Articles and Advice: Your Baby 0-6 Months

Most parents want to know "How much should my baby sleep?" Or, "Is it okay for my baby to sleep so much?. . . so little?" Answers to these questions change over time, as you can see in the chart below, which shows the typical number of hours that a child sleeps in a 24-hour period. The blue areas represent nighttime sleep; the orange areas show naptimes during the day.

Generally, your new baby sleeps a total of about 16 hours out of 24. But, as you've noticed, she isn't able to sleep more than a few hours at a time. Your baby goes through about seven different asleep/awake cycles each day. These cycles are fairly even spaced over 24 hours.

By the time your baby is 6 months old, she will probably sleep a total of a little over 14 hours — about 11 hours at night. Your baby will most likely welcome a 1- to 2-hour nap both in the morning and in the afternoon.