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Sample 4 month baby schedule and routine. This is the eat, wake, sleep schedule and routine we follow with my 4 month old.

Sleeping is important for babies and adults alike. Learning to sleep at a young age is so important for the health of both mama and baby (mental health if anything!).

At 4 months old, most babies need 13-16 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period, mostly at night.

Our 4 month old is getting approximately 11.5 hours of sleep overnight and an additional 3.5-4 hours during the day with 3 separate naps. Totaling about 15 hours in a day which is right within the range for his age.

He takes 2 naps that are 1-2 hours long and one shorter catnap in the evening. Additionally, he is staying awake for about 2 hrs at a time in between his naps and before bed.

We just started eating some pureed baby food at 4 months of age. So far, so good, in that it hasn’t affected his naps or nighttime sleep.

Parent Directed Feeding

We loosely follow a parent directed feeding and sleeping schedule and treat it more like a routine.

This means that if baby is hungry we feed him. If baby is tired he can nap a little earlier.

At his age the schedule is not strict, but just a routine that loosely falls into a predictable pattern.

However, one key point of parent directed feeding and scheduling is that you should try not to go too long between bottles and naps.Keeping the baby on schedule will help him get enough calories during the daytime hours and will keep him from getting overtired.



Here is the baby sleep schedule we have been following for our 4 month old.

If you are looking for other sleep schedules check out my series on sleep schedules:

4 month Baby Schedule (3 naps)

  • 7:30am Wake Up and Bottle ?
  • 9:15 am Nap 1 ?
  • 11:00 am Bottle?
  • 1:00 pm Nap 2 ?
  • 2:30 pm Bottle ?
  • 4:30-5:00 Nap 3 ?
  • 5:00 pm Bottle ?
  • 7:00 pm Bottle ?
  • 7:30 pm Bedtime

One important thing to note about our 4 month baby schedule is that it follow the eat-wake-sleep pattern. We try never to feed baby right before he goes down for a nap, because then he will be drowsy and not learn to put him self to sleep.

This has been so helpful to teach him to sleep longer stretches at night!

This is also true for bedtime. We always start our bedtime routine with a bottle and then a bath. That way there is space between his last feeding and bedtime.

If you are interested in more baby schedules or the parent directed feeding approach in general I HIGHLY recommend checking out On Becoming Babywise for more tips and tricks.

Thanks for stopping by!

If you are looking for other sleep schedules check out my series on sleep schedules:

4 Month Old Eat-Wake-Sleep Schedule