Most newborn babies are unique in their behavior. They may be dependent on you completely but they certainly do not take your dictations when it comes to sleeping, eating and waking. Newborns are challenging and exciting to deal with, but most of them develops a routine after 6 months of age. If properly maintained, this baby sleep schedule can be set in a way that allows them to sleep all night long.

0-36 Months Baby Sleep Schedule

How much sleep your child needs depends on a number of factors such as age, physical activities and feeding hours. Below are some guidelines you can refer to.

0-1 Month Olds

Newborns do not haveany pattern at this stage. They will sleep for most of the day and wake up for a few hours just to be fed. On an average, one month old baby will sleep for 15-16 hours per day. Furthermore, the biological clock of babies at this age is not set, therefore the concept of waking up in the morning and sleeping at night is not known to them.

1-4 Months Olds

At this stage, most babies develop a routine when it comes to their sleep and wake cycles. Most babies shrink their longest sleeping hours to six hours at max and prefer longer evening sleeps. Parents will start to notice a more predictable pattern in their babies sleep.

4-12 Months Olds

Once your baby hits the 6-month mark, it is likely that their sleeping hours shrink from 16 hours to 12 hours. You will also notice a change in their napping hours, because of an increase in the physical and mental activity. Most children at this age take mid-morning and early evening naps more frequently. Some kid may prefer late afternoon naps or evening ones. Since children feel more tired after an exhausting day of activity, it is expected that they sleep more consistently at night. Parents should start putting their children in the habit of sleeping at night, as this helps create a definitive pattern in their everyday routine.

1-3 Years Olds

Children between one to three years of age have roughly fallen into a routine, they tend to sleep more thoroughly at night and have shrunken napping routines. Two years olds mostly prefer sleeping more at night and taking a mid-day nap. Even though, their sleep requirements are 14 hours per day, 10 hours is more usual for most children. It is likely that children in this age group sleep between 7 and 9at night and wake up around 6-8 in the morning. This is also an indication of a working biological clock.

The following form could show you baby sleep schedule more clearly:

Months of Age	Total Sleep	Daytime Sleep	Bedtime Sleep
Newborn-2 months	16-18 hours	8-9 hours	3-5 naps for up to 9 hours
2-4	14-16 hours	9-10 hours	3 naps for up to 5 hours
4-6	14-15 hours	10 hours	2-3 naps for 4-5 hours
6-9	14 hours	10-11 hours	2 naps for 3-4 hours
9-12	14 hours	10-12 hours	2 napsfor up to 3 hours
12-18	13-14 hours	11-12 hours	1-2 napsfor 2-3 hours
18-24	13-14 hours	11 hours	1 nap for up to 2 hours
24-36	12-14 hours	10-11 hours	1 or no nap

How to Establish a Good Baby Sleep Schedule

To put your baby in an appropriate sleep schedule, it is best to follow certain guidelines provided below.

• See if your baby is tired. It is important to keep a check on your baby’s energy level. If they are still active and highly energetic, they will not sleep no matter what you do. Similarly, do not keep them wake if they show signs of tiredness. The ideal signs of a baby ready to sleep are yawning, less energetic movements, drooping eyelids, etc. When you notice these signs, put your kids to sleep.
• Set the sleep cycle. It is important to teach your kids the importance of staying awake during the day and sleeping at night. To help them understand the concept of this sleep-wake cycle, you can keep the days highly active and give your baby a few hours’ naptime. At night, decrease the physical activity and participation in playtime. Dim all lights in their room and keep away any noisy or stimulating toys to create a mood for them to sleep.
• Make sleeping and feeding separate. Children who have not yet hit the one-year-old mark are likely to go to sleep after being fed. What you need to do is to keep the child awake until he has fed completely. However, do not force your child to stay awake as it would disturb their mood and eating habits. Remember, it benefits the child more if he learns how to sleep on his own.
• Avoid waking your baby for feeding. If your baby is 2 months or older, you don’t have to wake him up at night for feeding, especially if the weight gain is normal and daytime feeding is sufficient. Let your baby develop their own sleep schedule. Nevertheless, if your baby is younger than 2 months or sleeps mostly during the day time, you should ensure that she doesn’t sleep without feeding longer than 4 hours. Speak to your pediatrician for advice, especially if you have a baby with special needs.
• Settle routine early on. For growing babies, it is very important to start a bedtime routine early on, which ultimately paves way for a functional daytime routine. Ideally bedtime routine should be started after first 2 months and simple plans work more effectively than complicated ones. Start with bathing your baby, followed by feeding and turning off the lights.Lullabies are okay in the first few weeks, but gradually, they need to learn to fall asleep by themselves.
• Adaptthe schedule to his age. You may feelneed to adapt to a new schedule since the growth, development and the physical requirements of your baby changes. He needs less frequent napping and require more stimulating activities to ensure proper mental, physical and social development. So, it is highly recommended for mothers to adjust the baby’s feeding and activity schedules once in a while to keep up with their development.
• Expect reasonably. Just like you, your baby might find it hard to follow a routine every day. For instance, if one day they have had more physical activity than usual, they would want to eat and sleep earlier. Allow some diversions as long as your baby is getting all the cares he needs and grows healthy.

Watch this video to see how this baby sleep schedule works: