Sleep Problems

How much sleep does my child need?

According to WebMD, the amount of sleep a child needs depends on many factors. In general:

• Infants (ages 0-3 months) require 14-17 hours of sleep a day.
• Infants (ages 4-11 months) require 12-15 hours of sleep a day
• Toddlers (ages 1-2 years) require about 11-14 hours of sleep a day.
• Pre-school children (ages 3-5) require 10-13 hours of sleep a day.
• School-age children (ages 6-13) require 9-11 hours of sleep a day.
• Teenagers (ages 14-17) need about 8-10 hours of sleep each day.

For a printable version you can print our “How much sleep do children need chart“.

Sleep Issues

Many parents deal with sleep issues on a day-to-day basis. This includes children who will not go to bed and others who go to bed but do not stay in bed all night. They either call their parents in the middle of the night or just get up and crawl into their bed. Once in the bed, they have a tendency to take over the entire bed sometimes leaving you with only enough room to keep part of your body on the bed. If you are lucky, you are not kicked too many times in the night or when you are kicked it isn’t in the face. Other times, you just give up and get into the spare bed in an effort to get some sleep before you need to go to work in the morning.

Does that sound familiar?

If it does, then you have come to the right place!

The positive parenting system and our free tools can be used to successfully get kids to go to bed and to stay in their bed all night.

Please note that the reward chart method to overcome sleep problems is perfect for kids who prefer to sleep in their parents’ bed, don’t want to sleep and miss out on fun or come to your bed out of habit. On the other hand, if there is a significant emotional component to your child’s sleep problems then you might need to determine the underlying cause of the sleep problems or seek professional help to do so.

For children who do not want to get into bed

We recommend that you decide on a bedtime routine and stick to it. You can use the Bedtime Routine Chart to mark each stage as you progress.

Each time they go to bed they can also get a sticker on the Kids Sleep Chart.

Once the child has completed the Bedtime Routine Chart or Sleep Reward Chart then you can print out a Sleep Certificate which can be awarded to mark the event.

For children who do not stay in their bed

Each time they stay in their bed all night they get a sticker on the Kids Sleep Chart.

Once they have completed their reward chart they receive a Sleep Certificate.

All sticker charts and printable certificates are free. Give it a try and you will soon find yourself and your kids getting a good night’s sleep every night!