Sleeping schedule for a 6 month old: Simple tips to get your baby on track for naps and nights
Wondering what a sleep schedule looks like for your 6 month old? When you have a young babe at home, it can be overwhelming to figure out an ideal nap schedule for your 6 month old and know the best bedtime for your 6 month old.
In this post, I’ll share some sample schedules for 6 month old babies so you have the knowledge you need to set your little one up for sleep success. At 6 months of age, your babe is growing and developing at an incredible rate. Learn how to confidently adjust your baby’s sleep schedule to meet her exactly where she is.
How much sleep does a 6 month old need?
When my babies were 6 months old, I felt like I was finally emerging from the newborn haze/fourth trimester. Postpartum hormones were starting to settle down, my confidence was increasing, and I saw some glimmers of what felt like normalcy to me. My little ones had gotten into a pretty good eating and sleeping routine, and life felt just a little more predictable (which is a good thing for my planner brain).
And then it changed. Again.
Babies are like that. You finally get yourself into a groove with naps or nights or bedtime or mealtimes and then things change and you need to adjust. And at 6 months of age, babies are learning so much, so quickly, that change seems to happen in the blink of an eye.
At 6 months old, most babies need somewhere between 13-16 hours of total sleep in a 24 hour period. NIghttime sleep is often 10.5-12 hours, and naps make up the remainder. Some babies are ready to transition to 2 naps, and others are still needing 3 naps a day.
What’s most important to remember is that every baby and every family is different. What worked best for my first babe is definitely not the same for my second. Your son might need a little more or a little less sleep than your best friend’s daughter.
It’s vital to keep this in the back of your mind because it’s so very easy to get hung up on the number, and that habit doesn’t serve most parents very well. Focus on your baby’s needs, follow her cues, and meet her exactly where she is with sleep.
For most 6 month old babies, it’s unrealistic to expect a strict “schedule” to work well. Their little brains and bodies just aren’t ready for that, even for those parents like me who thrive on routine and predictability, especially in the early stages of parenthood. Take a deep breath, do your best to meet your baby’s sleep needs, and give yourself and your little one a whole lot of grace.
How many naps for a 6 month old baby?
Some babies are great nappers from the start. As much as I wished for it, my babies were not part of that group, and I found naps incredibly stressful. Nap questions were constantly swirling in my mind, and I was desperate to have some sort of plan.
How long should his nap be? Why does he keep waking up after 30 minutes? How do I get him to fall asleep in his crib? Should he be having 2 naps? 3 naps? What if he needs 4 naps today because they've all been short?
What I’ve learned (as a sleep consultant and as a mom) is that at 6 months of age, naps look very different from one baby to the next. What we picture in our heads isn’t always where our babies are developmentally, and that’s perfectly okay.
At 6 months old, some babies do best with 3 naps a day, and others are ready to transition to 2 naps. Your baby will give you signs to let you know when it’s time to make the transition, and it very rarely happens at exactly 6 months of age. It has a lot to do with how long your baby’s naps typically last and how much sleep she gets during the night.
For many younger babies, naps are often varied in length. The first nap might be 2 hours and the next might only be 30 minutes. This often changes around 5-6 months of age, and for those little ones who have some independent sleep skills, naps become more consistent in length.
The 3-2 nap transition often happens pretty organically. Your baby will start taking consistently longer naps, be able to sustain longer periods of time awake, and you’ll simply run out of time to squeeze in that third nap before bedtime.
Sample sleeping schedule for a 6 month old
What I wanted most when I was a new, first time mom was for someone to tell me exactly how long I should keep my baby awake and precisely when to put him down for a nap so he would sleep for longer than 30 minutes. I craved predictability and a plan. And for me, coming to the realization that I would have to let go of the idea of a strict sleep schedule was tough.
At 6 months old, most babies are just not ready for a set in stone schedule. Some parents will rejoice in this news, and others might feel anxious without a concrete timetable. Regardless of which camp you’re in, there are a few things you can do to help keep your 6 month old baby on track when it comes to getting enough sleep.
Set up short and simple naptime and bedtime routines, and follow them as closely as possible each day. As hard as it may be, try to focus on wake windows without worrying too much about short naps. Know that you always have the option for an early bedtime if you need it. And give yourself a whole lot of grace.
The sample sleeping schedules below are meant as a guide. They’re a great place to start if you’re uncertain about how much daytime or nighttime sleep your 6 month old needs. What they’re not is a perfect fit for every family or set in stone.
3 Nap schedule for a 6 month old
If your babe is taking 3 naps a day at 6 months old, that third nap is most likely a short one. Although it sounds counterintuitive, the first nap of the day is usually the longest. And the midday nap will probably fall somewhere in the middle in terms of length.
For a 6 month old baby taking 3 naps a day who’s up at 6am, the day might look like this:
Morning wake up: 6.00am
Nap 1: 8.15am - 10.00am
Nap 2: 12.00pm-1.30pm
Nap 3: 3.30pm -4.30pm
Bedtime: 7pm
If your baby isn’t such an early riser, your day might look more like this:
Morning wake up: 7.30am
Nap 1: 9.30am - 11.00am
Nap 2: 1.00pm -2.00pm
Nap 3: 4.00pm -4.45pm
Bedtime: 7.30pm
Try not to get too caught up in the length of each nap, and instead think of total daytime sleep. At 6 months old, most babies do best with somewhere between 2.5-3.5 hours of sleep during the day, with no nap being longer than 2 hours.
If your baby is currently taking 3 naps a day, and you’re wondering when is the best time to transition to 2 naps, you just have to look to your little one. You may notice that her naps are consistently getting longer and you simply don’t have time to fit in the third nap before bedtime. Or she’ll give you some pretty clear signs that she’s ready which include:
The first nap is great.
The second nap usually goes pretty well too.
The third nap is spent mostly awake and babbling in the crib, with very little sleep and potentially some tears.
If these things are happening consistently for a period of approximately 2 weeks or more, your babe is most likely ready to move to 2 naps. This won’t happen overnight, and your baby will probably need a good 4-6 weeks before he’s really settled into a new 2 nap routine. The following steps will help you make the switch.
Delay the regular morning nap by about 20-30 minutes every three days. If the first nap is usually 9.00am, push it to 9.30am for three days, then 9.50am for the next three days, and so on until you get to an awake window of about 3 hours.
Do the same thing with your regular second nap.
Your babe will most likely be tired at her usual third naptime, but once you’ve made the decision to switch to two naps, it’s best to stick to it. Offer some food with natural sugars, like fruit, get outside in the fresh air, or turn on the music and have a kitchen dance party to make it through.
You will most likely need to move bedtime up slightly during the transition.
2 Nap schedule for a 6 month old
Most babies are ready to move to 2 naps a day somewhere between 6-7 months old. If you’re already there, you know that your baby can most likely handle about 3 hours of awake time before he needs a nap, and his naps are probably consistently longer than one hour.
For a 6 month old baby taking 2 naps a day, your days might look like this:
Morning wake up: 6.30am
Nap 1: 9.20am - 11.00am
Nap 2: 2pm - 3.45pm
Bedtime: 7.15pm
If your little one likes to sleep a bit later in the morning, naps might look more like this:
Morning wake up: 7.30am
Nap 1: 10.30am - 12.00pm
Nap 2: 3.00pm - 4.30pm
Bedtime: 7.45pm
Once again, these sample sleep schedules are meant as a guide. Every family is different and baby sleep is never perfect and always changing. Follow the cues your babe gives you and give yourselves grace.
Best bedtime for a 6 month old
Most 6 month old babies do best with a bedtime somewhere between 7-8pm. This has a lot to do with meeting their nighttime sleep needs (approximately 11-12 hours) and their natural circadian rhythms which are well established for most at 6 month old.
Once again, you’ll notice I said 7-8pm works well for most babies. Some families have early starts or late finishes for daycare or work, and if that sounds like you, a bedtime slightly outside those hours might work better.
If your baby does best with 12 hours of sleep each night, and you need him to be up by 7am in the morning to get out the door to daycare on time, then aim for a 7pm bedtime.
If your little one is more of an 11 hour sleeper at night, she’s not at daycare, and your work day starts later, maybe she goes to bed at 8.30pm and is up for the day at 7.30am.
Either way, you’ll know if your baby needs 12 hours of sleep at night or functions well with closer to 11 hours. If he’s waking up happy, refreshed, and at a reasonable time, then you’ve probably got it down pat. If he’s fussy when he wakes and through the day, struggling to stay awake, or up at 5am each day, he may need a little more sleep at night.
What about the 6 month old sleep regression?
Once I joined the parenting world, I heard a lot about sleep regressions. The 4 month regression, the 6 month regression, the 12 month regression, the 18 month regression, and I could go on. It felt like my baby would forever be dealing with a sleep regression and I would never manage to get the sleep I needed for my own physical and mental health.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: there is only one true sleep regression and it happens right around 4 months of age. At this time, your baby will experience a permanent change in the way she sleeps. Instead of cycling through 2 stages of sleep during the night, her sleep cycle will include 4 stages of sleep.
Her brain will have to reorganize the amount of time spent in each stage of sleep, and this is where sleep struggles often occur. If your little one is dependent on sleep props to get to sleep (rocking, patting, feeding, a soother, etc), this struggle can be a little more complex for your babe to navigate.
Even though there is only one true biological sleep regression, there are many other times your baby’s sleep will be impacted as he grows. If he’s working on a developmental milestone, such as learning to sit, stand, crawl, walk, or talk, you can expect some disruption to his sleep. Babies love to practice those skills until they get them down pat, even if that practice happens at 3am.
Significant changes can also cause challenges when it comes to your 6 month old’s sleep. If she’s sick, starting daycare, welcoming a new sibling, moving to a new home or room, or even just adjusting to a parent returning to work, you can expect there may be some disruption to her sleep.
In either of these situations, the best thing you can do to support your baby is to stay consistent with your routines, do your best to get an adequate amount of daytime and nighttime sleep, and be patient. Most sleep struggles related to transitions or developmental milestones don’t last longer than a week or two.
Next steps
You have an idea of how much sleep your 6 month old needs in a 24 hour period, and some concrete examples of a sleeping schedule, now what? If you’re anything like I was as a new mom, I still felt unsure about everything sleep related. I found myself falling into the trap of constantly tracking naps down the minute and stressing when they weren’t as long as I expected.
As a sleep consultant and a mama of two little boys, I can tell you that sleep isn’t perfect. You’ll have days when you feel like you’re on top of the world - naps are bang on, your babe is happy and well-rested, you have time to take care of yourself, your family, and your home - and then there are the other days.
The days when it feels like nothing goes right. Your baby wakes up early. Every nap is a struggle and none of them are nearly long enough to do the things you need to do. Your little one is fussy and you feel anxious and stressed.
Those are the days you need to give yourself grace the most, remember that you and your babe are navigating brand new territory, and opt for an early bedtime. Follow your baby’s cues when it comes to sleep, set up routines for naptime and bedtime that work for you, and know that you can start fresh the next day.
If your 6 month old is on track for daytime and nighttime sleep, and you’re feeling fantastic about things, keep doing what you’re doing! If sleep is a constant struggle for your babe, please don’t hesitate to reach out. It doesn’t always have to be this hard, and I would love to support you in making some positive changes for your family.
FAQs about sleeping schedules for a 6 month old
What time should a 6 month old go to bed?
Most 6 month olds do best with a bedtime somewhere between 7-8pm. This allows for 11-12 hours of sleep at night and falls in step with their natural circadian rhythm. If your family needs to be up early in the morning, or later at night, your little one might work better with a slightly earlier or later bedtime.
How many naps does a 6 month old need?
Some 6 month old babies do best with 3 naps a day, and others are ready to transition to 2 naps a day. Most likely you’ll simply run out of time to squeeze in that third nap before bedtime because your babe will be able to handle a little more time awake in between naps, and this is a great sign that it’s time to move to 2 naps.
How much sleep does a 6 month old need?
Most 6 month old babies need approximately 11-12 hours of sleep at night, and somewhere between 2.5-3.5 hours of sleep during the day. Remember that every baby is different, and if your little one needs a little more or a little less sleep than the guidelines suggest, that’s perfectly okay.
Why is my 6 month old waking at 5am?
Most babies need about 11-12 hours of sleep each night, so if your baby is waking at 5am, chances are he’s not able to get enough sleep during the night. There are a whole host of reasons why this might be happening and a number of things you can do to extend that morning wake up time to something that works better for him and for you.
Why is my 6 month old waking up multiple times a night?
If your little one is awake frequently during the night, she may need some support to master the skill of independent sleep. Some babies are naturally great sleepers, and others need a bit of help to get the hang of things. If your babe depends upon a prop to get to sleep (feeding, rocking, bouncing, soother, etc), she may just not have had the opportunity to figure out her own strategies for sleep yet. Book a call and let’s chat about how you can help her do that.