In the blink of an eye, you have an 8-month-old. As they are starting to show more personality, crawling, pulling up to standing, they might also be showing an increase in separation anxiety, short naps emerge, and you can’t figure out if this is a sleep regression, developmental, teething, or something else.
In today’s Vlog, I talk through the sleep schedule for an 8-month-old, and the variability of a 2-nap schedule vs. a 3-nap schedule for this age, to make it work for you.
What’s the Ideal Awake Window for an 8 Month Old
At 8 months of age, a baby needs an awake window of 3 hours, to ensure balance in the sleep pressure hormone adenosine. This hormone is commonly referred to as the “sleep driver” that ensures if balanced, your child takes a nice long and consistent nap in their crib.
If your baby is not tired at 3 hours, you might be missing the cues, leading them to be overtired, thereby overstimulated, causing trouble settling, trouble staying asleep and longer periods of fussiness going down to sleep.
How Much Total Nap Time Does an 8 Month Old Need?
At 8 months of age, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine states that children need 12-16 hours in total sleep, through the age of 12 months. That mean, that for a baby on a schedule of 7:00 pm bedtime and a wake between 6:00 am and 7:00 am {11-12 hours} – that they would need 3 hours in naps for optimal health.
Every baby is different, so it’s important to ensure you understand the signal of getting too much or too little sleep for 8 months old.
- Are they waking happy from a nap or in the morning {good & rested} or are they waking up by crying {still tired, could also be hunger in under 6 months of age}
- Trouble sleeping through the night but not crying, just awake? That means there is likely a misalignment in timing and too much sleep happening in the daytime hours.
What is a Sample Sleep Schedule for an 8 Month Old or 9 Month Old Baby?
By following a 7:00 bedtime and 7:00 am wake up time, that would then align with two naps in the day and look like this:
7:00am – Wake for the Day & Eat
9:45am – Feed from Breast or Bottle {not TO SLEEP}
10:00am – Lay baby down in the crib, awake, to settle for nap 1 in the crib.
Duration will be: 1 hour, 1 1/2 hours or 2 hours. Then, nap #2 is based off that timing and any of these scenarios balances the day and babies needs.
1:00 pm – Feed from Breast or Bottle
2:30 pm – Nap #2 {assuming awaking at 11:30am}
4:00 pm – Wake Up from Nap
4:00 pm – Feed from Breast or Bottle
6:30 pm – Bedtime kickoff, feed then PJ’s and Sack or Wearable Blanket
7:00 pm – Down for sleep in the Crib
This schedule gives you 3 hours of naps and 3 hours of an awake window, for a perfectly balanced baby.
