Baby sleep schedule, 0–12 months: what's normal and a gentle routine

A baby sleep schedule is what many tired parents search for at 3 am, often with a newborn who sleeps all day and is wide awake at night. That is normal. Young babies don't yet know day from night, and they wake often because small tummies need feeding often.

Sleep settles into a pattern over the first year, and you can help it along gently. Below: sleep by month, night feeds, gentle settling, safe sleep (in a shared bed too), a 7-day plan and when to get help.

Baby sleep schedule by month: how much should a baby sleep?

A baby's sleep is counted over 24 hours, naps included, and each baby sits somewhere inside a range. The hours below match our sleep chart by age; the naps and awake times (often called wake windows) are rough guides, not targets.

Use your baby, not the clock, as the guide: a baby who wakes content, feeds well and is alert while awake is usually getting enough sleep, even if the hours differ a little from the table.

Newborns often breathe unevenly in sleep: a few quick breaths, then a short pause of a few seconds. On its own, this is usually normal, and so are twitches, grunts and little noises. A long pause, blue or grey lips, or struggling to breathe is different: call 999 straight away.

When do babies sleep through the night?

There is no fixed age for sleeping through the night. The longest stretch slowly grows, and many babies manage several hours in one go somewhere between about 3 and 6 months. Many still wake once or twice a night until their first birthday or beyond, and that is normal too.

Night feeds are part of a young baby's sleep: small tummies need milk at night as well as by day. Don't cut them because someone says your baby should be ‘trained’ by now; a doctor or nurse can tell you when they are no longer needed.

Some babies wake more for a while around a big change: learning to roll or sit, a new tooth, a cold, or a trip to the grandparents' village. These patches often pass within a week or two once the routine is back.

Baby sleeps in the day and wakes at night: what helps?

Many newborns sleep long in the day and are wide awake at night, because their body clock isn't set yet. It usually sorts itself out over the first few months, and a few small habits help it along:

• By day: open the curtains, keep the usual household sounds, and talk and play during feeds.
• By night: keep the lights dim and voices low, and feed and change your baby without play.
• A little morning daylight by a bright window can help set the body clock.
• Don't keep your baby awake in the day to make them sleep at night: an overtired baby often sleeps worse, not better.

How to settle a baby to sleep, gently

Gentle settling means helping your baby to sleep with your voice, your touch and a calm routine, and answering their cries. There is no need for harsh methods, and comforting a young baby doesn't spoil them; more in can you spoil a child with love.

1. 1Watch for sleepy cues: yawning, rubbing eyes, looking away, fussing or a faraway stare. Start settling then, before your baby is overtired.
2. 2Keep the same short routine each evening from a few weeks old: a fresh nappy, a feed, a wash, a song or a short dua if that is part of your family's evening, then lights low.
3. 3Lay your baby on their back in their own cot, sometimes while drowsy but still awake, so they get used to falling asleep there. It's fine if many sleeps still start in your arms.
4. 4Soothe before you pick up: a hand resting on the tummy, gentle patting, a soft ‘shh-shh’, or the steady hum of the fan.
5. 5If the crying builds, pick your baby up, calm them, then try again. Never leave a young baby to cry alone for a long time, and never shake a baby.
6. 6At night, feed and change in dim light with few words, then lay your baby straight back down on their back.

From about 6 months, if you wish, give a little less help over a few weeks: pat a little less, then sit a little further from the cot. Go at your baby's pace; there is no deadline.

Safe sleep for babies: on the back, flat, and nothing soft

For babies, where they sleep matters as much as how long. A baby sleeps safest on their back, on their own firm, flat surface, such as a cot beside your bed, with nothing soft or loose in it: no pillow, bolster, quilt or soft toy. Do this for every sleep, day and night.

• On the back for every sleep, day and night, including naps.
• Keep the cot beside your bed, in your room, for at least the first 6 months.
• No pillow of any kind, not even a small or mustard-seed pillow: a baby's head needs nothing under it.
• Dress your baby for the weather instead of covering them with a quilt or kantha, and keep the head and face uncovered.
• A hanging cradle (dolna) is not a safe sleep place. If your baby falls asleep in a cradle, a sling, a car seat or your arms, move them onto their back in their own cot.
• No smoking near your baby, and a mosquito net over the cot instead of a coil in the room.
• Never leave a baby alone on an adult bed or a sofa, even for a minute: babies can roll off.

Many Bangladeshi families share a bed with their baby. If your baby sleeps in your bed, these steps make it safer:

• Lay your baby on their back on a firm mattress, away from pillows, quilts, bolsters and any gap where they could slip down or get stuck.
• Keep your baby beside one parent, not between two adults and not next to older children.
• Never fall asleep with your baby on a sofa or in a chair.
• Do not share a bed with your baby if you or your partner smoke, have taken alcohol or a medicine that makes you drowsy, or are so tired you could sleep very deeply, or if your baby was born early or very small.

Baby sleep in a Bangladeshi home: family beds, heat and advice

Babies in Bangladesh often sleep surrounded by family: a grandmother humming, cousins nearby, a fan turning overhead. That closeness is a strength. A few habits need a small change to keep sleep safe:

• Mustard-seed pillow (sorishar balish): many families use one out of love, hoping for a nicely rounded head. Any pillow in a baby's sleep space can press against the face and make breathing harder, so please don't use one for sleep. For a flat spot on the head, give tummy time while your baby is awake and watched, and change which way they face in the cot.
• Bolsters as walls: many families build a wall of bolsters or pillows around the baby so they can't roll off the bed. These can fall onto the face, or a baby can roll against them and get stuck, so keep them out of the baby's space. Their own cot beside your bed is the safer way to prevent a fall.
• Wrapping: if you wrap a newborn, use one thin cotton cloth, no higher than the shoulders and loose at the hips so the legs can bend up and out, and always lay your baby on their back. Stop as soon as your baby starts trying to roll, and never let a wrapped baby get too hot: on hot nights, a light cotton layer instead of a wrap is often safer.
• Heat: a fan in the room that isn't blowing straight at the baby, one light cotton layer and no cap indoors. If the back of the neck feels hot or sweaty, take a layer off; more in sleep in hot weather.
• Mosquito nets: tuck the net under the mattress all round, so it can't sag onto your baby's face. Keep a rechargeable light for load-shedding, never a candle near the bed or the net.
• Older brothers and sisters: a young child can't keep a sleeping baby safe. Never leave a young child alone with a baby, even while the baby sleeps.

A 7-day plan for a calmer baby sleep schedule

Pick one change at a time, and jot down a line each day: when your baby slept, woke and fed. After a week you'll see patterns that one hard night hides.

1. 1Day 1: Change nothing. Note every sleep, waking and feed for 24 hours, and check the sleep space: on the back, flat, nothing soft.
2. 2Day 2: Make day and night different: daylight, chat and play by day; dim and quiet at night.
3. 3Day 3: Choose a short bedtime routine (nappy, feed, wash, a song or dua, lights low) and do it in the same order tonight.
4. 4Day 4: Watch for sleepy cues, and start settling at the first yawn or eye rub.
5. 5Day 5: For one sleep today, lay your baby down drowsy but awake, and soothe with a hand on the tummy.
6. 6Day 6: Keep night feeds quiet and dim, with no play and few words.
7. 7Day 7: Compare your notes with Day 1: how long settling took, the longest stretch of sleep, your baby's mood. Keep what helped and choose the next small change.

Sleep changes again after the first birthday. For night waking then, see toddler waking at night; for rolling, sitting and what comes next, see child development by age.

When to get help with your baby's sleep

Most babies' sleep troubles ease with time, feeds and a steady routine. Some signs need a doctor, and a few need 999:

A baby sleep schedule is easier to read over a week of notes than at 3 am. ParentMind helps you note what happens each day, see patterns and get guidance: how ParentMind works.