What does a day with a baby look like?
Kyra Hendrix, certified Gentle Sleep Coach® trained in the Kim West method · updated November 8, 2026
A baby sleep schedule by age runs on wake windows: the time your baby can be awake between naps. From 0 to 3 months that's 45 minutes to 1.5 hours with 4 to 6 naps, from 4 to 6 months 1.5 to 3 hours with 3 naps, from 7 to 12 months 2 to 4 hours with 2 naps.
Parents search for "4 month old sleep schedule" and get ten lists with clock times. What's rarely included is the most important question: does a schedule even work at this age yet?
The answer changes per phase, and that's the thread through this page.
Wake windows first, then a schedule
In the first year, it isn't the clock that steers but the wake window: how long your baby can be awake between two naps. Kyra says it most clearly about the schedules in her own course: they're averages and a tool to plan your day, not a test your baby has to pass.
That's not the same as "anything goes". It means the times in a daily schedule are the result of the wake windows, not the other way around. If your baby wakes up half an hour later, the whole day shifts along.
How long your baby can be awake per age is in wake windows by age.
The ladder, from newborn to toddler
| Age | Daytime naps | What the day looks like |
|---|---|---|
| First month | on and off, 4 to 8 | no schedule, and that's on purpose |
| 2 to 3 months | 3 to 6 | a rhythm, not yet a schedule |
| 4 months | 4 | four naps at fixed clock times |
| 5 months | 3 to 4 | 3.5 to 4 hours of daytime sleep |
| 6 to 8 months | 3, then 2 | two example rhythms |
| 9 to 12 months | 2 | 9:30 am and 2:00 pm |
| 13 to 18 months | 2, then 1 | the switch to one nap |
| 1.5 to 2.5 years | 1 | one afternoon nap |
What stays the same in every phase
Three things don't change, from the first month to the preschool years.
The start of the day is the anchor. Kyra begins every example schedule at the moment of waking up, because everything after it hangs on that. A fixed start time is the cheapest way to make the rest of the day predictable.
Bedtime is earlier than parents expect. In almost every schedule, bedtime is between seven and half past seven, for a toddler too. Going to bed later doesn't give a longer night.
It's a guideline and not a rule. Kyra says it again with every schedule: use this as a guideline, not as a strict rule, and adjust it to your child.
When the schedule doesn't fit
If the day structurally doesn't work out, the order of looking is almost always the same: first the start time, then the wake windows, and only then bedtime. If it's 5 am every morning, the daily schedule is the first place to look, not the night itself. See waking too early.
Know someone going through this right now?
Send them this article with one tap.