clingy and not eating very well.

If your son is perky and happy and chilled and eating dinner without wailing, then he's probably getting enough sleep.

@Lelophants

Ours has always slept under at night and in naps, only just under on a good day but always under. E.g. should be napping 2-3 hours a day and we get anything from 30mins up to 1hr 30 on a very good day.

Should be 12+ hours at night and we get 10 and a half up to 11 and a half max.

He just just 8 hours last night after a late bedtime and refusing to go back to sleep. He just sleeps way less than he's supposed to and can't help worrying about his development but honestly my life is about his sleep. It drives me mad.

Yes, mine is like this. Is way ahead of all his milestones at 12 months

Mines never slept more than 6 hours they're 5 now and average between 5-6 hours with melatonin. Prior to melatonin we had a shift session as they'd go days with our sleep, the longest being 4.

DS never slept the amount he was supposed to. He's twelve now, and he sleeps about 8 hours.

I used to be so stressed. Eventually when he was about 7 I stopped trying to get him to go to sleep and just let him stay up later. Turned out it isn't that it takes him 2 hours to go to sleep, he's actually perfectly capable of going to sleep in 15 minutes if he's actually tired.

Both my boys are like this. Eldest is worst. Dropped naps super early, has never slept as long as they say they are meant to at night but he’s 8 now and I’m convinced he just needs less sleep than other kids. Youngest is more concerning as he’s 4 and would still happily take a nap if it wasn’t for school. He’s very cranky a lot of the time and I’m sure it because he’s tired. But no matter how early I put him to bed he doesn’t sleep and he’s always up by 5.30. I’ve pretty much given up worrying about it.

@Ohalrightthen

I think it depends on whether or not he's getting enough sleep for him

The bags under the eyes thing is a clear marker for me when DD is chronically tired, plus being grizzly and whingey and clingy and not eating very well.

If your son is perky and happy and chilled and eating dinner without wailing, then he's probably getting enough sleep.

It varies, sometimes he really does seen tired

Babies are like, well, people. Some sleep more, some less. Look how much more relaxed you were when you didn't know there was a 'required' amount.
There isn't!

There's no should or requirement.

It's at best, an average. Some need more, some need less. There are some suggestions that those tables of sleep needs were actually largely made up by sleep training advocates.....

Very few babies don't ultimately meet their sleep needs, whatever people may say here

Same as what @satnighttakeaway said.
Mine are grown up now, but I was never made aware of a "should" in terms of amount they sleep. Doesn't sound helpful at all.

I've never had any of mine sleep for 12 hours solid, well, not until the middle one became a teen.......

My eldest and youngest never had anything like the amounts you are quoting.

Same with all people really, as all life stages, some just need more sleep than others do.