Naps By Age – How Many, How Often, How Long?

Are you struggling to find a nap schedule that works for your child? If so, it’s not surprising. Children’s sleep needs are constantly changing during the first few years of life  – just when you have things figured out, everything changes!

Although every child is different, the following guidelines are a good place to start.

Birth – 3 Months

Number of naps: on demand

Average awake windows: 45 minutes to 2 hours

Average amount of daytime sleep: wide variation

Because infant sleep is disorganized it’s completely normal for naps to vary in timing and length. 20 or 30 minute naps are common, as are much longer stretches of sleep. Watch for sleepy signs (yawning, zoning out, rubbing eyes, fussiness) and give your child the opportunity to sleep often throughout the day. Do what feels right. If your baby needs to be held, fed or rocked to sleep, don’t worry about creating bad habits. Nothing you do now to help your newborn drift off to sleep will get in the way of them learning long term sleep skills when the time is right. Awake windows (time awake between naps) vary, but are typically between 45 minutes and two hours.

For other ages and stages see the complete article: Naps by Age – How Many, How Often, How Long? Hopefully it will help you to sort through the confusion!