Newborn slept 7 hours without feeding

What are an infant's sleep needs?

Sleep needs for babies vary depending on their age. Newborns do sleep much of the time. But their sleep is in very short segments. As a baby grows, the total amount of sleep slowly decreases.

But the length of nighttime sleep increases.

Generally, newborns sleep about 8 to 9 hours in the daytime and about 8 hours at night.

Baby sleep patterns by age

But they may not sleep more than 1 to 2 hours at a time. Most babies don't start sleeping through the night (6 to 8 hours) without waking until they are about 3 months old, or until they weigh 12 to 13 pounds. About two-thirds of babies are able to sleep through the night on a regular basis by age 6 months.

Babies also have different sleep cycles than adults.

Babies spend much less time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (which is dream time sleep). And the cycles are shorter. The following are the usual nighttime and daytime sleep needs for newborns through 2 years old: