Did you know that wake window and nap charts are based on anecdotal reports from parents, averaged out to create “guidelines”?
Routine and schedule charts are positioned as the gold standard, which leaves many parents (whose babies inevitably don’t fit the box) feeling like they are doing something wrong.
𝗜’𝗺 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 – 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗯𝘆, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 (𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝗱) 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.
If your baby’s sleep patterns do not seem to fall in line with the sleep charts you see online, that is okay!
Less sleep than the average does not mean it will harm your child’s development.
More sleep than the average does not mean there is something wrong with your baby.
If everything else in your child’s life seems normal – that is, they are hitting developmental milestones, they are staying on their growth curve, and they seem happy and well rested- the actual amount of sleep they are getting in a 24 hour period is not something to stress over.
✨ Pro tip: This goes for the advice from sleep tracking apps too! Babies aren’t robots and AI technology shouldn’t be used to predict when or how your baby should sleep!
👉🏽 Do these sleep charts keep you up at night? Is your baby an average sleeper, or high/low sleep needs?
