A 5-year-old needs 10 to 13 hours of sleep per day, including any naps. Most children this age get the bulk of that sleep overnight, but about 30% of 5-year-olds still nap during the day. Where your child falls in that range depends on their individual needs, but consistently landing below 10 hours is linked to problems with attention, behavior, learning, and memory.
How Those Hours Break Down
The 10-to-13-hour recommendation covers total sleep in a 24-hour period. For a 5-year-old who no longer naps, that means 10 to 13 hours of overnight sleep. If your child still takes an afternoon nap, a common pattern might be 10 hours at night plus a shorter daytime rest to reach the total. Children naturally phase out naps between ages 3 and 6, so your 5-year-old may be right in the middle of that transition.
If your child recently dropped their nap, you may need to shift bedtime earlier to compensate. Even moving bedtime up by 15 to 20 minutes can make a noticeable difference in how rested they feel the next day. A child who wakes at 7 a.m. and needs 11 hours of sleep, for example, should be asleep by 8 p.m., which often means starting the bedtime routine around 7:30.
What Happens When They Don’t Get Enough
Short sleep does more than make a child cranky. Insufficient sleep in young children is associated with problems in attention, behavior, learning, and memory. In kindergartners, this can look like difficulty following directions, trouble sitting still, or emotional meltdowns that seem out of proportion. These behaviors sometimes mimic or overlap with ADHD symptoms, and the relationship goes both ways: conditions like ADHD and anxiety can disrupt sleep, and poor sleep can make those same symptoms worse.
If your child is getting fewer than 10 hours regularly and you’re noticing behavioral changes at home or hearing concerns from their teacher, sleep is one of the first things worth examining. It’s a surprisingly common contributor to daytime struggles in this age group.
Building a Bedtime Routine That Works
The single most effective thing you can do for your child’s sleep is to create a predictable sequence of steps each night. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a simple three-step approach: brush teeth, read a book together, then lights out at a consistent time. That predictability signals to your child’s brain that sleep is coming, which helps them fall asleep faster.
Reading together for even 15 minutes before bed doubles as a language and social-emotional boost, so it’s worth protecting that time. The key is consistency: the same steps, in the same order, at roughly the same time each night, including weekends. Children this age thrive on routine, and their internal clock adjusts quickly when the schedule stays stable.
Screens and Sleep
Bright screens suppress the body’s natural production of melatonin, the hormone that tells the brain it’s time to sleep. Harvard Health recommends avoiding bright screens two to three hours before bed. For a 5-year-old with an 8 p.m. bedtime, that means turning off tablets and TVs by 5 or 6 p.m.
That’s a big ask for many families, and even scaling back to one hour of screen-free time before bed is better than none. If your child does use a screen in the evening, dimming the brightness and choosing calm content over fast-paced shows can help reduce the stimulation that keeps them wired at bedtime.
Signs of a Sleep Disorder
Sometimes a child is in bed for enough hours but still isn’t sleeping well. Pediatric sleep apnea is one of the more common culprits and looks different in children than in adults. Nighttime signs include snoring, pauses in breathing, restless sleep, mouth breathing, gasping or choking sounds, heavy sweating, and bed-wetting that starts after a long stretch of dry nights. Some young children with sleep apnea don’t snore at all and simply have fragmented, restless sleep.
During the day, a child with a sleep disorder may complain of morning headaches, breathe through their mouth, have difficulty paying attention, act hyperactive or impulsive, gain weight slowly, or fall asleep on short car rides. If several of these sound familiar, it’s worth mentioning to your child’s pediatrician, because no amount of good sleep hygiene will fix a breathing problem that needs its own treatment.
Should You Try Melatonin?
Melatonin supplements are widely available over the counter, but they aren’t regulated by the FDA the same way medications are, and they aren’t approved as a sleep aid for children. The AAP advises that melatonin should only be considered after you’ve established consistent sleep habits and discussed it with your pediatrician.
If you do use it, the recommended approach is to start with the lowest possible dose, typically 0.5 to 1 mg, given 30 to 90 minutes before bedtime. Most children who benefit from melatonin don’t need more than 3 to 6 mg. The most common side effects are morning drowsiness and increased nighttime urination. Less is known about long-term use, and there are open questions about whether ongoing melatonin could affect growth and development during puberty. It’s best treated as a short-term tool, not a permanent fix.