Protect your child's sleep time
Not ratedgeneral health evidence
Allow your child age-appropriate sleep, and don't treat bedtime struggles as misbehaviour.
Start with the time you have
1 minute
Think back: does your child usually wake refreshed, or still very tired?
5 minutes
Check the CDC age table and compare it with your child's usual time asleep.
15 minutes
Review bedtime, estimated sleep onset and waking with your child, then note any daytime sleepiness.
How sure the science is
Not rated, general health evidence
- No pooled trials to rate.
- This rests on single studies, expert consensus or clinical practice.
- Measured in the general population.
- ADHD trials of this do not exist or are too small.
General paediatric sleep consensus with ADHD-specific sleep-risk reviews; no GRADE rating for this action.
The number, drawn
Why it matters
- Recommended sleep hours come from children in general, not from ADHD treatment trials.
- Reviews show children with ADHD often have trouble at bedtime and broken sleep.
- Protecting enough time for sleep supports health and how the day goes, but time in bed is not the same as time asleep.
How to do it
- Look up your child's age in the CDC sleep table.
- Count back from the time they have to wake, and don't count settling down as sleep.
- Ask for help if your child has enough time in bed but still can't sleep, or is very sleepy during the day.
Putting it into practice
In real life
- For a child aged 6 to 12, allow for 9 to 12 hours of actual sleep; for a teen, 8 to 10.
- If bedtime takes a long time, include that settling time when reviewing the evening.
Watch out for
- Common mistakeAn adult sleep target can leave a child short. Check the recommendation for their age.
- Common mistakeA long bedtime struggle needs support, not blame. Describe it to your child's clinician.
Trusted guides
How we rated it
- Evidence grade
- B Trials in ADHD with low certainty, or strong general health evidence with a sourced reason it matters more with ADHD.
- The number
- Children 6 to 12 need 9 to 12 hours of sleep, teens 8 to 10 (CDC, 2024)
- Benefit
- 68/100 An editorial priority for the general list, weighted by certainty. It does not predict what will happen for you.
- Effort
- Some effort
Sources
- Tier 1 guidelineAbout SleepCDC, 2024
- Tier 2 studyThe impacts associated with having ADHD: an umbrella reviewFrontiers in Psychiatry, 2024
- Tier 1 guidelineADHD in children and young peopleNHS, 2025
- General information about ADHD, not a diagnosis or an individual treatment plan.
- Tailoring changes the order of suggestions; it does not assess you.
- Medication decisions belong with you and a qualified clinician.