How Long Should the Child Sleep?

Medical Video: Are Kids Getting Enough Sleep?
The importance of getting enough sleep duration for children
1. Helps growth and development
2. Helps maintain heart health
3. Helps maintain weight
4. Helps maintain immunity
5. Helps improve learning skills
How long does sleep take for the child?
Newborns (ages 0-3 months)
Infants aged 4-11 months
Children aged 1-2 years
Children aged 3-5 years
Children aged 6-13 years

Medical Video: Are Kids Getting Enough Sleep?

Sleep is one of the children's needs. Just like nutrition, sleep also affects the growth and development of children. Enough sleep duration for children gives children enough energy to establish brain connections. However, sometimes children find it difficult to sleep, even though children need more sleep duration than adults. How much sleep does the child need?

The importance of getting enough sleep duration for children

Before discussing the duration of sleep a child needs, maybe you should also know what benefits the child gets when he meets the sleep duration he needs.

1. Helps growth and development

One of the most important benefits that children get when sleeping is to help their growth and development. Yes, you might not expect this to happen during sleep, but it turns out that the child's peak growth hormone is released when the child reaches the deepest sleep. Although the child's growth hormone is actually released throughout the day.

2. Helps maintain heart health

Experts suspect sleep can protect children from damage to blood vessels due to circulation of stress hormones. Children who commonly experience sleep disorders have excessive brain stimulation during sleep, this may trigger the release of excessive stress hormones.

3. Helps maintain weight

Enough sleep duration for children can also maintain a child's weight. Some evidence shows that sleeping too little can cause children to be overweight. Sleep deprivation may affect the hormone leptin, a hormone that signals satiety. Children who lack sleep may experience a disturbed response, so they will continue to eat and will gain weight.

4. Helps maintain immunity

Children who lack sleep may be more susceptible to pain. Yes, during sleep it turns out that the body also produces proteins that can fight infection, disease and stress. This protein is called cytokine. The less duration of sleep the child, this will affect the number of cytokines in the body, so that children are more susceptible to getting sick.

5. Helps improve learning skills

Even though the baby is sleeping, it turns out the baby's brain still works. This was also shown in a study by Columbia University Medical Center that newborns actually learn at bedtime, quoted from Parents. Not only while still a baby, it turns out that sleep also develops the learning abilities of children of all ages. For this reason, sleep is needed by children, if the child is not enough to sleep during the night, the child can suffice during the day. Sleep during the day and night, both of which benefit children.

How long does sleep take for the child?

Babies and children need adequate sleep duration to help their physical and mental development very quickly. The sleep duration needed by babies and children varies according to age. As reported by the National Sleep Foundation, the following is the need for a child's sleep duration according to his age:

Newborns (ages 0-3 months)

Newborns need as much sleep duration 14-17 hours in a day. This sleep duration is not spent in one sleep, but in many times of sleep and irregular. Usually a newborn will sleep for 1-3 hours in one sleep, the baby will wake up if he needs to eat or to change his diaper.

Infants aged 4-11 months

This age baby needs the duration of sleep during12-15 hours in a day. Babies at this age will usually take their nap time twice. At the age of 6 months, the baby usually does not wake up in the middle of the night to request breastfeeding, he will spend the night by sleeping soundly. Maybe this will be done at the age of 9 months in some other babies.

Children aged 1-2 years

Children aged 1-2 years need as much sleep duration 11-14 hours in a day. When a child turns 18 months, usually the child will only take one nap time and this usually lasts for 1-3 hours. It is best to take a child's nap during the day because if it approaches night it can interfere with the child's nighttime sleep.

Children aged 3-5 years

When the child reaches the age of 3 years, the child's sleep duration decreases. 3-5 year olds need to sleep during 10-13 hours in a day. At this age some children usually have trouble sleeping and wake up at night. The growing imagination of children makes children at this age may be afraid when going to sleep and can experience nightmares.

Children aged 6-13 years

The sleep duration that a child needs when he is 6-13 years old is as big as 9-11 hours. Maybe to fulfill this duration of sleep is difficult because at this age children spend more time outside the home to carry out their activities, such as school, exercise, playing, and so on. In addition, children at this age have also begun to be interested in spending time in front of a television or computer. Things like this can interfere with his sleep.