8 Month Old Sleep Schedule

An 8-month-old's day is usually the most predictable it has been so far. Two naps, a long morning stretch awake, a long afternoon stretch, and a bedtime that lands within the same half hour most evenings. It is a good month to lock in a rhythm that will carry you through to the next big change, the move to one nap, which is still many months away.

The nights are where eight months can surprise you. Pulling to stand, crawling and separation anxiety often arrive together, and our 8 to 10 month regression guide covers that wave in depth. This guide is about the everyday schedule underneath it.

8 Month Sleep at a Glance

Wake Windows at 8 Months

At eight months a typical wake window is 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours 30 minutes. This is the range the Hushly app starts from for an 8-month-old (corrected age) before it learns your baby's pattern.

• Before nap 1: about 2h30. Mornings are still the shortest window.
• Before nap 2: about 3h.
• Before bed: 3h15 to 3h30, the longest of the day.

A common mistake at this age is keeping the windows from a few months ago. A baby put down after two hours may simply not be tired enough, and the result looks like nap refusal or a nap that ends after 30 minutes. If naps are getting harder, add 15 minutes to the window before them and give it four or five days.

Sample 8-Month Schedule

Based on a 07:00 wake-up. Times are when your baby is asleep.

That is around 2h45 of daytime sleep and roughly 12 hours overnight. Milk feeds fit around the meals; at this age many babies have milk on waking, around naps and at bedtime, with three small meals of solids during the day.

When One Nap Is Short

A 2-nap day has less slack than a 3-nap day. If one nap is short, there is no catnap to rescue the afternoon, so the fix has to come from the windows and bedtime:

• Short first nap: bring the second nap forward by 15 to 30 minutes rather than holding out for the usual time.
• Short second nap: move bedtime earlier. If nap 2 ends at 14:30, aim for asleep by 18:00 at the latest.
• Both short: early bedtime, and do not read anything into it. One messy day does not mean your baby is dropping a nap. The 2-to-1 transition usually comes between 14 and 18 months.

If short naps are the norm, not the exception, check the windows first (too short is as common as too long at this age), then the room. Our short naps guide walks through the rest.

Nights at 8 Months

Many 8-month-olds can sleep through the night without a feed, and many still wake once. Both are normal. Whether your baby still needs a night feed depends on growth and intake, so it is worth asking your pediatrician rather than going by age alone. Our guide to night wakings, hunger or habit helps you read the pattern.

When wakings are not about hunger, the most common cause at this age is the way your baby falls asleep at bedtime. A baby who drifts off being fed or rocked often needs the same help each time they surface during the night. If that is working for your family, there is nothing to fix. If it is not, our sleep training methods guide compares gentle and faster options.

Standing and Crawling in the Crib

Pulling up to stand is one of the defining skills of eight to ten months, and the crib rails are the perfect thing to pull up on. Many babies stand at bedtime or in the night and then cry because they do not know how to get down.

• Practice getting down in the daytime. Help your baby bend their knees and lower themselves from standing at the sofa or a low table. It usually clicks within a week or two.
• At night, lay them down once, calmly, and leave. Laying them down twenty times turns it into a game.
• Lower the mattress. Once your baby can pull up, move the crib mattress to its lowest setting so they cannot climb or fall out.

Keep the crib empty: no pillows, bumpers or loose blankets, even now that your baby is bigger. A wearable sleeping bag keeps them warm without loose bedding.

How Hushly Uses These Numbers

At eight months the Hushly app starts from the 2-nap pattern and windows on this page, and it treats 7 to 9 months as a transition period, so the occasional 3-nap day does not throw off its suggestions. After about six logged naps it shifts the windows toward your baby's own rhythm.

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;12(6):785-786.
• Moon RY, et al. Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2022 Recommendations for Reducing Infant Deaths in the Sleep Environment. Pediatrics, 2022;150(1):e2022057990.
• NHS: Helping your baby to sleep

Keep the 2-nap rhythm steady

Hushly starts from the 8-month ranges on this page and learns how long your baby really manages before each nap, so the schedule fits your baby, not an average. Free to download.

Get the appFree on iPhone and Android

Frequently asked questions

Sleep schedules by age

Want today's plan for your own baby? The free baby sleep calculator turns age and wake-up time into naps and a bedtime.

• 4 Month Old Sleep Schedule: Wake windows, a 4-nap and a 3-nap sample day, and why naps are short this month.
• 5 Month Old Sleep Schedule: Three naps, the late-afternoon catnap, and what to do about 5 a.m. starts.
• 6 Month Old Sleep Schedule: Three naps or two, a schedule for each, and what solids and teething really do to sleep.
• 7 Month Old Sleep Schedule: The month most babies move to two naps: why the third stops fitting, and a schedule for each.
• 8 Month Old Sleep Schedule (this guide)