Newborns sleep about 16 to 17 hours per day, but rarely more than 1 to 2 hours at a stretch. By 4 to 12 months, that total drops to 12 to 16 hours (including naps), and stretches of nighttime sleep get progressively longer. The first year of sleep looks dramatically different from one month to the next, so understanding what’s normal at each stage can save a lot of unnecessary worry.
Sleep Totals by Age
For the first two months, there are no official sleep duration recommendations because the range of “normal” is enormous. Some newborns sleep 14 hours, others closer to 18. Each sleep period lasts roughly 30 minutes to 3 hours, broken up by feedings around the clock. Day and night look essentially the same to a newborn because their internal clock hasn’t developed yet.
Starting at 4 months, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 12 to 16 hours of total sleep per 24-hour period, naps included. Most babies settle into that range gradually, with nighttime sleep consolidating into longer blocks and daytime sleep shifting into more predictable naps. By their first birthday, many infants are sleeping 10 to 12 hours overnight plus 2 to 3 hours of daytime naps.
How Naps Change Through the First Year
From 3 to 6 months, most babies take 2 to 3 naps a day, each lasting up to 2 hours. Some naps will be shorter, especially the late-afternoon one, and that’s perfectly typical. Between 6 and 12 months, total daytime sleep drops to about 2 to 4 hours, and many babies transition from three naps down to two. The morning and early-afternoon naps tend to be the last ones standing, with the late nap fading first.
Short naps (30 to 45 minutes) are common in the first few months and don’t necessarily mean something is wrong. Babies cycle through sleep stages faster than adults, and younger infants often wake at the end of a single cycle before they’ve learned to connect one cycle to the next.
Wake Windows: How Long Between Sleeps
Wake windows, the stretch of time your baby can comfortably stay awake between sleep periods, grow steadily through the first year. Watching for your baby’s sleepy cues within these windows helps prevent overtiredness, which paradoxically makes it harder to fall asleep.
- Birth to 1 month: 30 minutes to 1 hour
- 1 to 3 months: 1 to 2 hours
- 3 to 4 months: 1.25 to 2.5 hours
- 5 to 7 months: 2 to 4 hours
- 7 to 10 months: 2.5 to 4.5 hours
- 10 to 12 months: 3 to 6 hours
These are ranges, not rigid cutoffs. A baby at the younger end of each bracket will typically fall on the shorter side, while one approaching the next bracket may push toward the longer end. You’ll notice sleepy cues like eye rubbing, yawning, or fussiness that help you find your baby’s individual sweet spot.
Why Babies Wake So Often
Newborns spend roughly 50% of their sleep time in REM, the lighter, more active stage of sleep. Adults spend only about 20 to 25%. This high proportion of light sleep means babies are more easily roused by hunger, discomfort, or noise. Their sleep cycles are also shorter than adult cycles, giving them more opportunities to wake between cycles before they’ve learned to transition smoothly from one to the next.
In the first two months, the main driver of waking is hunger. Newborn stomachs are tiny and breast milk digests quickly, so feedings every 2 to 3 hours are biologically necessary. As babies grow and can take in more at each feeding, nighttime stretches gradually lengthen. Many (though certainly not all) babies are capable of a 5- to 6-hour stretch by around 3 to 4 months, and longer stretches develop from there.
Breastfed vs. Formula-Fed Sleep
One of the most common questions new parents ask is whether formula-fed babies sleep longer. The research is nuanced. Breastfed infants do wake up more often at night, likely because breast milk is digested faster than formula. However, total sleep time across 24 hours does not differ between breastfed and formula-fed babies. The sleep is distributed differently, not reduced. Maternal sleep quality also shows no significant difference between the two feeding methods, possibly because breastfeeding parents can feed without getting up to prepare a bottle.
Sleep Regressions
Just when you think you’ve cracked the code, your baby may start waking more frequently again. These disruptions, often called sleep regressions, are common in the first year. The most well-known one tends to surface around 4 months, when babies undergo a permanent shift in how their sleep cycles are structured. But regressions aren’t tied to specific ages as neatly as many sleep charts suggest.
Growth spurts can trigger extra nighttime feedings. Reaching a new motor milestone, like rolling over or pulling to stand, often leads babies to “practice” their new skill at 2 a.m. instead of sleeping. Illness, travel, a new daycare arrangement, or the onset of separation anxiety (typically around 8 to 10 months) can all temporarily scramble a baby’s sleep. These disruptions usually resolve within 1 to 3 weeks as the baby adjusts.
When Day-Night Patterns Emerge
Newborns have no functioning circadian rhythm. They don’t produce meaningful amounts of melatonin, and they can’t distinguish day from night. This is why sleep in the first couple of months is scattered in short bursts around the clock. Somewhere between 2 and 4 months, babies begin developing their own internal clock, and you’ll notice longer sleep stretches starting to cluster at night.
You can support this process with environmental cues: bright light and activity during the day, dim light and quiet in the evening. Keeping nighttime feedings and diaper changes low-key (lights dim, minimal talking) helps reinforce the signal that nighttime is for sleeping. By 3 to 4 months, most babies show a clear preference for nighttime sleep, even if they’re not yet sleeping through without waking.
What “Sleeping Through the Night” Actually Means
In sleep research, “sleeping through the night” is often defined as a 5- to 6-hour stretch, not the 8 to 10 hours adults think of. By that clinical definition, many babies hit this milestone between 3 and 6 months. But plenty of healthy babies continue waking once or twice a night well past their first birthday, particularly if they’re breastfed or going through a developmental leap. A baby who was sleeping long stretches and suddenly starts waking again hasn’t “broken” their sleep. They’re developing normally.