Looking for information about sleep apnea in children? Knowing all the information is the first step you should take in an overall program for overcoming child insomnia.

Newborn infants sleep an average of 161/! hours daily and by 6 months usually average about 14 hours. At age 2 the average sleep time is l2 l/2 hours; 1 ½ hours of nap time and 11 hours at night.

By age 6 most children no longer need naps, and sleep time is reduced to about 11 hours. Sleep time of the 10-year-old averages 10 hours, and from ages 15 to 19 it averages around 7l/2 to 8l/2 hours. Sleep apnea in children may rob them of their sleep to where they sleep much less then they should.

The amount a child sleeps may vary considerably from day to day, but as in adults, the child's weekly or monthly averages are surprisingly consistent.

Remember, however, that the averages cited here may be quite meaningless for an individual child. For example, Peter's son David, who is about two years younger than Peter's daughter Heidi, slept about one hour less than Heidi did throughout childhood.

For a while, Peter was concerned that David got so much less sleep than Heidi, but it does not seem to have hurt him. So if your child does not fit these averages, there is no need to worry, as long as the child functions well and does not fall asleep during the day.

If children have to be stimulated all the time and then fall asleep when watching TV or doing something else quiet, then this is an instance of sleep apnea in children.