Sample 6 Month Old Schedule for 2 Naps, 3 Naps, & Solids

Last updated: February 18, 2024

In this post I will be reviewing everything you need to know about your 6 month old’s schedule. You will get answers to questions like:

• How much should my 6 month old be sleeping?
• How many naps should a 6 month old take per day?
• What does a typical 6 month old feeding schedule look like?

As a mom of 3, I learned this is the best time to work on getting your baby to sleep through the night and when your baby’s schedule becomes much more reliable. Personally, I love this age because your baby’s personality really starts to come out and your baby starts to actually sleep at night too.

Another thing that happens at 6 to 7 months is that your baby’s schedule for eating and sleeping will change slightly. For example, your baby will be starting to eat solids and the number of naps needed per day will be reduced.

I know I felt like I had just finally figured out my baby’s schedule and then it changed again at this time. But, the good news is that once you adapt to this new schedule it won’t change much again until your baby drops to 1 nap per day, which happens around 15 to 18 months old. Let’s get started reviewing what you can expect for a 6 month old schedule.

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6 Month Old Sleep Schedules

I think it’s important to start by discussing what a 6 month old sleep schedule looks like. We will start here because sometime in the 6 to 9 month range your baby will drop from 3 naps to 2 naps. That means there are some transitions and changes happening during this time with sleep.

To help understand below I am sharing a typical baby sleep schedule for a 6 month old taking 3 naps per day. I am also sharing a typical baby sleep schedule for a 6 month old taking 2 naps per day.

All three of my babies switched from 3 to 2 naps at 8 to 9 months old. But of course each baby is different. The typical range for reducing from 3 naps to 2 naps ranges from 6 months to 9 months old.

Sample Sleep Schedule For 6 Month Old At 3 Naps Per Day

Sample Sleep Schedule For 6 Month Old At 2 Naps Per Day

6 Month Old Feeding Schedule With Solids

Now that we have discussed what to expect for a 6 month old sleeping schedule, let’s discuss how feedings work at this age too. 6 months is also a time of change with the feeding schedule.

It is around this time many parents start introducing solids. I don’t know about you, but figuring out when to feed solids, while also fitting in breastfeeding or bottle feeding can be complicated.

What happens is you slowly introduce solids. You start with 1 solid meal per day and work your baby up to 3 solid meals per day. This will happen over the course of 1 to 2 months.

At first, the amount of milk your baby drinks will be the same, since you are only introducing one very small extra meal. But as you start giving your baby more food, he will slowly reduce his milk intake.

Finally, you will reach a good feeding schedule that involves a combination of milk and 3 solid meals per day. It is difficult to provide an exact schedule as you work towards 3 solid feedings per day, but there are three main things to keep in mind:

1. Feed solids about 1 hour after breastfeeding or bottle feeding.
2. As solid foods increase, your baby might reject milk. Take away a milk feeding and adjust your baby’s schedule accordingly if you notice a pattern.
3. If your baby seems hungry when you are eating, it’s probably time to add another solid meal to his diet.

Sample 6 Month Old Schedule For 3 Naps Per Day, 1 Solid Feeding Per Day

To help you understand what the schedule will look like with solids, let’s first review a sample schedule at 6 months with 1 solid feeding. Then once you have worked up to 3 solid meals per day, check out the sample 7+ month old schedule for 3 solids feedings per day. Finally, also ensure that your baby’s total milk intake is between 19 and 30 ounces per day.

Sample 7+ Month Old Schedule For 2 Naps Per Day, 3 Solid Feedings Per Day

As your baby gets closer to 9 months old, he will likely drop to 2 naps per day, he will increase his solid food intake to 3 meals per day, which in turn mean less milk intake. Once this transition happens at 7 to 9 months, the schedule will look something like this.

>>Pin the schedule below to Pinterest for reference!<<

How To Get Your Baby On a Reliable 6 Month Old Schedule

Now that you know the various schedules for a 6 month old and how it will change over the next month, let’s take a look at how to put your baby on a schedule you can depend on.

Below I am sharing the steps I took at 6 months old with my 3 children in order to get them sleeping through the night. Keep in mind that getting on a good schedule includes maintaining appropriate wake times between naps and making sure your baby sleeps 10 to 13 hours at night.

Ideal Bedtime & Sleep At Night For a 6 Month Old

The reality is that the ideal bedtime for your 6 month old really depends on your family’s schedule. At the end of the day, it’s about the total amount of sleep your baby gets at night.

If everyone is up early at your house, it’s likely your 6 month old will need to have a bedtime around 7pm to 8pm. To determine an appropriate bedtime, you should consider how much your baby is sleeping at night combined with the time you want him to wake up.

A 6 month old should be sleeping 10 to 12 hours at night. It’s possible your baby is still waking up for a feeding during this time.

For instance, my babies would sleep from about 8:30pm to 8am. However, they would also wake up around 5am to 6am for a feeding. But, then they would go right back to sleep. Around 7 months old is when my babies dropped that early morning feed.

If you want your 6 month old to wake up at 7am and he is sleeping 11 hours at night, then you would want to put him to bed at 8pm.

If bedtime is far off of this mark right now, that’s fine, you will get there. To adjust bedtime, slowly change it by 15 minutes every 2 to 3 days until you get to the appropriate time.

Finally, if your baby is at least 6 months old and not sleeping at least 10 hours straight at night, but you want him to, then you could consider sleep training. Sleep training at 6 months is discussed in more detail below.

Baby Wake Windows & Nap Lengths at 6 Months Old

A typical wake window for a 6 month old is 1.5-3 hours. Additionally, these wake windows tend to be shorter in the morning and longer in the late afternoon.

As far as a typical nap length, naps are usually 1-2 hours long. When my babies were at 3 naps per day, I found there was one longer nap per day (the first or second nap) and that was paired with two shorter naps. Once naps were reduced to two per day, each of these naps were about 1.5-2 hours long.

Best 6 Month Old Sleeping Environment & What To Sleep In

Picking the right sleeping environment for your 6 month old is really important for establishing a good schedule and getting your baby to sleep well. As far as what to sleep in I recommend putting your baby to sleep in either a onesie or a zip-up sleeper.

Then, put a sleep sack (aka wearable blanket) on to act as a blanket since you can’t put blankets in cribs. I also love sleep sacks because they help prevent babies from climbing out of the crib as they get older. The other items I recommend for the nursery include the following:

• Blackout nursery curtains or blackout shades
• Sound machine
• Video baby monitor

>>Recommended reading: Do Light Projectors Help Babies Sleep?<<

6 Month Old Sleep Training

You survived the first 6 months with your baby and he or she is now old enough for sleep training. There are many different methods you can use to sleep train your 6 month old. And, there are a lot of experts out there that can provide you with the information you need.

I will share that we used the Ferber method to sleep train all three of our babies. It was very effective for our family. I actually always thought the method we had used was called the cry it out method, but I recently learned there are differences between these two sleep training methods.

The cry it out method means just letting your baby cry until he falls asleep, without ever checking on him. I absolutely do NOT recommend doing this.

The Ferber method does involve letting your baby cry. But, it also involves checking on your baby to make sure he is okay. At first, you check on your baby more often. Then, you increase the time increments before going into the nursery again.

I don’t think I would have been able to get through sleep training my baby if I had not invested in a video baby monitor. This way you can check on your baby remotely, without interfering with sleep training. It really helped give me peace of mind that my baby was in fact okay.

Ferber Method Sleep Training Example

Here is an example of how we used the Ferber method for sleep training our babies at 6 to 9 months old.

• 8am: Do a 5 minute baby bedtime routine and put baby to bed. Baby starts crying and throws pacifier out of crib when you leave.
• 8:15am: Go in nursery, don’t talk, put pacifier back in crib, leave. Baby cries when you leave and throws pacifier out of crib.
• 8:30am: Go in nursery, don’t talk, put pacifier back in crib, leave. Baby cries when you leave and throws pacifier out of crib.
• 9am: Go in nursery, don’t talk, put pacifier back in crib, leave. Baby cries when you leave and throws pacifier out of crib.
• 9:30am: Go in nursery, don’t talk, put pacifier back in crib, leave. Baby cries when you leave, but eventually settles down and goes to sleep before 10pm.

Using Sleep Training To Get a 6 Month Old Baby To Sleep Through The Night

Now that you know what the routine for sleep training might look like the first night, let’s talk about how you use this to transition into your baby sleeping well. First of all, this whole routine will feel like it took 10 hours instead of 1 to 2 hours.

You become so used to going to your baby when he cries. It’s just built into our psyche to go running and help our babies when they cry.

But for our family, it was so worth getting through 3 nights of sleep training so that our babies would just sleep through the night. This is because it was such a big stress relief and felt like a weight was lifted off of me. It allowed me to get some much needed relaxation after putting my kids to bed.

For each of our children we stuck with the Ferber sleep training method for three straight days. By day 4 our kids all started going to sleep and staying asleep through the night. After the initial sleep training, every once in a while it came up that we would have to do a scaled down version of sleep training again.

For example, one of our babies started a habit of waking in the middle of the night. But, once we saw it was lasting more than a few nights we would use the Ferber method to put a stop to it.

We just implemented it in the middle of the night rather than at bedtime. Sleep training was shorter and only lasted 1 or 2 nights (instead of 3) because we had already used it before.

Sometimes when babies are sick they get into bad sleep habits too. You might have sleep train again in this case, but wait until your baby is feeling better before doing so.

More Help With Baby Sleep

If you have tried sleep training or all these baby schedules are just a struggle, then I highly recommend checking out the Baby D.R.E.A.M. System. This easy to follow step-by-step baby sleep system process was put together by an experienced mom and certified pediatric sleep consultant.

If you need help with any of the following items, then this system is totally worth it! You will get information on the following:

• Getting your baby to sleep through the night
• Resolving short naps
• Establishing a baby sleep plan
• Guidance on when to drop a nap
• Help getting your baby on a regular sleep schedule

If you are just completely exhausted, then sign up for the Baby D.R.E.A.M. System TODAY! The reviews for this product are impressive and in my opinion, anything that helps me and my kids get better sleep is 100% worth the investment.

Now that you have a better understanding of what a 6 month old schedule looks like, it should be easier to get your baby on a reliable schedule.

That wraps up this post on what to expect from a 6 month old baby schedule. I hope you found some useful information.

I always found the age of 6 months to be enjoyable. Your baby will be starting to play a lot and sleeping more at night. It’s a big milestone!