FastStats: Sleep in Children
Eli Flores on 1st Aug 2025
FastStats: Sleep in Children
The National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) looks at how much sleep U.S. children get.
- This page summarizes the most recent data on insufficient sleep among infants and children, ages 4 months to 14 years.
- The percentage of children who do not get enough sleep varies by age, state, and racial and ethnic group.
The basics
This page covers the latest stats on insufficient sleep among children ages 4 months to 14 years.
For daily recommended hours of sleep for children, see About Sleep. For stats on older children, see FastStats: Sleep in High School Students.
This information is based on the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), which asks parents about their children's health.
Survey questions on sleep
Parents taking part in the survey are asked about how much their child sleeps.
Questions include:
- For infants and children 5 and younger:
- During the past week, how many hours of sleep did this child get on an average day (including nighttime sleep and naps)?
- During the past week, how many hours of sleep did this child get on an average day (including nighttime sleep and naps)?
- For children and adolescents 6 to 17:
- During the past week, how many hours of sleep did this child get on an average weeknight?
- During the past week, how many hours of sleep did this child get on an average weeknight?
Children are considered to get insufficient sleep if parents report they get less sleep than the recommended hours for their age.