November 2, 2026
What Time Should My Child Go to Bed? A Simple Guide by Age
The right bedtime for your child is not a fixed time on the clock. It depends on two things: how much sleep they need at their age, and what time they have to get up. Once you know both, the bedtime almost works itself out.
This is general information, not medical advice. Every child is different, and if you are worried about your child’s sleep, your pediatrician is the right person to ask.
How much sleep children need
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine publishes recommended sleep ranges for children, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed them. For a 24 hour day, including naps, they are:
- Toddlers, 1 to 2 years: 11 to 14 hours
- Preschoolers, 3 to 5 years: 10 to 13 hours
- School age children, 6 to 12 years: 9 to 12 hours
These are ranges, not targets. Some children sit happily at the low end and some need the top of it.
Count back from wake-up time
The simplest way to find a bedtime is to start with the time your child has to wake up and count backwards. If your four year old needs to be up at 7 a.m. and does well on about 11 hours of sleep at night, they need to be asleep by 8 p.m. Most children take a little while to fall asleep, so lights out a bit before that, and the routine before that.
If you would rather not do the math, our free bedtime calculator works it out from your child’s age and wake-up time, including when to start the routine.
Signs a bedtime is too late
A child who is not getting enough sleep does not always look sleepy. Common signs include being hard to wake in the morning, falling asleep in the car most afternoons, meltdowns in the late afternoon, and, surprisingly often, getting more wound up at bedtime instead of less. If you see these regularly, try moving bedtime earlier by fifteen minutes at a time for a week and watch what changes.
Keep it the same, most nights
A bedtime works best when it is roughly the same every night, weekends included. The body learns when sleep is coming. A short, predictable routine, the same few steps in the same order, tells your child it is nearly time far better than a clock can.
A free story to read at bedtime: The Clock That Said Goodnight
In the hallway at Mia’s house there was a big round clock that went tick, tock, all day long.
In the morning it said, “Tick, tock, time for breakfast.” At lunchtime it said, “Tick, tock, time for soup.” And every evening, when its short hand pointed down low, it said, “Tick, tock, time for bath.”
Mia did not always want to listen to the clock. But the clock was patient. It ticked through the bath, and through pajamas, and through teeth, and through one whole story about a rabbit who could not find his way home, until the rabbit found it.
Then the clock said, very softly, “Tick, tock, goodnight, Mia.” And Mia, who was warm and full of soup and story, said, “Goodnight, clock.” And she was asleep before it ticked again.
Make tonight’s story about your child
If your child likes being the hero, you can make a personalized bedtime story starring them, by name. It starts in about five seconds and always ends calm and ready for sleep. For more free stories, see bedtime stories for 4 year olds and our 5 minute bedtime stories.
Every ZTales story is written to the same rules: nothing scary, no sad endings, and an ending that winds down calm. Questions and ideas go to hello@ztales.com, and every message is read. More about ZTales.