Guides · Sleep schedule
6 to 12 Month Sleep Schedule
Six to twelve months is the two-nap era. Wake windows stretch from about 2.25 hours at 6 months to 4 hours by the first birthday, night sleep often reaches 10–11 hours, and — for a few months — the schedule is genuinely predictable. Development keeps intervening: the 3-to-2 nap transition, sitting and crawling, separation anxiety around 8–10 months, and first steps all poke holes in a good routine. This guide gives you the wake-window numbers month by month, a two-nap day that carries most babies across the whole band, and the fixes for the bumps along the way.
Sleep schedule · data from paediatric sleep guidelinesLast updated:
Wake windows, naps and total sleep
At 6 months wake windows run 120–150 minutes with three naps (or two plus a catnap); by 7–8 months they reach 150–180 minutes and the third nap drops; from 9–12 months expect 150–225 minutes across two naps, with the longest window before bed. Total sleep holds at roughly 12–15 hours in 24 hours through 9 months, easing toward 12–14 hours as the first birthday approaches. The single most useful habit in this band: anchor the day to two naps of 1–1.5 hours and let wake windows, not the clock, set the times.
| Age in the band | Wake window | Naps per day |
|---|---|---|
| 6–7 months | 2h 15m–2h 45m | 3 |
| 7–8 months | 2h 30m–3h | 3 |
| 8–9 months | 2h 30m–3h 15m | 3 |
| 9–10 months | 2h 45m–3h 30m | 2 |
| 10–11 months | 3h–3h 45m | 2 |
| 11–12 months | 3h–4h | 2 |
Sources: WHO guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 · American Academy of Pediatrics — HealthyChildren.org
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Illustrative two-nap day — every baby varies; anchor to wake windows, not the clock.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 7:00 AM | Wake, breakfast (solids) + milk feed |
| 9:30–11:00 AM | Nap 1 |
| 11:00 AM | Wake, milk/snack |
| 2:00–3:30 PM | Nap 2 |
| 3:30 PM | Wake, solids + milk |
| 5:30 PM | Dinner (solids) |
| 7:00 PM | Bedtime routine, feed, sleep |
| Night | ~11h; most sleep through, some keep 1 early-night feed |
Bedtime routine
A 6–12 month bedtime routine earns its keep twice over: it cues sleep, and it survives the developmental storms of this band. Dinner is now part of the evening. Aim for a calm 20–30 minutes, same order, every night:
- Supper and a top-up milk feed — solids earlier in the evening, milk last, in a dim room.
- Bath or wash, then pyjamas — warm water lowers body temperature — a natural sleep signal.
- One or two books — sit together, keep it short and the same each night.
- Sleep sack, dark room, white noise — the same cues your baby has known since the newborn months still work.
- Down awake, brief confident goodnight — say the same phrase every night and leave the room; coming back briefly and boringly beats sneaking out.
Common sleep challenges at this age
- The 3-to-2 nap transition. Most babies drop the third nap between 6 and 8 months. The sign is a fought or skipped catnap, or bedtime pushed late day after day. Move bedtime 20–30 minutes earlier during the transition to bridge the longer final wake window.
- The 8–10 month regression and separation anxiety. Object permanence arrives, crawling and pulling to stand begin, and your baby now knows you exist when you leave. Nights can fall apart for 2–6 weeks with no schedule change. Keep responses boring and consistent, offer reassurance, and resist reintroducing sleep associations you have already dropped.
- Standing and sitting up in the crib. Newly mobile babies practise in light sleep and get stuck upright. Give them a minute to work out how to lie back down before helping, practise sitting-to-lying during the day, and dress for it (sleep sack). The skill usually lands within a couple of weeks.
Frequently asked questions
What is the wake window for a 6–12 month old?
It grows across the band: about 2.25–2.5 hours at 6 months, 2.5–3 hours at 7–8 months, and 3–4 hours by 10–12 months, with the longest window before bedtime. The first window of the day is usually the shortest.
When do babies drop to two naps?
Most drop the third nap between 6 and 8 months. Two naps then remain right for almost the whole band — the move to one nap typically happens between 13 and 18 months, well after this guide ends.
Can a 6–12 month old sleep through the night?
Many can — 10–11 hours without a feed is physiologically possible from around 6 months. If your baby still wakes once to feed, that is also normal. Adequate daytime milk and solids plus a consistent routine support longer stretches.
Why is my 8–9 month old suddenly waking at night again?
Usually separation anxiety plus a burst in motor development (crawling, pulling to stand), sometimes teething or a solids dip. Hold the routine steady, feed well in daylight, and adjust wake windows before changing anything else; regressions at this age typically pass in 2–6 weeks.
Do solids change the sleep schedule?
Indirectly. A big solids day can tire your baby out or leave them hungrier at night, and learning to eat is work. Keep milk feeds steady while solids ramp up — offer solids after (not instead of) milk early in the band — and keep the nap schedule untouched by meal experiments.
My baby wakes at 5 AM. What should I do?
Treat any wake before 6 AM as a night waking: keep it dark and boring. The usual causes are too much day sleep (cap total naps near 2.5–3 hours), a bedtime that has drifted late, or morning light leaking in. Fix the blackout first — it is the cheapest experiment.
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This schedule is a general guide based on paediatric sleep consensus, not medical advice. Every baby is different. For persistent sleep problems, breathing pauses during sleep, or anything that worries you, talk to your pediatrician.