Sleep by age | Chickpea Baby

Every baby sleeps differently. The ranges below come from studies of thousands of children, and healthy babies land all over them. Use them to get your bearings. Once Chickpea has a few days of your baby's sleep, the "Your baby" box shows their own pattern, and that matters more than any chart.

Awake times are estimates. No study has measured "wake windows". The awake times below are typical figures worked out from how much babies sleep and how many naps they take. Your baby's own rhythm will soon replace them.

Age	Total sleep in 24 h	Naps†	Typical awake time between sleeps‡
0–3 months	14–17 h recommended, with a ±1.96 SD spread of about 9 to 20 h seen in healthy babies	Many, irregular	About 45–90 min, lengthening over the weeks
3–4 months	14–17 h to 3 months (NSF), 12–16 h from 4 months (AASM)	Usually 4, moving toward 3	About 1¾–2¼ h
4–6 months	12–16 h	3, sometimes 4	About 2¼–2¾ h
6–9 months	12–16 h	2–3	About 2¼–2¾ h on 3 naps, 3–3¾ h on 2
9–12 months	12–16 h	2	About 3–3¾ h
12–18 months	11–14 h	2, moving to 1	About 3–3¾ h on 2 naps, 4¾–6 h on 1
18–36 months	11–14 h (10–13 h from age 3)	1	About 4¾–6 h on one nap

Sources: recommended totals from the National Sleep Foundation (0–3 months) and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (4 months on), the measured spread from Galland 2012. † Nap counts are typical counts that fit Galland 2012's measured ranges. Transition timing comes from common practice. No study pins it down (see Naps and wake windows). ‡ Awake times under 3 months are rules of thumb. From 3 months they're Chickpea's starting guess for each age, worked out from how long babies of that age sleep at night and by day. Your baby's own data takes over within a few days.

Newborn: 0–6 weeks

What's typical

Sleep comes in short stretches around the clock, often 2–4 hours at most, broken up by feeds. Newborns don't have a day/night rhythm yet. The body-clock hormone melatonin usually starts following a daily rhythm somewhere around 9–15 weeks.
Awake time is short, often 45–60 minutes including the feed.
Newborn sleep is noisy: grunts, twitches, irregular breathing and short cries during "active sleep" are normal.

What helps

Keep daytime feeds in daylight and normal household noise, and night feeds dim, quiet and brief. It helps the body clock once it arrives, though it won't make it arrive any earlier.
Watch for sleepy cues rather than the clock: a glazed or faraway look, turning away, slower movements, yawning, rubbing eyes, fussing. Crying is often a late cue.
Frequent feeding is expected at this age. See the feeding guides for how often, and for when a sleepy newborn may need waking.
Contact naps are fine while an awake adult is holding your baby. If you start to feel drowsy, move your baby to their own flat, empty sleep space. Never sleep with a baby on a sofa or armchair (see Safe sleep).

Chickpea doesn't predict clock times at this age. It shows how long your baby has been awake and when they may be ready to sleep again.

Early weeks: 6 weeks–3 months

What's typical

A longer night stretch starts to appear. The biggest gains in the longest stretch happen between about 1 and 4 months (Henderson 2010), but the age this happens varies a lot.
Bedtime is often late at first, around 9–10 PM, and drifts earlier as night sleep consolidates.
Naps vary a lot: 4–5 a day, from 20 minutes to 2 hours.
Awake time grows to about 60–90 minutes by 2–3 months.

What helps

Start a simple, short bedtime routine that's the same every night (see Settling and nights). It's one of the best-supported sleep helps there is, and it's easy to begin now.
Some families start offering some sleeps in the crib or bassinet while their baby is drowsy but still awake. Try it if it interests you. Your baby isn't being tested.

Chickpea shows soft, wide windows at this age, labeled "Rhythm emerging".

3–4 months

What's typical

Sleep is maturing: the body clock is settling in and sleep cycles are becoming more adult-like. Many families notice sleep gets bumpier somewhere between 3 and 5 months. This gets called the "4-month regression", but it doesn't happen to every baby or on a schedule. It's part of normal development, and nothing has gone wrong.
Night sleep averages about 10 hours at 3 months, give or take 1½ hours (Iglowstein 2003).
Most babies take about 4 naps, moving toward 3. Naps of 30–45 minutes are very common.

What helps

A dark room for night sleep and a consistent bedtime routine.
If your baby wakes more at night than before, check the basics first: hunger, too warm or cold, a long last awake time. Then give it a week or two before changing anything.
If you swaddle, stop as soon as your baby shows signs of trying to roll (AAP 2022). A wearable blanket (sleep sack) with free arms is the usual next step. Never use a weighted one.

4–6 months

What's typical

12–16 hours total, usually 3 naps (some babies still take 4).
Awake time of about 2–3 hours, often shortest in the morning.
Rolling arrives. Once your baby can roll both ways on their own, you don't need to turn them back over, but always put them down on their back.

What helps

The 4→3 nap transition usually happens around here. See Naps and wake windows.
Families who want to change how their baby falls asleep often start thinking about it now. Most research on settling approaches involves babies 6 months and older. Settling and nights covers the options neutrally, including just keeping what already works for you.

6–9 months

What's typical

At 6 months, babies average about 11 hours at night (give or take about an hour) and about 3½ hours of naps (Iglowstein 2003).
2–3 naps. The third, late-afternoon nap is often the first to go, somewhere around 6–9 months.
Waking once a night is still common: an average of about 1 night waking at 6–11 months (Galland 2012).
New skills (sitting, crawling, pulling up) sometimes get practiced at night.

What helps

Practise new skills a lot during the day. Babies who can pull up but not yet get down often need that daytime practice more than any night-time fix.
On days the third nap doesn't happen, an earlier bedtime (by 30–60 minutes) usually helps.
AAP advises room-sharing, with your baby on their own sleep surface, ideally for at least the first 6 months.

9–12 months

What's typical

2 naps, about 2½–3 hours of day sleep in total, and about 11½ hours at night at 12 months (Iglowstein 2003).
Wariness of strangers and clinginess around 9 months is a normal milestone (CDC), and it can show up at bedtime and in the night.
Some babies start refusing a nap around 12 months. Often it's a phase rather than the real move to one nap. That switch usually happens between about 15 and 24 months, and some toddlers start around 12–14 months (Weissbluth 1995).

What helps

Keep the bedtime routine predictable. The familiar sequence helps with separation worries.
Some families use a short goodbye at bedtime, then a quick check-in if needed. Others prefer to stay longer. Both work, depending on your child and your family.
If a nap is refused, offer quiet time in the crib and try again the next day before deciding it's gone.

12–18 months

What's typical

11–14 hours total. At 18 months, averages are about 11½ hours at night and 2 hours of nap (Iglowstein 2003).
The 2→1 nap transition often begins here, though it usually settles between about 15 and 24 months, with some toddlers starting around 12–14 months. The single nap that remains is typically 1½–3 hours, starting around midday.
Teething, walking and new words can all briefly unsettle sleep.

What helps

During the switch to one nap, an earlier bedtime covers the lost sleep while your toddler adjusts. Expect a few weeks of mixed days.
Keep your toddler in a crib for as long as it's safe. Move to a bed when they're climbing out, or when they're about 35 inches (89 cm) tall or the crib rail is below about three-quarters of their height (CPSC/AAP guidance).

18–36 months

What's typical

At 2 years, averages are about 11½ hours at night and just under 2 hours of nap (Iglowstein 2003). About 87% of 2-year-olds still nap.
Very few children (under 2.5%) stop napping before age 2. Many keep a nap until 3–5.
Bedtime stalling, fears of the dark, and "one more" requests are common, and they're more a sign of growing independence than a sleep problem.

What helps

Build the requests into the routine: one drink, two books, a chosen stuffed animal. Offer small choices ("this pajama or that one?") and keep the order the same every night.
A dim nightlight or a comfort object is fine for fears.
On no-nap days, move bedtime earlier and offer quiet time in the afternoon.

When to talk to your pediatrician

Snoring on most nights, pauses in breathing, gasping, or struggling to breathe while asleep.
Very hard to wake, or too sleepy to feed.
Poor weight gain or feeding trouble alongside sleep changes.
A sudden change in sleep together with fever, pain or illness.
You're exhausted or not coping. Your wellbeing is a good reason to ask for help too.

Call emergency services if your baby stops breathing, turns blue or grey, or goes limp.