0–1 month
Newborn sleep: schedule, naps & wake windows
A newborn sleeps most of the day, but in short stretches and without telling day from night: their circadian rhythm hasn’t matured yet. In these weeks there’s no real “schedule”, just cycles of feeding, a short awake time and back to sleep.
How much sleep does a newborn need?
Between 14–17 h in total across the day: about 8–9 h at night and 7–8 h during the day, spread over 4-6+ naps. These are guide ranges: if your baby wakes rested and cheerful, they’re probably getting what they need. Compare all stages in the baby sleep chart by age.
Wake windows for a newborn
The wake window for a newborn is 45-60 min: the time they can comfortably stay awake before needing sleep again. Overshooting the window usually means overtiredness, crying and shorter naps; undershooting means bedtime resistance. The first window of the day is usually the shortest and the last one the longest.
Don’t feel like clock-watching? The wake windows calculator gives you the exact range for the next nap.
Naps for a newborn
Expect 4-6+ naps of 30 min - 2 h each. Naps can last anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, and that variability is completely normal. Watch the wake window rather than the clock: after 45–60 minutes awake, tiredness usually shows up (yawning, glazed look, hands to the face). Nap transitions and lengths by age are in the baby naps guide.
Sample schedule for a newborn
Based on a 7:00 am wake-up. Shift the times to your baby’s real wake-up, keeping the windows.
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 7:00 | Wake up & feed |
| 7:50 | Nap 1 |
| 9:30 | Feed & short awake time |
| 10:20 | Nap 2 |
| 12:00 | Feed & short awake time |
| 12:50 | Nap 3 |
| 14:30 | Feed & short awake time |
| 15:20 | Nap 4 |
| 17:00 | Feed & short awake time |
| 17:50 | Catnap |
| 20:30 | Bath, feed & bedtime (with night feeds) |
Treat this only as a reference: with a newborn the day is organised around feeds and wake windows, not fixed times.
What time should bedtime be?
The usual range for a newborn is 9:00-11:00 pm (very flexible). More than a fixed time, what matters is the window from the end of the last nap. A short, repeated bedtime routine (bath, pyjamas, story or song) helps them anticipate that sleep is coming.