WE all remember begging our parents to let us stay up longer and the excitement when our bedtime went back an hour.
But you may be surprised to find out when a child’s bedtime SHOULD be. Here’s everything you need to know.
Alamy
What time should children of different ages go to bed?
According to a chart posted on Lifehacker, children should go to bed by a certain time… and it all depends on when they woke up.
Covering ages five to 12, the chart shows that children aged five should go to bed from 6.45pm to 8.15pm depending on their wake-up time.
Meanwhile, kids aged 11 and 12 should be asleep anytime from 8.15pm to 9.45pm.
If your five-year-old gets up at 6.30am, they’ll be ready to go to sleep at 7.15pm.
But if they were up at the slightly later 7am, they’ll be ready to nod off at 7.30 in the evening.
While an eight-year-old who gets up at 6.45 in the morning will be ready to go to sleep at 8.15pm, the same aged child who woke later, at 7.30 am, won’t be ready for bed until 9pm.
How long should children sleep for?
Sleep.org has outlined the recommended amount of sleep for each age group, from babies to teens.
These are:
- Newborns (up to three months): 14 to 17 hours
- Infants (four to 11 months): 12 to 15 hours
- Toddlers (one to two): 11 to 14 hours
- Preschoolers (three to five): 10 to 13 hours
- School-age (six to 13): 9 to 11 hours
- Tweens and Teens (14 to 17): 8 to 10 hours
The NHS has also suggested approximate hours needed by children, as recommended by the Millpond Children’s Sleep Clinic.
They suggest that a daytime nap of 0-45minutes for a three-year-old with this being ruled out for any child of four.
A four-year-old should have 11 hours and 30 minutes, gradually decreasing to nine hours for a teen of 16.
