Newborn sleep schedule (0 months): wake windows, naps and safe sleep

Lulla Team·Published Sep 5, 2026·Updated Sep 6, 2026

Your newborn sleeps a lot — the recommended range is 14 to 17 hours out of every 24, and many sleep a little less and are perfectly fine — but almost never in one piece. Around 8 to 9 of those hours happen at night, broken up by feeds, and the rest is spread across 4 to 6 naps. Wake windows are tiny at this age: most newborns can only stay up for 45 to 60 minutes before they need to sleep again.

There's no fixed schedule yet, and there's nothing to fix. In the first weeks feeding drives the day and the clock follows along. Rather than aiming for set nap times, watch the wake window and your baby's cues — yawning, staring into space, turning away from you — and start settling before the crying begins.

See the full wake-window table, from newborn to 2 years→How many naps by age — the full table→When your newborn won't sleep: what to check, in order→

Your baby's body clock hasn't started yet. The circadian rhythm that separates day from night takes a couple of months to mature, and newborns do not produce much melatonin of their own. That's why your baby can sleep deeply at noon and be wide awake at 3 am. It's normal physiology, not a habit you accidentally created, and it's not something you can train away in week two.

Newborn sleep cycles are short and full of active sleep, so you'll hear grunting, squeaking and irregular breathing, and see twitches and facial expressions while your baby is fully asleep. Wait a moment before picking them up — a lot of those noises belong to sleep, not to waking. What you can do now is stack the odds: bright, normal daylight during the day, and dark, boring nights.

A sample day

In the first weeks a fixed timetable is not the goal. Treat the day below as one way that 4 to 6 naps and 45 to 60 minute wake windows can fall — a rough guide, not a rule — and let feeds and sleep cues set the real rhythm.

A sample day to give you a rough idea — every baby is different. Adjust the times to your child's sleep cues, and talk to your pediatrician about anything that worries you.

Tips for this age

• Put your baby down on their back every single time, on a firm flat mattress, in a crib with nothing loose in it — no pillows, blankets, bumpers or soft toys before 12 months.
• Teach the difference between day and night from week one: daylight and normal household noise for daytime naps, dim light and quiet for night feeds.
• Start settling at the 45 to 60 minute mark rather than waiting for a meltdown, because overtired newborns fight sleep harder, not less.
• Between feeds, diaper changes and naps it's easy to lose count, so logging sleep in an app like Lulla shows you how long your baby has actually been awake.
• The number of hours on its own is not a warning sign: if your baby feeds rarely or poorly, has few wet diapers, or is hard to settle, call your pediatrician — they know your baby's history. If your baby is hard to wake, falls straight back to sleep after you wake them, or feels floppy, call 911 or go to the ER.

Common questions

Keep reading

• Baby tiredness signs: how to read them before the crying starts
• How to build the perfect sleep routine for your baby
• How much do newborns sleep? What's normal by age and when it's too much