Baby Sleep Schedule Calculator
Get nap count, nap duration, wake windows, and bedtime for babies and children from newborn to 5 years.
Age brackets follow the AASM sleep-duration consensus.
Baby sleep scheduling is based on two things: how much sleep the age needs in total, and the wake window.
A wake window is the longest a baby can comfortably stay awake between sleeps before becoming overtired.
Core formula: Total Sleep Needed = Age-Appropriate Target (hours) Wake Windows = Time Between Sleep Periods (varies by age) Number of Naps = (Total Sleep − Overnight Sleep) ÷ Average Nap Length
Age-appropriate sleep guidelines: These are the exact figures the calculator returns, and the age brackets match its dropdown. Totals follow the American Academy of Sleep Medicine consensus that the American Academy of Pediatrics endorses. The newborn row comes from the National Sleep Foundation, since the AASM statement starts at 4 months.
| Age | Total Sleep/Day | Night Sleep | Naps | Wake Windows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newborn (0–3 mo) | 14–17 hours | 8–9 hours (with wakings) | 3–5 naps | 45–90 min |
| 4–6 months | 12–16 hours | 10–12 hours | 3 naps | 1.5–2.5 hours |
| 7–9 months | 12–16 hours | 10–12 hours | 2–3 naps | 2–3.5 hours |
| 10–12 months | 12–16 hours | 10–12 hours | 2 naps | 3–4 hours |
| 1–2 years | 11–14 hours | 10–12 hours | 1–2 naps | 4–6 hours |
| 2–3 years | 11–14 hours | 10–12 hours | 0–1 nap | 5–6 hours |
| 3–5 years | 10–13 hours | 10–12 hours | 0–1 nap | 5–7 hours |
The 12 to 16 hour band running from 4 months to a year looks lazy, but it is what the AASM actually says: one recommendation covers 4 to 12 months. What changes over that stretch is not the total, it is how the sleep is packaged. The same 14 hours arrives as three naps and a broken night at five months, and as two naps and a solid night at eleven.
Worked example, and this is exactly what the calculator runs: A 6-month-old up at 6:00 AM.
- Overnight: 11 hours, so the daytime is 24 − 11 = 13 hours
- Naps: 3 of them at 1 hour 10 minutes each = 3 hours 30 minutes
- That leaves 13h00 − 3h30 = 9 hours 30 minutes awake, split across 4 windows = about 2 hours 23 minutes each
- Sample day: wake 6:00 → nap 8:23–9:33 → nap 11:56–1:06 → nap 3:29–4:39 → bed 7:00 PM
- Total sleep: 11 + 3.5 = 14.5 hours, the middle of the 12 to 16 hour band
The whole schedule is that one identity. A day is 24 hours, the night takes its share, and everything left over is naps plus the gaps between them. Move the wake-up time and every block slides with it; shorten the naps and the night has to get longer, not the wake windows.
Key principle: overtiredness is the enemy of good sleep. A baby who stays awake too long produces excess cortisol, which makes it harder to fall asleep and harder to stay asleep. Watch for sleepy cues, the eye rubbing and yawning and zoning out, rather than the clock alone.
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
SuperGlobalCalculator is independently built and maintained. See how we build and verify our calculators.