Understanding Children's Sleep Habits Every living creature
needs to sleep. It is the primary activity of the brain during
early development. Circadian rhythms, or the sleep-wake cycle,
are regulated by light and dark and these rhythms take time to
develop, resulting in the irregular sleep schedules of newborns.
The rhythms begin to develop at about six weeks, and by three to
six months most infants have a regular sleep-wake cycle. By the
age of two, most children have spent more time asleep than awake
and overall, a child will spend 40 percent of their childhood
asleep. Sleep is especially important for children as it
directly impacts mental and physical development. There are two
alternating types or states of sleep: Sleep and Newborns (1-2
months) For newborns, sleep during the early months occurs
around the clock and the sleep-wake cycle interacts with the
need to be fed, changed and nurtured. Newborns sleep a total of
10.5 to 18 hours a day on an irregular schedule with periods of
one to three hours spen