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The amount of sleep newborns and young children need has never been calculated based on empirical evidence. Since each child differs from one another, parents determine how much sleep their children need and get based on the children's behavior and activity levels. Now, in the first study ever, researchers tracked infants and young children's sleeping patterns to determine optimal sleeping hours.

The researchers examined 10,000 children from Australia who were a part of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The children were monitored from four-months-old to nine-years-old. The team focused on the duration of sleep, the number of night wakes, the length of night wakes and the number of sleep episodes.

The researchers found that sleeping patterns varied greatly amongst different age groups. Between the time span of four months and nine years, sleeping duration fell from the peak of 14 hours to 10 hours. The researchers noted that as the children grew older, their sleeping curfew got later and later. The researchers also found that as children got older, the number and the duration of their night wakes fell.

"Whether a child is getting enough sleep or how much sleep a child needs is a major concern to many parents. In this study we found there is a wide range in 'normal' child sleep from four months to nine years old," said lead researcher, Dr. Anna Price according to Medical Xpress. "Health professionals can now use these charts to discuss normal sleep with families, as this is the first research to formally track sleep times in children. In future, we hope that these charts can help families understand whether there is an optimal amount of sleep or bed or wake-up time that is healthiest for them."

The study was published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.