Whether you have a newborn baby or a toddler or a baby aged in between, there comes a time in most parent’s lives when you ask yourself if your baby is sleeping too much. Granted, many people arrive at The Baby Sleep Site® because your baby is not sleeping enough, but once you have helped your baby sleep through the night and helped your baby nap better, you may come across a time when you aren’t sure if your baby is sleeping too much or not. On the other hand, there are babies who are naturally good sleepers whose parents may wonder how their baby will learn to sit up, crawl, walk, or talk, if all they do is sleep! What would parenthood be without worry? This article will help you figure out if your baby is sleeping too much.
Before we get started, if you EVER have any questions about the health of your baby, talk to your doctor first and foremost! That is why they are there and don’t worry about being an over-protective parent. Trust your instincts and if you feel like something might be wrong, it does not hurt to ask, but it might hurt not to!
Your Newborn Baby’s Sleep
Newborn babies need to sleep A LOT. If you have read the book, The Happiest Baby on the Block, you know the author, Dr. Karp, believes that babies actually need another trimester in the womb. But if a baby were to stay longer, we’d never be able to give birth to such a large baby. I can’t even imagine! So, if you consider the possibility that this is true, that means the first 2-3 months of your baby’s life is still full of rapid growth. Therefore, your newborn needs a lot of sleep.
Unless your baby literally never wakes up, not even to eat, there is most likely no reason to worry your baby is sleeping too much. In the first few weeks, it’s also very common for you to need to wake your baby every 2-3 hours to ensure he eats, and he may go right back to sleep afterward. Again, talk to your doctor if this goes on too long.
It is very typical for newborns to sleep anywhere from 14 to 18 hours a day, on average. Some newborns need even more sleep and wake for 30 minutes or less at a time and sleep most of the day and night away. If your baby is sleeping too much during the day, but wants to party at night, she most likely has her days and nights confused and you should review our newborn sleep tips.
My biggest tip in this stage is if you have a newborn baby who sleeps a lot, take advantage now because it will change rapidly. If your baby isn’t sleeping as much as other newborns do, your baby is most likely normal, too. There is a wide range of what “normal” is and your baby’s sleep needs are as unique as she is.
Your Baby’s Sleep
Beyond the newborn phase, you may start to worry about your baby’s development, if she sleeps too much. After all, how can she learn to roll or crawl when she is sleeping? What is too much sleep?
When your baby is sleeping 13-15 hours per day, this is within normal ranges for a very long time. If your baby is sleeping less, this may or may not be enough sleep. Depending on your baby’s age, a typical baby will sleep 11-12 hours at night and 2-3 hours during the day. Since averages are just those, your baby may indeed need more like 12 hours at night and 4 hours of sleep during the day. This is unlikely to be a cause for concern.
It is a lot of sleep, but a great 12-hour night sleeper and great long napper is fantastic! There is still enough awake-time to learn all the wonderful skills such as rolling, crawling, walking, and talking. She likely needs more time to process all of it and simply needs more sleep than other babies her age. Watching her behavior when she is up is a good sign everything is okay. Again, enjoy it while it lasts. 🙂
If your 6 month or older baby is sleeping like a newborn, though, hardly up during the day for more than an hour at a time, for example, I believe this would warrant a talk with the doctor. There are medical conditions that can cause the need for too much sleep and you do want to rule them out.
If your baby is napping really well, but waking at night, or sleeping really long at night, but napping very little, this may be one of the 5 times you should wake your baby.
Your Toddler’s Sleep
As your baby grows into a toddler, her sleep needs will decrease, however, long luxurious afternoon naps are very common in toddlers. Some toddlers can sleep 3 hours in the afternoon and still go to sleep by 7 p.m. Not mine, though! 🙂 So, just as it’s normal to have toddlers who can sleep 12 hours at night and take a 3 hour nap, there are also toddlers who sleep 11-12 hours at night and take a 1-2 hour nap. Again, there is a wide range of “normal” and the only time I’d be concerned is if your toddler sleeps so much that she doesn’t have time for a gross motor activity or spending awake time with you where she can learn to communicate and other life skills.
All in all, your instincts will be a good guide as to whether your baby is sleeping too much or not enough. Keep in mind that temporary increases in sleep can also be due to illness or growth spurts, too. If your baby is happy, growing, learning, and thriving, there is likely no cause to be worried she is sleeping too much. Even if your baby or toddler does not hit all his milestones exactly “on time” that doesn’t mean he is not “normal.” Talk to your doctor if you have any concerns whatsoever, but otherwise, enjoy your baby or toddler, and enjoy the downtime if he’s sleeping a lot!
Victoria says
Hi, my 5 month daughter sleeps pretty good. She will be up most of the morning besides a 20 min catnap at 11 and than stays awake until a out 3pm. She takes a 4 or 5 hour nap and than she usually goes to bed anywhere between 10pm and 11pm ame will sleep until 8 or 9 am. Is this too much sleeping? She just recently started this routine. When shes aske shes happy but I can tell she gets tired pretty fast and she fights it.
Danielle says
Hi Victoria,
Thank you for visiting The Baby Sleep Site! Based on your description, it sounds like your daughter is sleeping around the normal amount we’d expect for her age, but her naps are different than we usually see. We have a sample 5 month schedule you can review here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/5-month-old-baby-schedule/
And we have a chart on how many hours is normal to sleep by age to help here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/naps/baby-naps-chart-how-many-how-long/
Hope this helps, but let us know if you have questions!
Paula says
Our 5 month old boy is sleeping well(ish)! He wakes at 7.30am and is awake for 2 hours then has a nap 9.30am-11am.
Awake again for another 2 hours and naps 1pm-2pm.
Then another nap at about 4pm for 30mins/1hr. He goes to bed about 6:30/7pm but wakes most nights about 3am- no crying but chatting, shouting and babbling.
He eats well, currently weaning but still taking 27oz formula.
Do you think he is oversleeping? He isn’t hungry or cold, so why is he wakening. He self settles throughout the night, just not when he wakes at this time.
Many thanks in advance
Danielle says
Hi Paula,
Thank you for visiting The Baby Sleep Site! I’m sorry you’re having trouble with these night wakings. I’m not a sleep consultant, but your schedule looks pretty good for his age. Is he eating when he wakes up at 3? It is very common for a child his age to still be eating 1-2 times overnight. If he’s eating, but then not settling back down to sleep quickly afterward, then that might indicate an issue with the schedule or something in his environment. I look forward to your response!
Samantha says
Our 8-week old isn’t awake much during the day and when she is she is cranky and then at night unhappy and not sleeping. So when she takes two hour naps during day and is awake for maybe 35-40 minutes including the nursing she is happy. But that isn’t much awake time. I turn on the light I will talk to her as much as I can. But she wants to eat so I feed her then she is asleep after. Is this ok? I’m concerned she is sleeping too much and won’t be developing properly. Here’s most of our days: 8 wake/change and feed. 840-1040 nap.
Wake/change and feed. 1115-115 nap.
Wake change and feed.
2-4 nap
Wake change and feed.
430-630 nap.
Wake change and bath. Feed.
7-10 pm sleep
Change and feed
1030 sleep til maybe 12 then she may awake another one or two times.
Should I try to keep her awake for an hour or more between naps? Is a two hour nap still ok or should it be different?
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Samantha, thanks for writing to us and congratulations on your new baby! Here is a link to download a free guide with tips for your newborn’s sleep: https://www.babysleepsite.com/15-free-baby-sleep-facts-new-parents-must-know/
At this age the maximum wake up time would be short – the max would be 1.5-2 hours, however some babies (or depending on the time of the day) will need shorter stretches. My second born was super tired for the first 2-3 months and sounds like he was quite similar to your daughter. Some babies also have their days and nights flipped so if you find she’s really fighting you at night and not sleeping well, that could be a contributing factor. If you need more help, you may be interested in looking at our ebook Essential Keys for Newborn Sleep which will take you through from the early weeks to the first year! Here is the link to read about the ebook: https://www.babysleepsite.com/essential-keys-to-your-newborns-sleep/
Let us know if you have any more questions! We are here to help!
Tatev says
Hello,
My daughter is 18 months and started to sleep through the night in addition to taking two 2hour naps in the day. When she is awake she is usually her normal playful self, but does get very grumpy when it’s time to nap again.
The reason why I am worried is because she has never slept through the night before and her naps would be an hour max usually. I have called the nurse line at my pediatricians office and they said it’s fine, but I am still worried. Should I take her in?
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Tatev, thanks for writing to us. I’m glad to hear your daughter is sleeping through the night suddenly but I can understand how that would freak you out since it seems out of the ordinary. It’s possible she could be fighting something, but hopefully she’s just playing catch up from shorter naps previously and things will level out soon. Here is a link to a sample schedule for a toddler that may help you with timing on the naps and see if maybe that helps with the grumpiness: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/toddler-schedule/
I hope this helps!
Moni says
My 5 month old sleeps for 10-11 hours at night, from 8:30-9pm to 7-7:30am (which is perfect for us working parents because it’s our only chance to be with him and do his night time routine and first feeding of the day)
During the day, he gets sleepy about 1 hour after every feed, so he takes naps every 3-4 hours for 1 hour, but most of the time less, for 35-40mins. In total, he takes 4 naps a day totaling 2.5-3 hours. I have read at this age he should be sleeping maybe two long naps, but he doesn’t last long asleep. I’m comfortable with how this schedule works because he pretty much did it on his own, but just wanted an opinion to see if this is ok or should his caregiver (grandma) encourage more time asleep during naps.
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi @Moni – Thank you for writing! it sounds like your little one is sleeping well for his age! Yay! We find that even at 5 months, naps are sometimes still short. Please feel free to use this free sample schedule as a reference: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/5-month-old-baby-schedule/
Thank again for writing! : )
Steph says
My 9 month old is starting to sleep 14-15 hours at night and still at least an hour or so nap in the day, is this something I need to talk to a healthcare professional about or is this considered alright? She has just had her first tooth cut through so I don’t know if this could be a factor?
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi Steph – Thank you for visiting our sleepy little village! There is a wide range of normal sleep for babies, but if you are at all concernd that your baby may be sleeping too much and missing out on awake developmental play times, a quick call into your healthcare provider can give you insight and peace of mind! Every baby has different sleep needs, and our free sample schedules should be helpful to help determine if your baby is sleeping too much, or perhaps just sleeping more at night and less at naps, but overall appropriate. Here is a link: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-feeding-schedules/
I hope that this helps! Good luck Steph!!
Kelsey Walsh says
My 11 month old used to go to sleep 530pm/6pm till 6am/7am and take an hrs nap in the morning and up to 2hrs in the afternoon. He recently won’t stay awake past 5pm he has been falling asleep by 4.45pm until 7am + he will wake have breakfast play and be back down by 830am for 2hrs and repeat the same in the afternoon. He isn’t unwell and very happy when awake. He is teething atm l. My first child was always a great sleeper and big on afternoon naps I’m more concerned I can’t get him past 5pm.
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi Kelsey – Thank you for writing to us! Every baby has different sleep needs, and you may find our free sample schedules helpful to help determine if your baby is sleeping too much, or perhaps just sleeping at the “wrong times.” Here is a link: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-feeding-schedules/
For more help with your little guy’s schedule, you may want to consider our eBook: Mastering Naps and Schedules. This eBook includes over 45 sample daytime nap and feeding schedules, and will take you into and beyond toddlerhood.
You can read more about this ebook here:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/mastering-naps
I hope that this helps Kelsey! Thanks again for visiting us!
Shekinah says
Hi my daughter sleep at 12pm till morning, more than 15hours i guess, is it still good for my baby?
Thank you!
Danielle says
Hi Shekinah,
Thank you for using The Baby Sleep Site as a resource! You did not include your child’s age, and a newborn, for example, may nap very often and only wake for a short period of time to eat, and then it can be normal to sleep 15 hours in a 24 hour period. If you have an older child, or your baby is routinely sleeping a long time without eating, you should check in with your pediatrician and make sure she is growing well and doesn’t have any medical issues that could be causing trouble. If you have any other questions, please do feel free to email us directly at [email protected] with your baby’s age – we’d love to help!
Skip says
My 19 month old sleeps from about 9pm at night until around 9-11am then naps from about 2/3-5pm. Any concerns there? She’s always slept all night so it’s almost always completely unbroken.
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi @Skip! Thank you for writing to us. Congratulations on having a toddler who sounds like a great sleeper! 15 hours can be a great amount of sleep for some toddler’s, and not mean that your baby is sleeping too much, but if you are at all concerned that she may be missing out on important learning time, or just concerned that she may be spending too much time sleeping, please do ask your pediatrician! Your doctor can give you a good answer based on her health and developmental milestones. As we say in the article, “instincts will be a good guide” too! Good luck and thanks again for visiting our sleepy little village!
Rebecca says
My niece is 14months old and for the last few months has slept between 15-17+ hours a day. She would go bed at 6pm and if not woken up would sleep until 10-11am, then have a 1-3 hour nap during the day. My sister has to wake her up or she would continue to sleep! We are aware and worried that this is not normal. Should we seek GP help?
Danielle says
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for writing to us! I’m so sorry to hear you’re having trouble with your niece’s sleep. We would absolutely recommend seeking a physician’s help as soon as possible. Sleeping too much can be a symptom of several medical issues, some relatively easy to treat, and some more serious. The earlier she gets help, the better change of a good outcome. I hope this helps, and good luck to you and your family!