See what a six month old schedule looks like following the Babywise method. Includes example schedules, feeding times for baby, and how to easily add solids to the Babywise 6 month schedule.
If your baby is getting close to the six month mark and you’re following Babywise, then it’s time to get ready for the six-month schedule.
If you’ve been following Babywise for a while now, your baby is probably on a good sleep routine and chances are she sleeps through the night.
The six-month Babywise sleep schedule was one of my favorite times because your baby takes two solid naps during the day, has a long stretch of overnight sleep (about 11 to 12 hours at night), and has a good chunk of waketime in the afternoon to go out for an errand or a fun adventure.
Plus, it’s just an easy schedule. I felt like the 6-month schedule was way easier to explain to babysitters or grandparents than previous schedules and was very simple to implement.
I was so confused by the Babywise book because I felt like it didn’t go into enough detail to get my baby sleeping. It didn’t cover wake times or soothing methods enough for my likin.
I did a ton of research to fill in the gaps and get in a good routine.
To help you better, download my free sleep calculator to see when naptime and bedtime should be based on your baby’s age. Click here to grab it, it’ll be super helpful.
Babywise Six Month Schedule Options
Between 6 to 8 months, most babies drop the third nap and move to two naps, consisting of about 3 hours daytime sleep and 12 hours night time sleep.
By six months old, most babies don’t struggle with the 45-minute intruder (no more pesky 45 minutes of napping) so naps tend to be a bit more predictable as well. If your baby only naps 30 minutes still, it may be developmental or something may be off with their environment or sleep schedule.
You could try crib hour or the wake to sleep method to see if those help with short naps.
The lingo of the Babywise 6 month old sleep schedule is a little confusing, only because it’s different than what you’ve been doing (if you’ve been following the Babywise method up to this point).
But I’m here to break it all down for you and help you out! Originally we were naming schedules by your baby’s feeding schedule.
For example, saying they were on a 3-hour schedule meant they went 3 hours in between feeds, but around 6 months of age, Babywise starts naming schedules by their wake times.
Wake windows for a 6 month old can vary, but Babywise offers three different wake time combinations that you can use for your 6-month old at this point:
- 2.5 / 3 / 3.5
- 3 / 3 / 3
- 2 / 3 / 4
Each number is the amount of waketime baby will have before taking a nap or going to sleep for the night. Different babies will thrive on different waketime combinations. Some babies are ready for that morning nap super early, while some will need their wake time more evenly distributed throughout the day.
You can start with the 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 schedule and tweak from there. It’s a great place to start for the 6-month schedule because it keeps feeds and waketimes distributed fairly evenly.
Once you get your schedule honed in you won’t have to mess with it until your baby moves to a one year old schedule, making the transition to one nap between 13 and 18 months old!
That was one of my favorite things about the six-month Babywise schedule. I was so sick of finding a new rhythm and wake times every few weeks! It was really nice to be on a schedule and stay on it for a long time.
Sleep and Feed Schedules for Every Age
Take away the stress of figuring out your baby’s sleep needs. With the Baby Sleep Schedule Binder, you’ll get sleeping and feeding schedules that you can implement for every age, even if you currently have no routine in place. Check out the Baby Sleep Schedule Binder here.
Adding Solid Foods to Your Day
Many babies start solid foods around 6 months old as well. This is such a fun milestone for our family!
We did baby-led weaning and saw so many benefits! I read about introducing solids in one of the Babywise books, but it all seemed too overwhelming to me, having to measure out foods and track it all.
After being so fixated on my baby’s sleep, I didn’t want to put that much effort into solid foods as well. Baby-led weaning was really flexible and worked for us!
We started with giving solids (BLW style) just at dinner and ate it at our regular family meal times. As Evelyn became more interested in solids, I gradually added breakfast and eventually lunch. I added lunch last because I wanted to save that mid chunk of time during the day for us to get out of the house.
I included when you could do solids in the sample baby schedules below. Do what works for you and don’t stress the times of solid food too much.
Breastmilk or formula will still be baby’s main source of nutrition at this point. Feed in these example schedules refers to a breastfeed or bottle feed.
If you aren’t interested in doing baby-led weaning, you can check out different schedules for doing traditional weaning here.
Okay, onto the six month sample Babywise schedules.
2.5 / 3 / 3.5 Schedule
This is the schedule we used for Evelyn when we first started the 6-month schedule. I actually started it with her around 5.5 months because she kept having early wakings and I didn’t love the late afternoon catnap that came with the 5-month old Babywise schedule.
7:00 am: Wake and Feed
7:00 to 9:30 am: Waketime / Breakfast solids
9:30 to 11:00 am: Nap
11:00 am: Feed
11:00 am to 2:00 pm: Waketime / Lunch solids
2:00 to 3:30 pm: Nap
3:30 pm: Feed
3:30 to 6:30 pm: Waketime / Dinner solids
6:30 pm: Last feed / baby’s bedtime routine
7:00 pm: Bedtime
3 / 3 / 3 Schedule
The 3 / 3 / 3 schedule is similar to the one above with the waketimes equally distributed. It’s super simple to explain to other caregivers (or your husband!) Here’s an example schedule. if you want your daily wake time or bedtime to be different, just adjust those times and the rest of the schedule accordingly.
7:00 am: Wake and Feed
7:00 to 10:00 am: Waketime / Breakfast solids
10:00 to 11:30 am: Nap
11:30 am: Feed
11:30 am to 2:30 pm: Waketime / Lunch solids
2:30 to 4:00 pm: Nap
4:00 pm: Feed
4:00 to 6:30 pm: Waketime / Dinner solids
6:30 pm: Last feed / bedtime routine
7:00 pm: Bedtime
2 / 3 / 4 Schedule
Some babies need a bit of a longer stretch right before bed so they can make it through the night. The 2 / 3 / 4 schedule works great for those babies and parents who want their longest waketime in the evening. This schedule is also nice for parents who work, so you can have more time with your baby in the evening. Here’s an example nap schedule with a 7 am waketime and 7 pm bedtime.
7:00 am: Wake and Feed
7:00 to 9:00 am: Waketime / Breakfast solids
9:00 to 10:30 am: Nap
10:30 am: Wake / Feed
10:30 am to 1:30 pm: Waketime / Lunch solids
1:30 to 3:00 pm: Nap
3:00 pm: Feed
3:00 to 6:30 pm: Waketime / Dinner solids
6:30 pm: Last feed / bedtime routine
7:00 pm: Bedtime
Remember that all of these are examples and can be tweaked to work for your baby. Our daughter usually took a longer morning nap, consisting of 2 hours and then she would only nap for an hour in the afternoon. Follow your baby’s cues and do what you think is best!
Making the transition from two naps and a catnap seemed like a huge jump to me and I worried about the longer waketimes.
If your baby is fussy or struggling during that evening stretch where they used to take a catnap, you can take them outside or give them a small snack to help distract them and carry them over the hump. Babies tend to get a second wind and then they can make it through the longer stretch and to bedtime.
Keep in mind that some babies may also go through a 6 month sleep regression, due to all the new skills they’re working on. If you’ve been diligent with independent sleep habits, your baby may not experience it.
Good luck merging to two naps and getting on the Babywise 6 month schedule! Hopefully you and your babe love it! I know my Babywise babies did!
My goal is to help tired parents get sleep, so the whole family can thrive!
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Hi there!
We’ve been sleep training for almost a week now..My daughter is about to be 6 Months( born a month early). Usually it has been taking her 10-30 minutes to fall asleep but has woken up at least once every night. At first I didn’t know how to approach the night waking..should I just bf feed her or continue the sleep training? I plan on switching to full formula next week. By the way we set her down 7:30/8.
( Ive been feeding her in the middle of the night for that one waking but when she was still in our room she would sometimes go all night from 8pm-6/7am!)so it makes me wonder if she’s actually hungry?
She has always napped on the carrier and the stroller..I have two other kids to get to school and hobbies. If I know I typically won’t be home for two out of three naps should I still try to nap train those in her crib? Or should I only nap train the middle nap that I know I will consistently be home for ? On another note she keeps waking up at the 45 min mark for all her naps!