Baby Sleep Schedule Generator
Enter your baby's birth date and when they woke up today. You get today's nap windows and a bedtime, and the plan updates each time you log a nap.
General information, not medical advice. Every baby is different. Talk to your pediatrician about snoring, pauses in breathing, feeding or weight worries, or sleep that has been hard for weeks.
Baby sleep schedule by age
These are the starting values the planner uses for a typical day. Awake time grows through the day: the first stretch after the morning wake-up is the shortest and the one before bed the longest, so each row shows the range across the day. Your baby's own day will differ, and the planner rebuilds it from the naps you log.
Planner starting values by age (adjusted age for babies born early):
Where these times come from
Two kinds of numbers are on this page, and they are not equally solid.
- Research: how many naps babies take (a review of 34 studies, Galland and colleagues, 2012), how long they nap and when they go to bed (a Zurich study that followed children from birth, Iglowstein and colleagues, 2003), and how much sleep is recommended in 24 hours (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2016, endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics).
- Practice convention: the awake time between sleeps, often called a wake window. We found no clinical study that sets these lengths. Pediatric sleep consultants and children's health sites publish them, and their ranges differ. Every awake time the planner uses sits inside the widest range that Cleveland Clinic, Happiest Baby, Huckleberry and Care.com (quoting neonatologist Dr. Jenelle Ferry) publish for the age, taken together; it does not match each source's own numbers. On a typical morning (a wake-up around 7:15 am) each day it builds ends within the range of bedtimes families in the Zurich study kept.
That is why the plan shows windows rather than exact minutes, and why your baby's sleepy cues come first: yawning, rubbing eyes, staring off or zoning out, getting fussy, losing interest in play.
How the plan updates during the day
Log each nap when it ends. The next awake stretch is counted from the real wake-up time, so a short nap brings the next sleep forward and a long nap moves it later. Short naps are common and the plan does not try to fix them. If the remaining naps would push bedtime late, the plan leaves out the last short catnap, as many families do on such days. After a missed or very short nap an earlier bedtime is common.
Feeding and night wakings
The plan never needs a feed to wait: feed your baby whenever they are hungry. Night wakings are normal in the first two years. In the review of 34 studies, babies woke on average about once a night between 3 and 11 months, and anywhere from none to about three times was within the normal range.
Safe sleep, for every nap and every night
- Place your baby on their back for all naps and at night.
- Use a firm, flat surface. Any surface inclined more than 10 degrees is not safe for sleep.
- Share a room, not a bed, for at least the first 6 months.
- Keep soft objects and loose bedding out of the sleep space.
- If your baby falls asleep in a car seat, stroller, swing or carrier, move them to a firm, flat surface on their back as soon as you can.
Source: American Academy of Pediatrics, safe sleep recommendations (2022). More in our guide to safe sleep environments for infants and toddlers.
Sleep suddenly falling apart?
A day that worked last week can stop working for a while. The Sleep Regression Calculator shows the ages when that is commonly reported and what is known about each. For the move from two naps to one, see transitioning naps and nighttime sleep; for toddlers, our toddler sleep needs guide; for the newborn weeks, cluster feeding and contact naps.
Frequently asked questions
What is a wake window?
A wake window is the time a baby is awake between two sleeps. It is a working term used by pediatric sleep consultants and children’s health sites, not one that comes from studies: we found no clinical research that sets these lengths, and published ranges differ from source to source. This planner uses values inside the widest range four named sources publish for each age and treats them as a starting point. Your baby’s sleepy cues come first.
How many naps does a baby need?
In a review of 34 studies, babies took about 3 naps a day on average up to 5 months, about 2 between 6 and 11 months and about 1 between 1 and 2 years, with wide variation at every age (Galland and colleagues, 2012). In a Zurich study that followed children from birth, the clear change from two or more naps to one came at 18 months (Iglowstein and colleagues, 2003). Many babies move between 4 and 3 naps around 4 months, between 3 and 2 around 7 to 9 months and between 2 and 1 around 14 to 17 months, so the planner lets you choose at those ages.
How much sleep does my baby need in 24 hours?
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, with the endorsement of the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommends 12 to 16 hours per 24 hours for babies 4 to 12 months and 11 to 14 hours for children 1 to 2 years, naps included. It makes no recommendation under 4 months because healthy sleep varies so widely at that age. The National Sleep Foundation puts newborns at 14 to 17 hours.
Why does the plan change when I log a nap?
Each awake stretch is counted from when your baby actually woke up. After a short nap the next sleep comes sooner; after a long one, later. If the remaining naps would push bedtime late, the plan leaves out the last short catnap, as many families do on days like that. The plan never shortens a nap or asks you to delay a feed.
My baby was born early. Which age does the planner use?
If your baby was born before 37 weeks, tick the box and enter the due date. Pediatricians follow development by adjusted age (age counted from the due date) for the first two years. Using it for sleep is our choice, because sleep patterns mature along with development; your pediatrician can tell you if your baby’s sleep needs something different.
Why is there no schedule for babies under 4 months?
Healthy sleep varies too much at this age for a timed plan to help, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine makes no recommendation below 4 months. For younger babies the page shows the typical awake time between sleeps and the sleepy cues to watch for. Feed on demand, day and night.
Is my baby’s plan saved?
The planner only shows today’s plan. As a guest it stays in your browser and is removed on a later day. If you are signed in, each day’s plan and the naps you log are saved to your account so you can see them on another device, without your child’s name; each day’s plan is kept for 7 days and then deleted.
When should I talk to a pediatrician about sleep?
If your baby snores most nights, has pauses in breathing or struggles to breathe in sleep, if you are worried about feeding or weight gain, or if sleep has been hard for several weeks. Also any time something feels wrong to you.
Sources
- Paruthi S, et al. Recommended amount of sleep for pediatric populations: a consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. J Clin Sleep Med. 2016;12(6):785-786.
- Galland BC, Taylor BJ, Elder DE, Herbison P. Normal sleep patterns in infants and children: a systematic review of observational studies. Sleep Med Rev. 2012;16(3):213-222.
- Iglowstein I, Jenni OG, Molinari L, Largo RH. Sleep duration from infancy to adolescence: reference values and generational trends. Pediatrics. 2003;111(2):302-307.
- Hirshkowitz M, et al. National Sleep Foundation's sleep time duration recommendations. Sleep Health. 2015;1(1):40-43.
- Moon RY, et al. Sleep-related infant deaths: updated 2022 recommendations for reducing infant deaths in the sleep environment. Pediatrics. 2022;150(1).
- American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org: Corrected age for preemies.
- Awake-time conventions: Cleveland Clinic (2024), Happiest Baby (2026), Huckleberry month-by-month sleep schedules (2026), Care.com with Dr. Jenelle Ferry (2026). Read 27 October 2026.
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