Nurturing the Nurturer postpartum doula insights
This schedule is popular because it’s fairly flexible. You can adjust what happens between the “play” and “sleep” parts of the schedule. You can put your baby to bed wide awake, or you can do a little rocking/soothing to get your baby drowsy before sleep. The beauty of this schedule is that it ensures your baby is awake after feedings; what happens before the next nap (and how awake your baby is going into their bed) is up to you.
Eat Play Sleep Schedule: What Is It?
This is pretty simple: with an eat play sleep schedule, your baby eats (at the breast or the bottle), then plays for a bit (has some tummy time, listens to a book, enjoys a lullaby, etc.), this also helps digestion and trapped air, and then goes down for a nap.
The particulars of this particular sleep and feeding schedule depend largely on unique factors. The length of the feeding, the length and type of play, the timing of the nap (and the length of the nap) all depend on your baby’s age and temperament. But the basic layout is the same: it’s always eating, followed by some playing, and then finally a nap.
Note that I keep saying “nap” here; that’s because this is a schedule designed to be used during the daytime. Your bedtime routine should be different (although you would still, ideally, end the bedtime routine with your child awake and falling asleep without the help of sleep associations). In addition, you would skip the ‘play’ part after any night feedings, and simply put your child straight to bed after night feeds. If you’re sleep training, you’d want to put your child back to bed at least slightly awake after night feeds.
Eat Play Sleep Schedule: Why it can sometimes fail and When to avoid It
The eat play sleep schedule isn’t all good all the time, however; there are situations in which this kind of schedule isn’t ideal. Times to avoid (or at least to modify) an eat play sleep schedule include….
….during illness. A sick child needs comfort and soothing, and when your child is ill, it’s perfectly fine to suspend your usual schedule in favour of soothing your child to sleep.
….during times of travel or change. If you are in the midst of a big life transition (like moving to a new house, or having a new baby, then you’ll need to cut your child some slack and be ready to offer more soothing and sleep help than usual. In addition, if you are vacationing, and your child is in a new and unfamiliar sleep environment, eat play sleep may not work as well as it does at home.
….during growth spurts. During a growth spurt (especially a newborn growth spurt), your child will feed for what feels like forever! In the midst of all these feedings, it may not be practical to do an eat play sleep schedule every time your child wakes to eat.
What Age Can You Put Your Baby on a Schedule?
You can put your baby on a sleep schedule almost from birth but it’s important not to be too strict until your baby is at least 6 months old. Newborns need to eat and sleep on demand to support a rapid period of growth and development. Once your baby can tolerate staying awake for 2-3 hours at a time, a more consistent schedule can be used.
Even if your baby is young, you can put your baby on a schedule largely based on their “nap gap.” This is the amount of time between sleep periods, including the time between naps and between their last nap and bedtime.
Baby Schedules
Babies 4 to 10 months old need an average of 14 hours of sleep a day with 11-12 hours at night and 2-3 hours during the day. Many babies’ night-wean in this age range but it varies depending on whether you’re breastfeeding or formula-feeding. Each schedule below will discuss what to expect for babies at that age.
4 Month Old Baby’s Sleep and Development
Pediatricians disagree high and low about when a baby is capable of sleeping through the night and only a handful of parents who reach this page will have a 4 month old who sleeps all night without even a single feeding (those that do are LUCKY!).
Most 4-month-olds need 11-12 hours at night and 3-4 hours during the day. And, many 4-month-olds are still eating 1-2 times a night and some naps are just 30 minutes. In addition, most 4 month olds will take 4 naps a day. Consequently, short naps are normal development at this age as it’s highly unusual for babies to take four 1-hour naps.
How Many Naps for a 4 Month Old?
Most 4 month old babies take 4 naps each day totaling 3-4 hours of sleep. The reason for so many naps is primarily because babies this age can’t stay awake longer than 1-2 hours at a time. They still have short wake windows so it’s still common to spread out daytime sleep among multiple sleep periods. However, some babies this age can stay awake longer and drop the fourth nap transitioning to a 3-nap schedule early.
5 Month Old Baby Sleep and Feeding Schedules
5 month old babies typically have 2-3-hour wake windows throughout the day between naps and before bedtime. If your baby struggles to stay awake longer than two hours at a time, that’s NOT unusual at this age. Not all babies can stay awake 2 1/2 to 3 hours just yet at this age.
Also, at this age, baby bedtimes are typically between 6:00 and 8:00 PM unless you have a baby who likes to sleep late in the morning.
How Many Naps for a 5 Month Old?
Your 5-month-old is most likely taking 3 to 4 naps per day for a total of 3 to 4 hours of sleep per day plus 10-12 hours at night. The number of naps your baby takes at this age most often depends on how long they can stay awake between sleep periods. The shorter they can stay awake, typically, the shorter the naps. A 2 to 2 1/2-hour wake window is common and that typically leads to a 3-nap schedule. There are a few babies this age who take two 2-hour naps and sleep 10-11 hours at night. If your baby does this, that’s just fine!
Most 5 month old babies take 2-3 naps each day that total 2 to 3 1/2 hours. Babies this age stay awake and have wake windows between 2 and 3 hours at a time, on average.
Wake Windows for 5 Month Olds
The typical wake windows for a 5-month-old are approximately 2 hours with the first wake window being one of the shortest. Sometimes, that first wake window is just 90 minutes. There is a small percentage of 5-month-olds that can stay awake 2-3 hours at a time but 2 hours is average.
5 Month Old Feeding
5 month old babies typically eat every 3 to 4 hours during the day. Please be aware that breast milk and/or formula should be your baby’s primary nutrition for the first year and solids come secondary.
Below are the average amounts per day.
Average amounts per day:
- At least 5-6 breastfeeding sessions per day (4-6 during daylight hours, and 1-3 at night) or 700 to 800mls of formula or combination (decrease solids if your baby is not taking in at least this much)
- Water is unnecessary (breast milk and formula have plenty of water in them).
Sample 5 month old schedule
Obviously, all babies vary, but here are sample schedules you can use to make your own for your unique baby. Schedules are hit-and-miss at this age because many babies simply cannot stay up past 2 hours to get to the next scheduled nap time. Therefore, at this age, it’s likely naps are still on the short side but come frequently. Over the next several weeks, you can work on getting down to just 3 naps to get closer to the 6 month schedule.
5 Month Old Schedule with Short Wake Windows
This schedule works best for babies who become overtired quickly and can stay awake for about 1.5 – 2 hours between naps:
| 5 Month Old 4-Nap Sleep Schedule With Feedings | |
| Time | Activity |
| 6:30 AM | Wake and feed |
| 7:15 AM | play |
| 8:00 AM | Morning Nap (at least 1 hour) |
| 9:00 AM | Feed (upon waking; no need to wake baby up!) |
| 11:00 AM | Late Morning Nap (often 45-60 minutes) |
| 12:00 PM | Feed (upon waking) |
| 2:00 PM | Early Afternoon Nap (often 30-45 minutes) |
| 3:00 PM | Feed |
| 4:30 PM | Catnap (~30-45 minutes; can be “on the go”) |
| 5:30 PM | Snack Feed (if necessary) |
| 6:00 PM | Start Your Bedtime Routine |
| 6:15 PM | Feed |
| 6:30 PM | Bedtime (goal to be asleep by this time) |