How much sleep by age:
a reference range, not a target.
What these bodies publish is a total for 24 hours — wide, naps included and deliberately loose. This page gives those ranges with their sources, and says what they do not measure.
Important: This page is general information and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. The ranges here are reference figures, not targets; assessing a baby's sleep is not something this page can do. Any worry about sleep, development or breathing belongs with the health professional who sees your baby.
Every figure comes from the bodies named under References: the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the National Sleep Foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics. No other sources were used.
What the bodies actually publish
All three publish the same kind of figure: total sleep in 24 hours, naps included. None of them gives a bedtime, a nap split, or a wake window in minutes.
| Age | WHO (2019) | AASM (2016) | NSF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–3 months | 14–17 hours | no recommendation | 16–18 hours |
| 4–11 months | 12–16 hours | 12–16 hours | 12–16 hours |
| 1–2 years | 11–14 hours | 11–14 hours | 11–14 hours |
The numbers are close because the NSF and the WHO largely rest on the same consensus. The interesting cell is the empty one: the American Academy of Sleep Medicine deliberately gives no recommendation below 4 months.
What this number is not
- Not a target. There is no middle of the range to hit; the range is wide precisely so it covers healthy babies.
- Not a score. A baby sleeping 12 hours is not behind one sleeping 16.
- Not a schedule. No body says how those hours should be split across the day.
- Not a wake window. There is no institutional table of minutes between sleeps — we wrote about that on its own page.
- Not a daily measure. What carries meaning is a pattern across days, not one day's total.
Why the range is so wide
At 0–3 months the WHO range runs from 14 to 17 hours: a three-hour spread. That is not vagueness. Healthy babies really do differ that much.
The same baby varies day to day too. Illness, teeth, developmental leaps, heat, how stimulating the day was — all of it moves the total. Measuring a single day against the range does the opposite of what the range is for.
Why there is no number under 4 months
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine's 2016 consensus statement gives no recommendation for babies under 4 months, and says why: the evidence is not sufficient. That is not an omission, it is a stated decision.
This is exactly the age at which the tables circulating online are most dense. The WHO and the NSF do give a total for it, but again it is a 24-hour total — it describes how much a baby sleeps, not when.
How to see your own baby's range
The range that concerns you is not the average of the world's babies but your own baby's last few weeks. The way to see it is not a table but your own record:
- Record when sleep starts and ends, naps included. The total falls out on its own.
- Look at the week, not the day. One low day is ordinary; a shift that holds for two weeks is something else.
- Note when the change began. In a conversation with a health professional, “when did it change” is more useful than “how many hours”.
- Put the day beside the number. Illness, travel, a vaccination — what explains a total is often not in the figure itself.
The number that means something is not the one you read in a table. It is the one that repeats in your own baby for weeks.
What Beluna does — and does not do
Beluna does not tell you how much your baby should sleep. It records how much they did: start and end, the daily total with naps included, and a weekly rhythm chart. The next sleep is shown as an estimate — not a target, an alarm or an instruction.
Nowhere in the app does it say “should sleep this much”, and nowhere does it tell you that you are under a range. We do not print a number we cannot show a source for.
Beluna
Beluna sets no sleep target
It records sleep with its start and end, shows the daily total and the weekly rhythm. A past sleep can be added later and edited.
Beluna gives no medical advice, makes no diagnosis and sets no target or alert.Frequently asked questions
My baby is below the range. Is that a problem?
This page cannot assess your baby. What we can say is what the range is: deliberately wide, a 24-hour total, and published to be read as a pattern rather than against a single day. Any worry about sleep, development or breathing goes to a health professional.
Is there a number for a 2-month-old?
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine deliberately gives no recommendation for that age, because the evidence is not sufficient. The WHO and the NSF do give a 24-hour total for 0–3 months (14–17 and 16–18 hours respectively), but that too describes how much, not when.
Do naps count towards this number?
Yes. All three figures are 24-hour totals and include naps. We did not find a body publishing a separate target for night sleep alone.
Can I use the range as a goal?
No, and we say so deliberately. The range is wide in order to cover healthy babies; there is no middle to aim for. Turning a range into a target is precisely what these bodies avoid doing.
Does Beluna set a sleep target?
No. It records when sleep starts and ends, shows the daily total and the weekly rhythm, and offers the next sleep as an estimate. It sets no goal, never says you are under a range, and raises no alerts.
References
Everything on this page comes from the public bodies listed below. Every link was opened and its content checked in September 2026. Guidance is revised over time; where this page and a source disagree, the source is right.
- World Health Organization (WHO) — “Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age”. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241550536
Source of the 14–17 hours for 0–3 months, 12–16 for 4–11 months and 11–14 for 1–2 years; 2019, available in several languages including Arabic - American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) — “Recommended Amount of Sleep for Pediatric Populations: A Consensus Statement”. https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/full/10.5664/jcsm.5866
The 2016 consensus statement, and the source for the deliberate absence of a recommendation below 4 months - National Sleep Foundation (NSF) — “How Much Sleep Do Babies and Kids Need?”. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/children-and-sleep/how-much-sleep-do-kids-need
Source of the 16–18 hours for newborns and 12–16 hours for 4–12 months - American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) — HealthyChildren.org — “How to Keep Your Sleeping Baby Safe: AAP Policy Explained”. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/sleep/Pages/a-parents-guide-to-safe-sleep.aspx
The parent-facing summary of the safe sleep policy