My daughter has lower sleep needs. What does this mean? Well, she can sleep for a shorter amount of time than the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends for her age and still have more energy than I do after eight hours.
She could go, go, go on such a low amount of sleep without slowing down. She also rarely gets cranky from lack of sleep, which is great, but my husband and I have about three years of sleep debt that we may never be able to recoup due to our five-year-old’s low sleep needs. We are dead to the world and it is hard to keep up!
One mom feels this pain deeply and, believe her, she has done everything she can to rejuvenate her sleep-deprived child.
“If your child has low sleep needs, you get this. If you don’t, you’re God’s favorite.” Congratulations, you win. “
“My kid, no matter what I do, his sleep needs are always very low. Like, he can run away for seven and a half hours, eight hours, killing it, tearing it apart, taking over the world, conquering it. He Or he could go all day without nap until 6:45 PM. Not the happiest, but he was fine.
After many attempts to get her baby to sleep longer, Talijan seems to have accepted her fate, and she doesn’t need your advice to help.
“I choose to see it now because I’ve done everything I can. I’ve read everything. I’ve listened to everything. I’ve tried everything. I don’t want to hear. I don’t want to know. There’s nothing to know. “I even try to give him a banana before bed because it has potassium and magnesium and all that stuff, okay? I’ve done that,” she assures, before choosing to focus on the positives of her child’s low sleep needs.
She also focuses on the bright side—the humorous side.
“At this point, I’m like, ‘Wow. If this goes on for the rest of his life, think how unstoppable he’s going to be. A fucking legend. Wow, unbelievable. If he gets five or six hours of sleep a night, he’s actually going to be Could run six companies. I don’t know. I’m looking on the bright side, but I don’t know if I’ll see it here because sleep is a basic human need and I just don’t see myself getting any next, I don’t know, at least 15 years.
Talijan shared her struggles because she wants other parents to know they’re not alone if they have a child who doesn’t need much sleep.
“…if you’re on the same wave, in the same boat, whatever, we’re all in this together and we’re going to get it when we can, these kids are going to be very successful because think how successful you can be at holding on to that. Many hours,” she concluded.
Talijan’s comments section is filled with parents affirming her conflict, noting that they too are on the “low sleep needs team.”
“It’s so refreshing on this side of TT that your baby doesn’t sleep. I’m tired of hearing “my baby sleeps 12 hours a night.” Not my baby. Staying up late hates taking naps. I feel you! one user wrote.
Another said: “I just dream about when my kids are teenagers. They will either sleep in or be old enough to walk around the house without me.
“It🙌🙌🙌…it’s all about perspective, right?!?! We’re just like you and our 15 month old little boy😵💫😵💫😵💫😵💫,” another shared.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommends the following amounts of sleep by age:
- 4-12 months: 12-16 hours (including naps)
- 1-2 years old: 11-14 hours (including nap)
- 3-5 years old: 10-13 hours (including naps)
- 6-12 years old: 9-12 hours
- 13-18 years old: 8-10 hours
