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Daytime sleep routines

Typical daytime sleep routines for babies from four weeks through to nine months, plus information on baby nap patterns.


Discuss daytime sleep routines on our forums, right now! Or, post a comment below.

By the end of the first four weeks, try and aim towards this feeding and sleeping pattern. By ensuring your baby eats little and often during the day and is awake for short spells during the day, this will encourage him to sleep for longer spells at the right time, i.e. during the night.
  • 7am - Awake and feeding


  • 8.30-9am - Nap-time


  • 10am - Awake and feeding


  • 11.30am -Nap-time


  • 2pm - Awake and feeding


  • 4-5pm - Nap-time


  • 5pm - Awake and feeding


  • 6pm - Bath and bedtime routine


  • 10-11pm - Awake and feeding


  • 2-3am - Awake and feeding
By 6 to 9 months a typical routine might be:
  • 7am - Awake, milk feed followed by breakfast.


  • 9-9.30am - Nap-time of no longer than 30-40 minutes.


  • 11.30am-12pm - Lunch.


  • 12.30pm - Nap-time of up to two hours.


  • 2.30-3pm - Milk feed.


  • 4.30pm - Short nap if he slept less than one hour at earlier nap.
  • 5pm - Tea.
  • 6-6.30pm - Bath and bedtime. Routine.


  • 7-7.30pm - Asleep

Your Comments

We would love to hear your comments or views on this subject. If you would like to ask a question or start a discussion, please post a topic in our Getting Baby To Sleep forum.
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In respone to lola123...my son is almost 5 months old. I was having similar problems with him at night. We don't put him to bed until about 8:30. He gets a bottle with a little bit of rice cereal mixed in with it. He sleeps usually 5 sometimes 6 hours before he wakes for another bottle. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes he wakes before this, but he's not really hungry. I let him cry a bit, reasure him that I'm there and he'll go back to sleep usually within 15 min or so. When I feed him at night he gets another bottle with a bit of cereal in it. He then sleeps until 6 or 7 in the morning. Matthew was waking at all hours of the night and we decided at that point it was time to let him cry it out some. I don't know if you've tried that or if you are ready for that. It has made a world of difference though. He was much better by about the third night. I hope this will help some.
added by mom2matt [Tue 6th May 2008 @ 12:10:47]
I have a 15 wk old baby who goes to bed with a 4 1/2 oz bottle around 6.30-7.00pm then wakes for another feed at 11.00-11.30pm drinks another 4 1/2 oz bottle then wakes again at around 2.30-3.00am and drinks just under 4 oz. How do I get him to be satisfied with his first bottle at 6.30-7.00pm so he will sleep through the night?
added by lola123 [Mon 14th Apr 2008 @ 08:43:15]
My Baby is 6wks old, and we have no real routine. Sometimes he sleeps for 4 hous, and sometimes only 1 and a half. This happens during the night and day.How would you reinforce you sleeping routine? Should I wake my baby during the day if he is sleeps longer than on the schedule? Would this then help him to sleep longer at night time?
added by EPH [Thu 20th Mar 2008 @ 15:10:22]
I have a 4 1/2 month old who was 2 months premature. He began sleeping through the night 2 months ago with no problems, but he won't sleep well through the day without someone holding him and rocking him--sometimes that doesn't help. I read "BabyWise" while I was pregnant and tried to follow it, but with a preemie, I simply could not let a 4 lb baby cry after he'd been in the NICU for almost a month. I'm trying the routine, just laying him down in his bed and letting him cry, but he just keeps crying. I feel like I'm not caring for him properly, but in 2 months I go back to work and he goes to day care. I don't want him crying all day there--that would be so much harder to leave him! Help--how do I get my baby to sleep during the day?!?
added by jaxonsmommy [Wed 12th Mar 2008 @ 08:35:03]
My baby is 3 months old, but 2 months prem.... We have just started the routine above which some days works and some days does not. He can really only be up for 1.5hrs max at a time. This morning he woke at 6.45 feed and then feel asleep at 8.15 for 45 mins... he woke and cried so we held him and accupied him till 9.30 for his feed then he went back down at 10am... his routine his now way out. can you recommend what I do in situations like this?
added by ShellB [Mon 25th Feb 2008 @ 08:38:55]
My 8 week old will not sleep during the daytime without being held. I will get her to sleep and lay her down and within 5 minutes she is awake and unhappy. How do I change this pattern.... Help
added by sylv [Mon 17th Dec 2007 @ 12:57:59]
in answer to the questions below what i do when my 11 week old wakes up b4 she is supposed to is let her get herself back of to sleep around 6 weeks old they start to come into a light sleep around 30-40 mins after you put them down so they need to learn to settle themselves if she was to really get herself worked up i would check that she didnt have a dirty nappy etc but i would always put them straight back down! my 2 children are both in strict routines and i find i have a much calmer house! it wont hurt a baby to cry and use the crying down method with my baby often when she crys at sleep times and have found taking the dummy off her at sleep times very successfull in ensuring a good sleep routine
added by klmn [Mon 29th Oct 2007 @ 08:34:24]
My baby's now almost 4 months old. But he doesn't do the 3 am feed anymmore. He feeds 5 times a day about 5-7 oz each feed, is this okay?
added by Kristina [Mon 20th Aug 2007 @ 08:47:08]
I have an 8 week old who is breastfed and her routine is pretty much as follows:
wakes at 8am - feeds/massage/wash/dress/play
10am: sleeps
1pm wakes for play/feed/feed/feed....
occasionally will sleep midafternoon at about 3ish for 2 hours and then awake until 11pm (during which time she is very clingy between 9pm and 11pm). I have tried massage/bath routine then but it does not work. she then wakes every 3 hours in the night for a feed, sometimes every 2 hours. I feel like I am doing something wrong - and also how do I get her to wake up without being a grump?
added by babyjay [Thu 12th Jul 2007 @ 16:03:57]
the information on sleep patterns for daytime is ok , but i bottle feed my baby 7 week old , and she has a bottle every 4 hours and so is up and awake on bottle and play time for about one hour to an hour and half before she shows signs of tiredness so i wrap her and put her in her cot, she will then get herself off to sleep for mybe an hour , what i would like to know is , when she wakes after this hour or so , crying should i try to re comfort her and get her back to sleep until she is due her next feed, i have tried to get get her up to see her reaction but she is always still tired, how come she wakes up if she is still tired. is she just simply bored and want to see me , or should i give her some of her next bottle , i am very confused as to what to do now as in her earlier weeks she would sleep the entire time between feeds, now shw is older aarrgh not sure what to do , i did get her up and then she just got over tired and cross and was reallyl hard to re settle
added by kaylloyd [Mon 4th Jun 2007 @ 08:34:20]
OK, this may be very stupid/obvious for a first question: when you say 'put down for a nap' does that mean by any means necessary, including pacing the corridor for 20 minutes carrying and reassuring a crying baby, or going for 2 hour walks in the pram? Can anyone just put a baby down (in cot/chair/bouncer etc) and he/she will just go to sleep when they are ready for a nap? I know my baby is tired - he knows he is tired, but he just won't give in to it easily - he fights and struggles against it with all his heart!! I think that overall he probably gets just about enough sleep - it's just the time it takes up actually getting him there that seems to be the issue.
added by mattarno [Tue 2nd Jan 2007 @ 12:41:56]
It's up to you on what you want to do. If it is working the way you are doing it then keep with it but if you want something more consistant then try a journal. Write down everyday when your baby takes a nap. If it happens to fall pretty close to the same time each day then start putting your baby down for a nap at that time each day or 15 minutes before nap time. If you are consistant then he may fall into your routine.
added by Mwoolf [Thu 30th Nov 2006 @ 12:17:52]
my baby is 6 months old and still doesn't really have a day time routine, he has 2 naps a day but not really at set times, is this a problem or should I go with the flow?
added by AskBaby7882 [Wed 15th Nov 2006 @ 09:51:31]
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