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Baby handbook

Sleep from 6 to 9 months

Sleep4 min read

Two or three naps, longer wake windows, and a sample day you can bend without breaking.

By 6 months many babies are more alert, more interested in the room, and more opinionated about how they fall asleep. Nights can lengthen. They can also get noisy again when a new skill, a tooth, or a cold arrives. The useful frame is still total sleep and a predictable rhythm, not a perfect chart.

What is typical now

Most babies this age sleep about 12 to 15 hours in a full day, with a longer block at night and two or three naps. Wake windows often sit between 2 and 3 hours. The morning window may be closer to 2, and the last window of the day closer to 3. A baby who is happy at 2 hours and furious at 2 hours and 45 minutes is giving you the real number. Write it down for a week. The average is more honest than the one golden day.

Night feeds are still common. Some babies this age sleep long stretches without a feed. Others still take one or two. Both can be consistent with healthy growth. If you are thinking about night weaning, talk with your pediatrician, especially if weight gain has been a topic at visits. Sleeping through the night is not a developmental milestone you can fail.

A sample day

Use this as a sketch. Shift it earlier or later to match your baby, and expect a shorter third nap to cling on for a while.

Time block Activity
7:00 Wake, milk, play
9:00 to 10:15 Nap 1
10:30 Milk or a solid meal, play
12:45 to 2:15 Nap 2
2:30 Solids and milk, play
4:30 Optional short nap 3, often 20 to 40 minutes. Some babies have already dropped it.
6:30 Wind-down: bath or wash, feed, dim light, sleep sack
7:00 Bed. A bedtime between 6:30 and 8:00 works for many families.

If the third nap disappears, bedtime usually needs to move earlier for a couple of weeks so the last wake window does not stretch past what your baby can handle. A 5:30 nap that ends at 6:00 and a 8:30 bedtime is a classic way to create a hard night. Early bed is not a defeat.

Separation and the crib

Object permanence arrives around now. Your baby knows you still exist when you leave the room, and they may object. That protest is not manipulation. A short, repeatable goodnight, the same words every time, gives the moment a shape. Some families stay nearby and offer a hand. Some step out and return at intervals. Pick a response you can repeat on a tired Tuesday, and keep the crib boring: firm mattress, fitted sheet, sleep sack, nothing else.

Rolling, sitting, and pulling up all land in this window for many babies. A baby who sits up in the crib and cries because they cannot get down yet needs help getting down, and practice during the day. You do not need to re-swaddle. Arms stay free. If they roll to their stomach and sleep, and they got there themselves from their back, leave them, as long as the crib is bare.

Solids do not replace the bedtime feed

Food is increasing, and milk is still the core of the diet until the first birthday. A big dinner does not reliably buy a longer night. Offer solids across the day, and keep the bedtime milk feed if your baby wants it. A waking that is clearly hunger, with a focused feed and then sleep, is different from a waking where the baby snacks for a minute and wants to play. You can respond to those differently. Logging which one it was, for a few nights, is more useful than guessing.

When the schedule falls apart

Travel, illness, and new skills all scramble sleep, usually for days rather than forever. During a cold, offer more comfort and let bedtime slide. When your baby is well, return to the same rough times for three or four days before you decide the old rhythm is gone. One rough night is not a new normal.

Teething can disrupt sleep, and it is also blamed for disruptions that are really schedule or skill related. A truly uncomfortable baby may be soothed by a cool teether before bed and, if your clinician has already given you a dose and a medicine, by that plan. A fever of 100.4°F or higher is not explained by teething alone. Call.

Sources

This guide is general information for families, not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for your pediatrician.

This Baby handbook page is general information, not medical advice. When in doubt, call your pediatrician.