Sleep

Sleep is an essential part of your growing child's health. The amount of sleep needed changes as the child grows older. Newborns sleep approximately 16 to 17 hours a day, while preschoolers need only about 12 hours a day.

Normal sleep has two parts: rapid eye movement (REM) and nonrapid eye movement (NREM). REM is an active form of sleep that is not as deep as NREM sleep. Dreams often happen during REM sleep. NREM sleep is a deep sleep. There are less body movements during this phase and the child breathes at a more regular rate.

Sleep disturbances or problems are very common during infancy and childhood, including having trouble getting your child to bed, nightmares, and night terrors. Listed in the directory below you will find additional information regarding sleep habits and your child, for which we have provided a brief overview.

If you cannot find the information in which you are interested, please visit the Growth and Development Online Resources page in this Web site for an Internet/World Wide Web address that may contain additional information on that topic.

Last reviewed: 9/30/2009