Parents of preschoolers often worry about whether their child is getting enough (or too much) sleep.

Children at this age seem to go ninety miles an hour one day, and can’t be settled down for bed until 10 at night; while the next day they will come home from preschool at 3 in the afternoon, lie down for a nap and can barely be stirred to eat dinner. So what is the “right” amount of sleep?

As a general rule, preschoolers (3-5 years in age) need between 10-12 hours sleep per day. But they do not necessarily need to get this amount of sleep all at once at bedtime in the evening.

It is more important that a preschooler has steady sleep schedule, so that his body knows when it will be “recharging”. These schedules may be as different as the individual child themself.

For instance; my oldest child (who is now 17) never took naps during the day. It used to drive the daycare center crazy. They would get his entire class to lie down for nap, but Michael would just not go down. Even if we tried to keep him up later or wake him earlier, he would not take a nap in the middle of the day at school. He would sleep a straight 10 hours in a row (getting up only to go potty sometimes) and be ready to go the next day. We finally worked out a solution with the daycare that during naptime he would be allowed to go color quietly in an adjoining room while the other children napped. This resulted in much less struggle and fewer disruptions to the other children who were napping.

My daughter, on the other hand, had to have her nap in the middle of the day. No matter what time she went to bed, her little internal clock would pop her eyes open at 6 AM. Then she would easily go down for the 1 hour nap they took after lunch, and ideally was ready for bed by 8 in the evening. Our only problem with her was she was terrified to sleep alone – but that is a whole other article!

My youngest son fits somewhere between these two. In the morning he is up between 6 and 7 AM (even on the weekends – he has no notion of the phrase “sleeping in”!) He often did not take a nap during school, but he would lie down quietly and “rest” during that period (something my oldest was incapable of). Some days, however, he is more tired and will take advantage of naptime. These days usually coincide with a soccer or basketball game the night before, or if the kids have been particularly energetic on the playground that day. Most nights he goes down pretty easy around 8, but sometimes he decides he wants to see what everyone else is doing and will “sneak” out. He is quickly caught and tucked back in and eventually gives up. (I think it is more about playing with us than actually wanting to stay up, personally!)

But ultimately, all 3 of my children did get the same amount of sleep – they just did it at different times of day. And that is the important thing according to pediatricians.

If your child is energetic during the day, is playing, is staying awake during classtime and is easy to wake in the morning, then he or she is probably getting the right amount of sleep. There is no need to measure the hours by a stopwatch. Every child is different, and every child has different needs, including the need for sleep.