The AASM recommends 12–16 hours of sleep per 24 hours, including naps, for infants aged four to twelve months. It does not set a corresponding range for babies under four months. An age-group recommendation is not an individual prescription.
Sources: Paruthi et al. (2016)
Sleep across the whole day
The AASM does not set an hourly range for this age.
Night sleep and naps together.
What an age chart actually shows
The illustration separates two age groups. There is no invented hourly range for under four months. From four months it shows the AASM range, which covers day and night together, not sixteen hours of night sleep.
The range is not an instruction to pick a target and make your baby reach it. It does not prescribe a nap count or bedtime.
Sources: Paruthi et al. (2016)
Avoid common counting mistakes
Choose a start and end for the observation. If your window runs from 7am to 7am, sleep after midnight still belongs to that window. Count only the portion inside it and do not count overlapping entries twice.
Time in bed is not automatically time asleep. Mark incomplete totals. Calculating a precise average from a patchy week can suggest more certainty than the notes support.
Look for a pattern, not a daily grade
Start with a question: have naps shifted, is the final nap later, or is more help needed during the night? The question determines which comparison is useful.
A total shows recorded duration. A timeline shows when sleep happened. Two days with identical totals can feel very different for a family, so parental exhaustion deserves its own place in the conversation.
What a number cannot decide
A sleep chart cannot decide whether to skip night feeds or wake a baby. Feeding, growth and individual medical advice matter. Ask your clinician when unsure.
Use the overview to start a conversation. If recording creates more pressure than clarity, a few notes about your real question may be enough.
Sources: NHS
When to seek support
Discuss persistent concerns about too little or too much sleep with your baby’s clinician. Unusual sleepiness with poor feeding or markedly fewer wet diapers needs prompt attention rather than more days of logging.
Sources: Paruthi et al. (2016) · NHS
Common questions
Do naps count in the 12–16 hours?
Yes. The AASM recommendation for ages four to twelve months covers all sleep over 24 hours.
Does one short night mean a sleep problem?
A single total cannot establish that. The pattern, wellbeing and other symptoms matter.
Sources & context
The linked sources support the marked statements. Arithmetic examples and everyday suggestions offer orientation. Sources last accessed on 20 September 2026.
- Paruthi et al. (2016): AASM-Konsens zur Schlafdauer
Professional guidance; see the linked publication for context.
- NHS: Helping your baby to sleep
UK public-health guidance.
- NHS: Dehydration
UK public-health guidance.
This guide was created with AI assistance and has not been medically reviewed. More about authorship and our approach.
