What is your 6 month old's sleep schedule like?

tripletsmama

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 7, 2006
I am curious to know how much/when other approximately 6 month old babies sleep. DS is sleeping 8 hours at night and then taking 3 naps during the day. Each nap is about an hour long. When I took him to his 6 month appointment, the pediatrician said he should be sleeping 11 hours at night. When I told her he sleeps 8 she said all babies are different but 9 should be the minimum. Does anyone else think 8 hours seems like a small amount for a 6 month old?
 
DD is 7 months old and she'll usually sleep around 9-10 hrs at night, but some nights are 8 hrs. She still occasionally has nights where she wakes up during the night (though she's been sleeping through the night since she was about 3 months old), and obviously she's getting less than 8 in a row when that happens - but it's rare.

Overall, I think if your 6 month old is sleeping through the night, that in and of itself is fantastic. I know people with 15 month olds whose child just started sleeping through the night in the last few weeks. Does your DS look overly tired throughout the day? I know I can tell when DD is exhausted and not getting enough sleep. If your DS seems fine, I wouldn't worry too much about the pediatrician. All babies are different and they will sleep when they need to.
 
DDs are 7 months. They go to bed at 7 p.m. -- sometimes fall right asleep, sometimes are awake for up to a half hour -- and wake up anywhere between 6:00 and 7:30. So let's say 11 hours on average.

I put them down for two naps a day around 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Whether or not they nap for one, both or none is still totally (frustratingly) random. But I'd say they average 2-3 hours worth of napping during the day.

I'd say 8 hours at night is too short. When is the 3rd nap happening? What time is he going down to bed at night? Maybe you need to cut the 3rd nap and put him down earlier? They say at 6 months babies should average 10-12 hours of sleep at night.
 
He sleeps from about 11pm-7am. He naps around 10am, 2pm, and 6pm. Sometimes he skips the 6pm nap, but still doesn't sleep later. He's not a fussy baby. It's hard for me to compare this to the experience with my daughters because with 3 of them I always felt someone wasn't sleeping! I feel like a first time mom.
 


My first two were from 7:00-7:00 overnight with naps from 10:00-noon and 3:00-5:00. The third one was being lugged around to all the older kids activities so he slept whenever.
 
Maybe change the 2pm and 6 pm to one 4 pm nap? I think that he is not falling asleep until 11 pm indicates you haven't found that quite right sleep schedule for him yet.
 
He sleeps from about 11pm-7am. He naps around 10am, 2pm, and 6pm. Sometimes he skips the 6pm nap, but still doesn't sleep later. He's not a fussy baby. It's hard for me to compare this to the experience with my daughters because with 3 of them I always felt someone wasn't sleeping! I feel like a first time mom.


Have you ever read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth?? I'd highly, highly recommend it... provided me with so much insight into babies & children's sleeping habits & needs.

According to him, the natural bed time for babies is 7-ish, give or take a bit. IMO, the 6 p.m. nap is really him "going to bed". How long does he nap at that evening nap? Do you wake him or does he wake himself? I'd suggest pushing back the 3rd nap a little bit -- until 6:30 or 7:00 and turning it into bedtime.
 


I think kids are different. My dd8 never slept barely 8 hours. 10/11. - 5/6. Just didn't and I tried. Maybe 2-3 naps but just didnt meed more. Even at 1.5 yrs. old never really slept more than 8 ish hours n slowly removed naps n barely addin longer nights. still only sleeps 10/11. - 7/8 I go to bed before her.
 
The 11pm bed time does seem late to me. It's later than my 8 year olds go to bed. However, when I take him upstairs before that he won't go to sleep. At 11, I nurse him and he is immediately out. If I try to put him down early I can nurse him, rock him, walk around, and he's still not falling for it! Maybe he's just a night owl. :)
 
I wouldn't stress it! If it working for you and your baby then what is the big deal? All babies are different and the so called sleep schedule is not really something babies were designed to do. My son didn't sleep through the night until he was about three, sure it got frustrating at times but the is/was the way he is.
 
At 6 months DD and DS both had the same schedule. They slept 9-9 overnight, although most morning they were awake and playing in their cribs by 8:30ish. They had 2 2-hour naps during the day, and an early evening 1 hour nap. I really didn't care for the evening nap, it seemed like too much sleep to me. I tried to do away with it, DS gave it up much earlier than DD, she continued her evening snooze until she was almost 1.
 
Have you ever read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth?? I'd highly, highly recommend it... provided me with so much insight into babies & children's sleeping habits & needs.

According to him, the natural bed time for babies is 7-ish, give or take a bit. IMO, the 6 p.m. nap is really him "going to bed". How long does he nap at that evening nap? Do you wake him or does he wake himself? I'd suggest pushing back the 3rd nap a little bit -- until 6:30 or 7:00 and turning it into bedtime.

That's the one we use, too. DD2 is 4 mo & sleeps from 6:30pm-7am with 1 or 2 night feeds. (Working on dropping the second one.)
 
My kids slept about 10-11 hours at that age. They were in daycare and usually were zonked out by 8PM at the latest.

During the day they usually had a short morning nap (45 minutes) and then a longer 1.5 hour nap after lunch. By the time they were a year old, they morning nap was gone.
 
My six month old dd sleeps from 7-7 but she's usually awake and quietly playing in her crib by about 6:30. She takes a nap one hour nap at 9, 1, and 3:30.

She used to stay up late, about 11, but then would take another 30 minutes of crying to fall asleep. She was overstimulated and overtired. We found putting her to bed much earlier worked better for all of us. On most nights she now goes to sleep within about 5 minutes of putting her down.

You may want to rearrange his naps like other pp suggested. Good luck! :thumbsup2
 
My 3.5 month old DS sleeps between 11-12 hours at night, and has anywhere from 2-6 hours worth of naps during the day. Bedtime is 7 p.m., and he wakes up between 6-7 a.m. Our problem is trying to get him out of the swaddle!

I read the book by Weissbluth and think it's great - although we struggle with the whole putting them down drowsy, but awake thing. Our DS really can't seem to do that yet. Nine times out of ten we have to go back in and rock him to sleep. Although he can put himself back to sleep most of the time if he wakes up in the middle of the night.
 
I was very lucky to have two kids who both slept 12 hours a night from one month on, with hour-long naps in the morning and afternoon. When they were 15 months, they went to one nap in the early afternoon.
 
At 6 months, all of mine were sleeping from 8 pm - 7 am, and napping from 9 am - 11 am, 2 pm - 4:30 pm. Even now, my non-teens sleep at least 9 hours a night (more on weekends). My kids need their sleep.
 
My first born was a boy. I was lucky if he slept 9 hours a night when he was 6 months old. He definitely did not sleep through the night. In retrospect, I probably should have been putting hime to sleep at 10 pm or later. Even as a newborn, he didn't like to sleep. He went to daycare at 6 weeks and slept for 45 minutes the first day! He did not sleep without waking up at a ridiculous hour until he was 4. Other moms I've talked to have reported the same thing with their boys. My dd was sleeping 11-12 hours a night straight through by 2 months.

DS is now 17. I "think" he goes to bed around 2 a.m. Luckily, he doesn't have to leave for school until 8:20 a.m. On the weekends we're lucky if he's up by noon. His father was a night owl as well. He didn't like to get moving until 4 pm on the weekends. But dh also had a job where he had to be at work and in surgery at 7:30 a.m. and he did quite well with that. So, with ds, as long as he gets up for school, I'm fine.
 
Thanks for the input. This schedule is working for us, so I'm not sure why I was worried about it. I guess the pediatrician just made me feel like he wasn't getting enough rest. He has slept through the night since 3 months and still does. My 8 year old daughters go to bed at 9pm and are up at 7 for school, so maybe DS likes his 2 hours of mommy time before he's ready for sleep. :)
 

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