Baby sleep: 2-12 months

Most babies under six months of age still need feeding and help to settle in the night. As babies get older, they need less sleep. More of their sleep happens at night. Other developments, like crawling and separation anxiety, can affect sleep and settling for babies over six months.

How baby sleep changes from 2 to 12 months

As they get older, babies:

sleep less in the daytime
are awake for longer between naps
have longer night-time sleeps and wake less at night
need less sleep overall.

2-3 months: what to expect from baby sleep

At this age, babies sleep on and off during the day and night. They sleep for around 16 hours in every 24 hours.

Babies sleep in cycles that last about 40 minutes. . Babies move around and grunt during active sleep, and sleep deeply during quiet sleep.

Around 2-3 months, babies start developing night and day sleep patterns. This means they tend to start sleeping more during the night.

Around 3 months: what to expect from baby sleep

Around three months, babies’ sleep changes to longer cycles of light sleep, deep sleep and dream sleep. These changes might mean less waking and resettling during sleep.

At this age, babies might regularly be having longer sleeps at night – for example, around 4-5 hours.

Babies still need around 16 hours sleep in every 24 hours.

3-6 months: what to expect from baby sleep

At this age, babies need 14-16 hours of sleep every 24 hours.

Babies might start moving towards a pattern of 2-3 daytime sleeps of up to two hours each.

And night-time sleeps get longer at this age. For example, babies might be having long sleeps of six hours at night by the time they’re six months old.

But you can expect that your baby will still wake at least once each night.

6-12 months: what to expect from baby sleep

Babies sleep less as they get older. By the time your baby is one year old, baby will probably need 12-16 hours sleep every 24 hours.

Sleep during the night
From about six months, most babies have their longest sleeps at night.

Most babies are ready for bed between 6 pm and 8 pm. They usually take less than 30 minutes to get to sleep, but about 1 in 10 babies takes longer.

At this age, baby sleep cycles are closer to those of grown-up sleep – which means less waking at night. So your baby might not wake you during the night, or waking might happen less often.

By eight months, most babies can settle themselves back to sleep without a parent’s help. Others keep waking if they need help to settle back to sleep, or if they’re still having breastfeeds or bottles during the night.

Sleep during the day
At this age, most babies are still having 1-2 daytime naps. These naps usually last 1-2 hours. Some babies sleep longer, but up to a quarter of babies nap for less than an hour.

How baby sleep patterns affect grown-ups

Most parents of babies under six months of age are still getting up in the night to feed and settle their babies. For many this keeps going after six months.

Some parents find that this is OK as long as they have enough support and they can catch up on sleep at other times. For others, getting up in the night over the long term has a serious effect on them and their family lives.

The quality of your sleep can affect your health and your mood. Being exhausted can make it hard to give your baby positive attention during the day. And your relationship with your baby and the time and attention you give baby during the day can affect the quality and quantity of baby’s sleep.

It’s a cycle that isn’t good for you or your baby – so it’s worth doing something about it.

If you’re concerned about your baby’s sleep, there are strategies you can use to change your baby’s sleep patterns. If you’ve tried these strategies and things haven’t improved, or the difficulties are starting to upset you, seek professional help for baby sleep. There are ways to make sure that everyone gets the sleep they need.