What time should your child go to bed, age by age?

THE sleep is very important for young and old alike. Guarantor of the good health of the individual concerned, it must combine quantity and quality in order to deliver all its benefits. Therefore, you must accumulate enough hours per night and not wake up repeatedly to have restful, non-fragmented sleep. It is particularly for children that sleep needs to be monitored: as they grow, they need a quality sleep to develop well on all levels (cognitive, physical, relational, emotional, etc.).

Basically, getting enough sleep is essential for executive functions and the proper functioning of our kid’s body. In this sense, it is essential to know your sleep needs in order to meet them properly. These needs differ depending on the age to which we refer. So, what time should your child go to bed, age by age? Response from specialists.

Sleep time is more important than bedtime itself

As zealous parents, we often imagine that there is an ideal bedtime for the baby. In reality, it is not the bedtime itself that should matter, but the number of cumulative hours of sleep. It is therefore necessary as a priority ensure that the sleep duration recommended by specialists is respected, rather than being careful to put the child to bed at the same time every night. Obviously, this flexibility regarding bedtime is authorized within the framework of reasonable, non-late schedules. For example, going to bed late at midnight is not recommended at all, even if the child ultimately completes the required 11 hours of sleep.

Depending on whether he is 3 or 7 years old, the toddler does not have the same needs in terms of sleep. Thus, a study carried out in 2015 by the National Sleep Foundation reveals the amount of sleep each child needs based on their age.

• Between 1 and 2 years : he needs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. sleep.
• Between 3 and 5 years old : he must sleep between 10 and 1 p.m. in total.
• Between 6 and 13 years old : between 9 and 11 a.m. sleep are necessary for its development.
• From 14 years old : he needs 8 to 10 hours by night.

This minimum recommended sleep duration makes it possible to calculate the time at which children should ideally go to bed, based on the time at which they should wake up. In this sense, our colleagues from The Sunwho were based on the conclusions of sleep specialists on the site Thesleepsisters.co.ukhave published “ideal” time slots to put them to bed according to their age and needs.

• Between 10 months and 3 years : bedtime should be between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.or less than 3 and a half – 4 hours after the last nap.
• Between 3 and 6 years old : the child must go to bed between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m..
• Between 7 and 12 years old : the offspring must go to sleep between 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m..
• From 14 years old : bedtime must be deducted from getting up time, to ensure that the young child gets enough sleep.

A regular bedtime helps establish a routine that makes it easier to fall asleep

Certainly, as mentioned previously, putting the child to bed at exactly the same time each evening is not obligatory for his balance and health: it is rather the duration of sleep that is to be prioritized. But having a fixed time allows parents to organize themselves well, create stability for the child concerned, and set up a bedtime ritual that promotes sleep.

A routine that emphasizes calm and relaxation, which lasts about 15 minutes, allows the child to make the transition from the hectic pace of the day to the gentle pace of the evening. This bedtime habit can consist of reading time, parent-child discussion time, a nice hot bath before going to bed, etc. Thanks to these rituals, the toddler’s body and mind calm down and he understands that it is time to slow down and fall asleep. According to health professionals, this bedtime ritual should be implemented from the baby’s 4th month.***

The benefits of quality sleep

A good night’s sleep firstly allows them to memorize things learned during the day well. All the knowledge accumulated over the hours spent is thus consolidated while they are in the arms of Morpheus:

“sleep is (…) essential for the information memorized during wakefulness to become permanently anchored in memory, or in other words to be consolidated”*explain specialist psychologists.

These may include elements relating to language learning, motor skills, problem reasoning, etc.

Sleep also affects their attention, concentration, and vigilance skills ; on the quality of their logical reasoning; and on their ability to simply learn. If they don’t get enough sleep, they have more difficulty concentrating, reasoning, processing the information given to them, demonstrating mental flexibility and therefore assimilating knowledge. With fewer hours of sleep, they do not learn as well as desired.

Finally, quality sleep also allows them to manage their emotions well and therefore to maintain good relationships with others. Indeed, scientific studies have shown that“insufficient sleep affects emotional control and the processing of emotional information in children and adolescents”**** : when they don’t get enough sleep, the latter are more prone to impulsivity, aggression, and lack of self-control, ultimately. In this sense, children aged 6 years old, presenting sleep disorders, present aggression scores higher than the others. Furthermore, children with fragmented sleep, with multiple nocturnal awakenings, have higher cortisol levels upon awakening than children with continuous sleep.

Freelance journalist

Open-minded and in love with life, Emilie likes to decipher the new phenomena that shape society and relationships today. Her passion for human beings motivates her to write…