Baby sleep by age: from newborn to first birthday
Baby sleep changes more in twelve months than adult sleep changes in a lifetime. Knowing roughly what each stage looks like will not make every night easy, but it stops normal developmental shifts being mistaken for problems you caused. Treat every range below as a wide average; your baby is the only dataset that really counts.
0 to 3 months: survival mode
Expect 14 to 17 hours in total, broken into short stretches around feeds. Naps are irregular in length and timing, and the longest night stretch slowly grows from two-ish hours towards four or five by the end of this period. Wake windows are tiny: most babies this age manage only 45 to 90 minutes awake before they need to sleep again.
The goal at this stage is not a schedule. It is feeding, safe sleep, and starting to notice your baby's own tired signs: the stare, the jerky movements, the fussing that escalates if the window is missed.
3 to 6 months: sleep starts to organise
Totals settle around 12 to 16 hours. Many babies move towards three or four naps with longer night stretches, and wake windows extend to roughly 1.5 to 2.5 hours.
Somewhere around four months, sleep architecture matures: babies start cycling through lighter and deeper sleep more like adults do, which means more brief wakings between cycles. This is the famous 'four month regression'. It is not a step backwards; it is a permanent upgrade with a rough installation period. Consistent settling habits and a predictable wind-down help babies learn to link cycles on their own.
6 to 9 months: two to three naps
Most babies consolidate to two or three naps, with wake windows of two to three hours, and 11 or 12 hours of night sleep becomes realistic for many (with or without feeds, depending on the baby). Solids begin, mobility explodes, and separation anxiety often appears, which can briefly unsettle nights even for great sleepers.
9 to 12 months: the road to one nap
Naps usually drop to two, occasionally flirting with one, and wake windows stretch to three or four hours. New skills like pulling to stand have a habit of being rehearsed in the cot at 2am. Short disruptions around developmental leaps and teething are normal; routines tend to reassert themselves within a week or two if you hold steady.
How to actually use these numbers
Ranges describe populations, not your baby. A baby consistently happy on shorter wake windows than the chart says is not broken, and neither are you. The most useful thing you can do is watch your own baby's pattern across a few days: when they wake, how long they last, when the meltdowns come. The pattern is usually there before you can see it by eye.
The ParentPal take
This is the entire premise of ParentPal. DayFlow learns your baby's sleep from your own logs and starts forecasting naps and night sleep within two days, then keeps adjusting as they grow through every stage above. Your baby's rhythm, not the book's.
Join the waitlistThis guide is general information, not medical advice. Always speak to your GP, midwife, or health visitor about your baby's health or your own, and call 999 in an emergency.