Baby Nap Schedule by Age, With Sample Days

Most babies go from sleeping on and off around the clock as newborns, to two or three naps by 6 months, two naps around 9 to 12 months, and one afternoon nap somewhere between about 12 and 18 months. The time a baby can stay awake between naps grows from about an hour in the newborn weeks to several hours by the first birthday. The sample days below are examples, not rules, and your baby’s own pattern matters more than any chart.

This guide is about the shape of the day: how many naps, how long between them, and when the number changes. For total hours of sleep by age, see how much sleep a baby needs.

Nap schedule by age at a glance

Age	Naps per day	Rough awake time before tired	Example bedtime
0 to 3 months	No pattern yet. Sleep comes in 2 to 3 hour bursts, day and night	1 to 1.5 hours for some newborns, 2 hours or more for others	None yet. Day and night start to separate at 2 to 3 months
3 to 6 months	Moving towards 2 to 3 naps of up to 2 hours each	1.5 to 3 hours	About 7:00 pm in the example below
6 to 9 months	2 to 3 naps of 30 minutes to 2 hours	2 to 3 hours	About 7:30 pm in the example below
9 to 12 months	2 naps for most babies	2 to 3 hours	About 6:30 pm in the example below
12 months	Usually 2, some already on 1	No published range. About 3 to 4 hours in the example below	About 7:00 pm
12 to 18 months	Moving from 2 naps to 1. Most have 1 by about 18 months	No published range. Raising Children Network’s sample toddler day has 6 hours before the nap and 4.5 after	Often 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm

The nap counts and nap lengths come from Raising Children Network, an Australian parenting site, and from a study that followed 172 children from 6 months to 7 years. The awake times for babies come from Raising Children Network’s page on tired signs. The toddler bedtime and the one-nap day come from its toddler sleep guide.

A word about wake windows

“Wake window” means the time your baby is awake between one sleep and the next. You’ll see detailed wake-window charts all over the internet, often down to 15 minutes. None of them come from a medical body. The AAP, CDC, WHO, NHS and AASM don’t publish wake windows.

The closest thing is Raising Children Network’s guide to tired signs. It says some newborns get tired 1 to 1.5 hours after waking while others go 2 hours or more, that babies at 3 to 6 months might be tired after 1.5 to 3 hours, and at 6 to 12 months after 2 to 3 hours.

So use awake times as a rough starting guess, then watch your baby. Raising Children Network lists tired signs such as yawning, staring, jerky movements and frowning in newborns, and clinginess, grizzling, boredom with toys and fussiness with food in older babies. If the signs and the clock disagree, go with the signs.

0 to 3 months: no schedule yet

Newborns don’t nap on a schedule. Raising Children Network says they usually sleep 14 to 17 hours in 24, in short bursts of 2 to 3 hours through the day and night, because their brains haven’t yet sorted day from night. Some sleep up to 4 hours at a time.

A newborn “schedule” is really a loop:

Wake up and feed.
Change the diaper.
A little awake time. Raising Children Network says 10 to 20 minutes of play may be enough at first.
Back to sleep when tired signs show, often within 1 to 1.5 hours of waking.

Between 2 and 3 months, day and night start to separate and night sleep gets a little longer. By about 3 months some babies regularly sleep 4 to 5 hours at a stretch at night. Most still wake at least once.

Feeds drive this stage more than naps do. Our feeding schedule by age covers that side. If you’re just starting to log, what to track in the newborn weeks helps you keep it simple.

3 to 6 months: naps start to take shape

Somewhere in this stretch, Raising Children Network says babies might start moving towards 2 to 3 daytime sleeps of up to 2 hours each. Before they get there, many take more, shorter naps. Awake times stretch to about 1.5 to 3 hours.

Example day for a baby around 5 months on three naps (an example, not a rule):

Time	What happens
7:00 am	Wake up, feed
8:45 am to 9:45 am	Nap 1
11:45 am to 1:15 pm	Nap 2
3:30 pm to 4:15 pm	Nap 3, often the shortest
6:30 pm	Feed and bedtime routine
7:00 pm	Asleep for the night, with one or more night feeds

The third nap in the late afternoon is often a short one. It bridges the gap to bedtime.

6 to 9 months: two or three naps

Raising Children Network says most babies at 6 to 12 months still have 2 to 3 daytime naps of 30 minutes to 2 hours, and that from about 6 months most babies have their longest sleep at night. Awake times are around 2 to 3 hours.

Example day for a baby around 7 months on three naps:

Time	What happens
6:30 am	Wake up, milk feed
9:00 am to 10:15 am	Nap 1
12:45 pm to 2:00 pm	Nap 2
4:30 pm to 5:00 pm	Short late-afternoon nap
7:00 pm	Bedtime routine
7:30 pm	Asleep

Solid foods usually start around now, and meals start to give the day more shape. See when to start solid foods for that part.

9 to 12 months: two naps

By this age most babies are on two naps. In the study of 172 children, a pattern of two naps a day was well established by 9 to 12 months. Raising Children Network says babies at this age are usually ready for bed somewhere between 6 pm and 10 pm, and usually take less than 40 minutes to fall asleep.

Example day for a baby around 10 months:

Time	What happens
7:00 am	Wake up, milk, breakfast
9:45 am to 11:00 am	Morning nap
12:00 pm	Lunch
2:00 pm to 3:30 pm	Afternoon nap
5:30 pm	Dinner
6:30 pm	In bed

Crawling, pulling to stand and separation anxiety can all make naps harder for a while at this age. If a rough patch seems to come out of nowhere, our guide to sleep regressions explains what’s going on.

12-month sleep schedule

How much a 12-month-old sleeps

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends 11 to 14 hours of sleep per 24 hours, naps included, for children 1 to 2 years old (Paruthi et al., 2016). Raising Children Network splits that for toddlers as 10 to 12 hours at night plus a nap of 1 to 2 hours. While a child is still on two naps, the daytime total is spread across both.

How many naps at 12 months

Usually two. Raising Children Network says that at 12 months your toddler might be having 2 naps a day. A few children are already down to one. Both can be normal.

Sample 12-month-old schedule on two naps

An example, not a rule. Shift the whole day earlier or later to match your child’s wake-up time.

Time	What happens
6:30 am	Wake up, milk
7:30 am	Breakfast
9:30 am to 10:30 am	Morning nap
11:30 am	Lunch
2:00 pm to 3:15 pm	Afternoon nap
3:30 pm	Snack
5:30 pm	Dinner
6:45 pm	Bath, teeth, book
7:15 pm	Asleep for the night

That’s about 2 hours 15 minutes of naps and about 11 hours 15 minutes at night, roughly 13.5 hours in total. The gaps between sleeps here are 3 to 4 hours. No medical body sets that number. It sits between Raising Children Network’s 2 to 3 hours for babies under 12 months and its one-nap toddler day below.

Sample 12-month-old schedule on one nap

Raising Children Network gives this common toddler day:

Time	What happens
7:00 am	Wake up
1:00 pm	Nap of no more than 2 hours
3:00 pm	Wake up
7:30 pm	In bed and goodnight

It also warns that if the day nap is too long or too late, your toddler might not be ready for bed until late at night. NHS Healthier Together says the same thing: naps shouldn’t be too close to bedtime.

A 12-month-old who has just switched may not last until 1 pm at first. An earlier nap, say around 11:30 am, and an earlier bedtime on those days can help while they adjust.

When to drop to one nap

Most children make the switch between about 12 and 18 months:

Raising Children Network: at 12 months, your toddler might be having 2 naps a day.
NHS Healthier Together: by around 18 months old, most toddlers have one daytime nap, usually lasting 1 to 3 hours.
The 172-child study: one afternoon nap was established by 15 to 24 months.

Don’t rush to drop naps altogether. A review of napping studies found that fewer than 2.5% of children stop napping before age 2.

Signs your child may be ready for one nap

None of these alone means much. A pattern over a week or two does:

They play or chat through the morning nap, or take a long time to fall asleep.
The morning nap is fine, but they then refuse the afternoon one.
Taking two naps pushes bedtime later than you’d like.
Naps that were long are getting short.

Teething, a cold or a new skill can do all of this for a few days. Wait and see if it lasts.

How to move from two naps to one

Raising Children Network describes what usually happens: the first nap gets longer and later in the day as the second one gradually stops. You can follow that. Push the morning nap a little later every few days until it lands around midday. Expect some days with two naps and some with one for a while.

Bedtime and night sleep at 12 months

For what to do in the time before lights out, see our bedtime routine by age.

Raising Children Network says toddlers are often ready for bed between 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm, depending on what time they wake up, and suggests keeping the same routine on weekends. Its sample bedtime routine is teeth and diaper, then a story, then bed.

Waking at night still happens at this age. Everyone, adults included, wakes briefly between sleep cycles. Raising Children Network says sleeping through is often about learning to settle back to sleep.

If your toddler wakes at 5:30 or 6 am, a later bedtime probably won’t fix it. Raising Children Network says that approach doesn’t tend to work, and your toddler may just end up grumpy from too little sleep.

12 to 18 months: settling into one nap

Once the switch is done, most toddlers take one nap after lunch. A short pre-nap routine helps: Raising Children Network suggests a song, a cuddle or a story, then into the cot. NHS Healthier Together adds that there’s no single rule for naps: one child may sleep longer at night with short naps, while another sleeps less at night and takes a long daytime nap. It also suggests balancing car and stroller naps with naps in their own bed at home.

Signs of a nap transition at any age

Babies drop naps several times in the first 18 months: from many short naps to about three, then three to two, then two to one. The signs tend to look alike:

Fighting a nap they used to take easily, for several days in a row.
The last nap of the day keeps getting pushed so late that bedtime slides.
Naps getting shorter across the board.
Taking a long time to fall asleep for one particular nap.

For the move from three naps to two, it’s often the short late-afternoon nap that goes first. While it fades, an earlier bedtime can fill the gap. These signs come from parents’ experience, not from a medical guideline, so watch the pattern rather than any single day.

Short naps and contact naps

Short naps

A 30 to 45 minute nap is very common. Newborns sleep in cycles of about 40 minutes, and at 2 to 3 months cycles last about 50 to 60 minutes. Babies wake briefly at the end of each cycle and may need help to settle into the next one. At 6 to 12 months, naps of 30 minutes to 2 hours are all within the usual range.

If your baby wakes from a short nap happy, the nap was probably enough. If they wake upset, you can try to resettle them for a few minutes. If that doesn’t work, get up and plan for the next nap to come a little sooner.

Contact naps

Plenty of babies nap best on a parent, especially in the early months. The safety question is whether you might fall asleep too. The AAP’s safe sleep advice says never to put a baby to sleep on an armchair or sofa, and that adults shouldn’t fall asleep on an armchair or sofa while holding their baby. Its tips for sleep-deprived parents say to avoid feeding your baby on a couch or armchair, and that if you fall asleep while feeding, put your baby on their back in their bassinet or crib as soon as you wake up.

If you’re tired enough to drift off, move your baby to their own sleep space.

Nap safety

Naps follow the same safe sleep rules as nights. From the AAP’s parent guide to safe sleep:

Place your baby on their back for every nap and at night.
Use a firm, flat sleep surface. Firm means it doesn’t indent when your baby lies on it. Any surface that inclines more than 10 degrees isn’t safe for sleep.
Keep the sleep area clear of pillows, blankets, toys and bumpers.
Share a room with your baby for at least the first 6 months.
If your baby falls asleep in a car seat, stroller, swing, infant carrier or sling, move them to a firm, flat surface on their back as soon as possible.

That last point matters most for naps, because daytime sleep is when babies doze off on the go.

When to talk to your doctor

Most nap trouble is just a normal phase. Talk to your pediatrician if:

Your child snores often, has trouble breathing during sleep, or is very sleepy during the day. The AAP lists these among the signs of sleep apnea and says to let your pediatrician know right away.
Your baby seems unhappy and unsettled most of the time, even with plenty of chances to sleep.
You’re worn out and the nights are affecting you. Raising Children Network says it’s a good idea to see a child health professional if you’re worried about your baby’s sleep.

Get urgent help if your baby is difficult to wake or can’t be woken. The NHS lists this as a reason to call emergency services, along with being floppy or a baby not feeding. Our guide on preparing for your baby’s checkup can help you bring the right details to a visit.

Log naps for a week to see your baby’s real rhythm

Charts describe an average baby. Yours may nap later, longer or shorter. Raising Children Network suggests tracking sleep for 5 to 7 days if you’re concerned, to get a clear picture of when and how much your baby sleeps. A week of start and stop times shows when the first nap usually starts, which nap runs short, and how long your baby really lasts before bed. It also makes a nap transition easier to spot.

Vivi Baby is a newborn and parents companion app for iPhone (iOS 18 or later) and Apple Watch (watchOS 26 or later). You can start and stop a sleep timer from your phone or from your wrist. No account is needed, and the log is stored as plain files in your family’s own iCloud Drive. Logging sleep is free. To check your baby’s day against the hour ranges, how much sleep a baby needs has the totals by age.

Everything is free except three advanced features in Vivi Plus ($4.99 per month or $44.99 per year, with a 14-day free trial). Sleepy Time estimates the next nap and bedtime from wake windows and your baby’s own logged sleep. It uses fixed rules, not AI. See how the nap predictions work. Checkups gathers growth, medical notes, recent stats and your questions before a pediatrician visit. Insights spots patterns in what you log and compares them with WHO, CDC and AAP guidance, linking each source. Prices are on the Vivi Plus page.

Get Vivi Baby

Frequently asked questions

How many naps should a 12-month-old take?

Most 12-month-olds still take two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Raising Children Network says a 12-month-old might be having 2 naps, and research following children over time found two naps well established by 9 to 12 months, with one afternoon nap by 15 to 24 months.

When do babies go from two naps to one?

Usually somewhere between about 12 and 18 months. NHS guidance says most toddlers have one daytime nap by around 18 months, and a long-term study found one afternoon nap was established by 15 to 24 months. Some children switch earlier and some later.

Are wake windows medically proven?

No. No medical body publishes exact wake windows. Raising Children Network gives rough times babies may get tired (1 to 1.5 hours for some newborns, 1.5 to 3 hours at 3 to 6 months, 2 to 3 hours at 6 to 12 months), and the finer charts you see online come from sleep consultants and apps. Use them as a starting guess and watch your baby's tired signs.

Is a 30-minute nap normal for a baby?

Yes, often. Young babies sleep in cycles of about 40 to 60 minutes and may wake at the end of one. Raising Children Network says naps at 6 to 12 months usually last between 30 minutes and 2 hours. If your baby wakes happy, a short nap is usually fine.

Can my baby nap in a car seat or swing?

Not as a regular sleep place. The AAP says that if your baby falls asleep in a car seat, stroller, swing, infant carrier or sling, you should move them to a firm, flat sleep surface on their back as soon as possible.

What time should a 12-month-old go to bed?

Many go to bed between about 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm, but it depends on when they wake up. Raising Children Network says babies 6 to 12 months are usually ready for bed between 6 pm and 10 pm, and toddlers often between 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm.