7 month old sleep schedule

A sample day for a 7 month old: 2 or 3 naps, about 2.5 to 4.5 hours awake at a stretch and 12 to 16 hours of sleep in 24 hours. Here are the times, and how to fit them to your baby.

Sleep in 24 hours

12 to 16 hours, naps included (American Academy of Sleep Medicine)

Naps

2 or 3 naps

Awake between sleeps

About 2.5 to 4.5 hours (a rule of thumb)

Night feeds

Most healthy babies this age can go through the night without a feed, though many still wake.

A sample day at 7 months

Built from a 7:00 am wake-up. Times can move 15 minutes either way.

1. 7:00 amWake upStart the day at about the same time every day
2. 9:30 amto 10:45 amNap 1After 2 hr 30 min awake
3. 1:15 pmto 2:15 pmNap 2After 2 hr 30 min awake
4. 5:00 pmto 5:30 pmNap 3After 2 hr 45 min awake
5. 7:30 pmBedtime routineSame steps, same order, every night
6. 8:00 pmIn bed, lights outAfter 2 hr 30 min awake

Nap times are worked out from rule-of-thumb awake times. They have not been tested in studies, and healthy babies vary.

Build this around my wake-up time

Bedtime for a 7 month old

In the sample day, lights out is at 8:00 pm, 2 hr 30 min after the last nap ends. The bedtime routine starts 30 minutes before that.

Bedtime follows from the wake-up time and the naps, not from the clock. If your day starts at 6:30 am, bring every time forward by 30 minutes. If it starts at 8:00 am, move every time an hour later.

How much sleep does a 7 month old need?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends 12 to 16 hours of sleep in 24 hours, naps included, for babies of 4 to 12 months. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports that recommendation.

The sample day adds up to 13.75 hours: 2 hr 45 min of naps and 11 hr from bedtime to wake-up. The night figure includes any feeds and wakings, so the sleep itself is a little less.

By 6 months most babies sleep 9 hours or longer at night, with brief awakenings (Nemours).

These are ranges for most children, not targets to hit. The National Sleep Foundation notes that an hour or two either side of its range can be appropriate.

Wake windows at 7 months

About 2.5 to 4.5 hours between sleeps. That is the range Cleveland Clinic publishes for this age.

Wake windows are a rule of thumb. They have not been tested in research and no medical body publishes a table of them. The first stretch of the day is usually the shortest and the last one before bed the longest.

Watch your baby as well as the clock. Yawning, staring and fussing are signs that sleep is close, and when the clock and your baby disagree, go by your baby.

Naps at 7 months

Babies of 4 to 12 months take 2 or 3 naps a day (Nemours). At 4 to 7 months, day sleep adds up to about 3 to 4 hours on average.

The last nap of the day is a short one. It only has to carry your baby to bedtime.

No medical source gives an age for moving from three naps to two. Two naps are well established by 9 to 12 months, so the third nap goes somewhere in the months ahead.

Night feeds at 7 months

Most healthy babies this age can go through the night without a feed, though many still wake. Nationwide Children's Hospital puts the share of babies over 6 months who still wake at night at 25% to 50%.

Night weaning is safe when a baby is healthy and at a good weight (Cleveland Clinic), so ask your pediatrician before you cut a feed.

Waking is common and is not a sign that something is wrong. In a study of 388 babies, between 28% and 57% of 6 and 12 month olds did not yet sleep 6 or 8 hours in a row, and that had no link with their later development.

Can you sleep train a 7 month old?

Yes, if you want to. The published trials of sleep training enrolled babies of 6 months and older. The main approaches are staying in the room and moving away over two weeks, timed checks (the Ferber method), and saying goodnight and not going back in (cry it out).

A 2006 review for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that 49 of 52 studies reported better sleep. Most of those studies were small, and no method works for every child.

Safe sleep

For every sleep, naps included: on the back, on a firm, flat surface that is not inclined, with a fitted sheet and nothing else in the crib or bassinet. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping the crib or bassinet in your room for at least the first 6 months and advises against sharing a bed with a baby.

Stop swaddling as soon as your baby shows any sign of trying to roll over. Do not use weighted swaddles, sleepers or blankets.

Related guides

• Sleep schedules for every age
• Wake windows by age
• When to start sleep training
• The Ferber method and chart

Sources

• Paruthi S, et al. Recommended Amount of Sleep for Pediatric Populations: A Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2016.
• Cleveland Clinic. What Are Baby Wake Windows? And How Long Should They Be? April 2024.
• Nemours KidsHealth. Sleep and Your Baby, by age; Naps.
• Nationwide Children's Hospital. Sleep in Infants; Sleep in Toddlers.
• Mindell JA, et al. Behavioral treatment of bedtime problems and night wakings in infants and young children. Sleep, 2006 (review for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine).
• Pennestri MH, et al. Pediatrics, 2018 (388 babies at 6 and 12 months).
• Moon RY, et al. Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2022 Recommendations for Reducing Infant Deaths in the Sleep Environment. Pediatrics, 2022.

General information for parents, not medical advice. Independent, not affiliated with the American Academy of Pediatrics or any medical body. Talk to your pediatrician about your baby's health.