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9 month old babies need an average of 11-12 hours of sleep at night and 2-3 hours of sleep during the day at nap time. Most 9 month olds are sleeping through the night but if your baby is not, we provide tips below. This article outlines sample 9-month-old baby sleep and feeding schedules, including milk feedings (for breastfeeding and formula-feeding babies!) solids, naps, and nighttime sleep. As a sleep consultant of over 10 years, I’m also sharing typical sleep habits to expect. Or, you can skip to the schedule if you prefer.
9 Month Old’s Sleep Habits and Development
At this age, most 9-month-olds are sleeping through the night without a feeding and take two naps during the day.
However, some babies, in my experience, do better with one feeding after 4 or 5 a.m., and will then sleep longer than if they don’t eat. Otherwise, babies are more often going to wake up too early for the day.
I would need to know your specific situation to make a recommendation, as all babies are unique, but by this age, I would not expect more than one feeding, typically, if any at all.
Your 9-month-old should be taking 2 naps per day for a total of about 2-3 hours per day plus 11-12 hours at night. If you’re having trouble with naps, you might be interested in helping your baby nap.
How Many Naps for an 9 Month Old?
Most 9 month old babies take 2 naps each day that total 2 to 3 hours. Each nap is typically at least an hour long. Babies this age stay awake and have wake windows between 2 and 3 hours at a time, on average, but up to 4 hours before bedtime. Most babies drop the third nap by 9 months old.
If your 9-month-old is still taking three naps and sleeping well then you probably don’t have to worry. But, if you are having sleep problems such as isomnia or split night, you may want to simply transition to two naps. Even when babies happily take three naps, this is a sign they are napping for too many sleep periods during the day even if the total sleep isn’t “too much.”
9 Month Old Feeding
All babies vary, but here are a couple of sample sleep and feeding schedules you can use to make your own for your unique 9 month old baby. Be aware that breast milk and/or formula should be the primary nutrition for the first year, and solids come second.
Below are the average amounts we expect at this age but keep in mind that all babies have a unique appetite.
Average Milk and Solid Amounts Per Day for a 9 Month Old:
- At least 3-4 nursing sessions per day or 26-32 ounces formula or combination of both
- 2 servings (1 serving = 1-2 Tablespoons dry) baby cereal
- 1-2 servings grain (1 serving = 1/2 slice bread, 2 crackers, 1/2 cup Cheerios, or 1/2 cup whole grain pasta)
- 2 servings (1 serving = 2-4 Tablespoons) fruit
- 2 servings (1 serving = 2-4 Tablespoons) vegetable
- 2-3 servings (1 serving = 1-2 Tablespoons) protein
- 1 serving Dairy (1 serving = 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/3 cup cottage cheese or 1 oz grated cheese)
- You can also offer cooked egg yolk (but possibly no egg whites until 12 months old due to allergens — check with your doctor)
For more information on starting your baby on solid food, we have a series of blog posts dedicated to the subject. We include recommendations about how and when to start solids, as well as helpful information on food allergies, recommended products, baby-friendly recipes, and more.
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Sample 9 Month Old Schedules With Feedings
This first sample schedule is what I call a “staggered” approach. My first son did better nursing fully and then had solids a bit in between nursing sessions. He was a little hungry but not famished. He just didn’t do well with stopping nursing mid-way to eat solids.
Sample 9 Month Old Schedule — Staggered Approach
| 7 Month Old Sleep Schedule With Feedings | |
|---|---|
| Time | Activity |
| 7:00 AM | Wake and Milk |
| 9:00 AM | Breakfast |
| 9:30/10:00 AM | Morning Nap (at least one hour long) |
| 11:00 AM | Milk (upon waking) |
| 1:00 PM | Lunch |
| 2:00 PM | Afternoon Nap (at least one hour long) |
| 3:00 PM | Milk + Snack (possibly) |
| 5:00 PM | Dinner |
| 6:30 PM | Begin your bedtime routine |
| 7:00 PM | Milk and Bedtime (goal to be asleep by this time) |
If your baby doesn’t mind a more “consolidated” approach to eating, like my second son, here is another type of schedule:
Sample 9 Month Old Schedule — Consolidated Feeding Approach
| 7 Month Old Sleep Schedule With Feedings | |
|---|---|
| Time | Activity |
| 7:00 AM | Wake |
| 7:30 AM | 1/2 Milk Feeding, then Breakfast, then offer the other 1/2 Milk |
| 9:30/10:00 AM | Morning Nap (at least one hour long) |
| 11:30 AM | 1/2 Milk Feeding, then Lunch, then offer the other 1/2 Milk |
| 2:00 PM | Afternoon Nap (at least one hour long) |
| 3:00 PM | Milk + Snack (possibly) |
| 5:00 PM | Dinner + 1/2 Milk Feeding |
| 6:30 PM | Begin your bedtime routine |
| 7:00 PM | Milk and Bedtime (goal to be asleep by this time) |
Notes: If your baby is uninterested in the second half of the milk feeding, consider decreasing the amount of solid food. In addition, when giving any feedings during your bedtime routine, be careful not to create sleep associations.
Want more information about how to help your 9 month old sleep well? Check out our detailed case study about Carrie, Ben, Elliot, and Andrew.
Read how Carrie and Ben helped 8-month-old Elliot learn to sleep longer stretches at night (and, eventually, to sleep through the night completely!) and take better naps – and how they helped to change those sleep associations that were keeping Elliot awake!
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Looking for more sample 9-month schedules?
We have over 40 sample schedules for all ages in our e-Book, Mastering Naps and Schedules. Banish naptime battles and regain control of your day (and your sanity) starting today!
You Might Also Like:
- The 8/9/10 Month Sleep Regression Explained
- The 8-10 Month Sleep Regression Survival Guide: EXPANDED EDITION (Members Area article)
- Custom Schedule Maker (for members only)
- Mastering Naps and Schedules (Members Area digital e-Book)
- Chat Live with a Sleep Consultant (for members only)
- 3 Signs It May Be Time For Night Weaning Your Baby
- Night Weaning Quiz: Is Your Baby Ready To Night Wean?
- 8 Month Baby Sleep Coaching Case Study (Members Area case study)
- How To Put Your Baby On A Schedule (Members Area audio tele-seminar recording with founder)
- How to Nap Train (chapter in Mastering Naps & Schedules)
- Day-by-Day Nap Training Plan (Members Area article)
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A better daytime schedule could be just a few clicks away. So don’t wait – download now, and start your journey to better napping today!
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If you’re looking for ways to get your baby or toddler into a healthy sleeping routine during the day, I encourage you to explore Mastering Naps and Schedules, a comprehensive guide to napping routines, nap transitions, and all the other important “how-tos” of good baby sleep. With over 45 sample sleep schedules and planning worksheets, Mastering Naps and Schedules is a hands-on tool ideal for any parenting style.
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Cayla says
My little man is 8 months old. He was sleeping through the night for the most part sometimes he’d wake once to breastfeed. Once he reached his 8 month milestone he has taken up up to 3 times in the night. He loves food loves breast and now his naps he’s been struggling with as well. I have always been able to just put him in his crib and he wouldn’t cry he’d just go straight down. Now I find it can take quite a while for him to settle now that he’s moving more it’s becoming harder.
Wake up: 8:00 am usually will want breastmilk
Breakfast: 9:30 rice cereal
Nap/breastfeed: 10-12:30
Lunch/breastfeed: 1:00
Nap: 2-4
Breastfeed: 4:00
Dinner: 5:00
Snack:6:30
Bedtime/breastfeed: 7:00
He generally will be out by 7:15 depending on the day he’s had I put him down by 6 if his naps were off at all
Danielle says
Hi Cayla,
Thank you for using The Baby Sleep Site as a resource! I’m sorry to hear you’re having this trouble with your son’s sleep. Since the trouble is pretty recent and sudden, it sounds like you could be experiencing the 8 month sleep regression. We have a great article with some tips to help here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-regression-2/the-8-10-month-sleep-regression-survival-guide/
I hope that helps, but please let us know if you have any questions. Good luck!
Tameka Morales says
I’m trying to start a schedule for my almost 9 month old. Right now she goes to bed at about 9 and sleeps until about 9 am. When I go back to work in a month she’ll have to get up much earlier (about 6:30). I noticed the schedule you suggested had a bedtime of about 7. Is that a good time that babies her age should try to go to sleep or is 8 or 9 okay? She has 3 older siblings though that don’t go to bed until about 9 and during the Fall and spring we will have ballgames and won’t get home until after 7 or 8 many times (of course by then she’ll be a year or older. I just get confused so confused because she’ll sleep til 9 and wake up still rubbing her eyes after she eats many times. Thanks for your help as we try to begin a more consistent schedule with her.
Danielle says
Hi Tameka,
Thanks for checking out The Baby Sleep Site! I’d be happy to help with your schedule questions. I think you might like our article on how much sleep a baby needs by age: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-needs/baby-how-much-sleep/
Basically, what you want to do is make sure she’s getting the opportunity to get 11-12 hours of night sleep. If your daughter is flexible, you can absolutely adjust bedtime around your family’s schedule, but night sleep is more restorative than nap sleep, so it’s important to prioritize it to the best of your ability. Many babies do best with an early bedtime around 7PM, in part because many babies are expected to wake up around 7AM. Your family is busy, and there will always be days when she falls asleep late or on the car ride home, but you want to avoid that as much as you can.
It sounds from your comment like she might be waking up to eat more at night than she really should need to for her age – if that’s the case, you might have an issue with her feeding schedule, or she might have a sleep association that’s making it harder for her to sleep independently at night. If you continue to have problems with those issues, or if you’re having trouble creating a schedule that works for everyone, a sleep consultation package might be the best fit, so a consultant can design a plan and schedule for you.
I hope this helps – good luck!
karine says
hi my baby is 9 month old
he sleep at 7:30 pm and wake up at 11 pm for a bottle of milk maximum 180 ml and then got to sleep till 3:30 and again he will start crying for milk till 6 am he will wake up
from the beginning my baby does not sleep well i am trying to let him sleep minimum 8 hrs but my actions failed
pls i need your help
Neosha says
@Karine – Thank you for reading and for sharing. We’re happy to help and will have someone from our team reach out to you directly with some options. Hang in there!
Nicole Haglund says
Hi, this is my almost 9 month olds schedule.
7am- wake up, 6oz formula then feed solids (breakfast)
930-11 nap
11am- 6oz formula then feed solids (lunch)
130-3 nap
3pm- 6oz formula no solids
6:15pm- solids only (dinner)
7:30-6oz formula and bedtime
He sleeps through the night no problems
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Nicole Haglund, thanks for sharing! So glad you’ve got a great schedule for your little guy that is working so well. 🙂
Constance Kilburn says
My daughters current schedule is
7:30 am wake up 6oz bottle
8 am breakfast
10am 6oz bottle
10am – 12 pm nap
12 pm 6oz bottle
1 pm lunch
3pm -4 pm nap
4 pm bottle 6oz
6pm dinner
7pm bottle 6oz
11:30 she finally falls asleep
How can I get her to bed earlier!?
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Constance Kilburn, thanks for writing. I am so sorry to hear it’s taking so long for your daughter to fall asleep! That must be tough! Is she playing in her bed during that time, or crying, or being rocked/comforted by you? Let me know and I will happily point you in the direction of some further resources to help. 🙂 If you want, feel free to email us directly some more details to [email protected] and we can help you further from there too. Hang in there!
Constance Kilburn says
We were letting her play but now I try to rock her to sleep in her room
Update:
We have gotten her to start waking up at 7 am, nap for 1 hour from 9-10 am, then one hour from 2-3pm, and asleep anywhere from 9pm to 10 pm. So a little better than 11:30! Unfortunately we waited to start her in a schedule and now it is during peak teething time…any tips for that besides Tylenol? We try to lay her down when she is sleepy, cry for 10 mins, go in and rock her, lay her down and repeat until she is asleep which generally takes an hour
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Constance Kilburn, thanks for getting back to me. I’m glad that in a few short days you’ve been able to see improvement already, that is great news! Teething is so rough, I am going through it with my son right now too. I think what works for each child will be different – I personally have seen a lot of success with an amber teething necklace (but you need to take it off or some parents put it around the baby’s ankle for sleep), and we do ibuprofen for nights if it’s really bad. Here’s an article with a few other tips: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-comfort/baby-teething-sleep/
I hope thing continue to improve!
Brittany Christensen says
When it the article above says most babies are sleeping through the night at this age, do they mean going from 7pm to 7am (like the sample schedule) without a feeding or do they mean 8 hours without a feeding since another article on the website defined STTN as 8 hours?
Also, it says “ by this age I would not expect more than 1 feeding, typically, if any at all.” So doesn’t that mean only one feeding between 7pm and 7am generally around 4/5 to extend the sleep a few hours and no “top off feeds” earlier? At this point my son has consistently slept for 7 hours stretches but he really is NOT ok with going longer and he turns 10 months tomorrow. He is definitely that baby who needs to eat around 5 to make it until 7 am but in order for him to go that long I have to feed him at 10. IF I don’t he will wake at 1, then 3, then 5. So I prefer topping off at ten and not feeding again until 5am, but I would prefer to drop the 10pm feeding without him waking up super early and screaming his head off for me to feed him.
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Brittany Christensen, thank you for visiting the Baby Sleep Site! In the article where we say most babies are able to sleep through the night at this age, we do mean the full 12 hours, although as you mentioned, this is not always the case (it wasn’t for my youngest son either as he needed that one feed through his 1 year birthday). It may take time for your son to transition to no feedings, or maybe looking at the calorie intake during the daytime hours to ensure he gets all he needs in a 24 hour period (and eventually transition him to getting all those calories during the daytime hours). Here is a link to a free guide that will have additional tips for you to help your guy sleep through the night if you decide to drop one of those feedings and need more help: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/
I hope his sleep extends for you soon so you do not get that 5 am wake up call so if you need any more help contact us anytime at [email protected].
Hang in there!
Christina says
Our daughter is 9 months old and here’s a peak at our schedule!
Bedtime normally takes place around 9pm and we wake up about 8am
8am: 8oz formula
10am: oatmeal
12pm: 6oz formula nap (this nap can last anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour)
1pm: baby food
3pm: snack 4oz formula
5pm: 6oz formula nap (this nap can last anywhere from an hour to 2 hours)
7pm: baby food and snack
8pm: bath time
9pm: 8oz formula and bedtime
3am: wake up (take out of crib)
4am: put her back in crib
6am: repeat
I’d love for her to sleep thru the night, in her own bed, so that I could rest! I’m so tired lately! Please help us!!
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Christina, thanks for writing to us! I am sorry you’re exhausted, the wake up calls are so tough, I know how you feel. We would love to help. We have a free guide available for you to download with tips to help your baby sleep through the night. You can sign up to receive it here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/
The article will provide a lot of help, but some families do find they need more specific advise so if you are in that boat let us know and we would be happy to help point you in the direction of other ways we can help! You can check out our services page to work with a sleep consultant here if you’re ready to jump in: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
or send us an email anytime at [email protected] and with a little more information about your daughter we could help find the best fit for you. 🙂 Hang in there!
Taylor says
Hi, I am struggling with a nap schedule for my nine month old. She usually wakes up around 630-7, and then gets tired two hours later, however if I put her in at 830-9 she always wakes up one hour later, at 930-10. I would like to put her in for her second nap at 2 so she can wake at 3 and be ready for bed at 7 however with this schedule she is usually ready for her nap at one and when she wakes at 2 she cant go all the way till 7 for bedtime. Any ideas of how I can tweak her schedule to make it work for both of us?
Thanks so much
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Taylor, thanks for writing! Naps can be tricky when they have dropped that third nap and still need short wake times. We have a free guide all about naps that may have some answers for you. You can sign up to download the guide here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/free-baby-nap-guide/
We also have an ebook all about naps that goes more in-depth than our free guide which you can read about and purchase online here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/mastering-naps/
I hope this helps and you get on a schedule that works for you both soon!
Christina says
Hello,
My baby is 9 months old and still waking 1-2x/ night. Each time I feed him so I don’t know if that is fostering a dependence on feeding in the middle of the night and if I should be weaning him off. Our schedule looks like the following if he wakes at 7am. If he wakes at 6, feeds, and then sometimes wakes at 730 or 8 then the times might be off just a little.
7am wake, breastfeed (“feed”)
8am 4oz jar of fruits
10-11am nap
11am feed
2-3pm nap
3pm feed
5pm 4oz jar of fruits/ veggies
7pm half jar of meat/ veggies
8pm bedtime w feeding.
1am wake- feed (will fall back asleep)
4 or 5am wake- feed (will fall back asleep) OR
6am wake (sometimes will stay up babbling and will sometimes fall back asleep with a feeding
Is the bedtime too late? Ideally I’d love an 8am start to the day. I’m not sure how to help him. His naps can range between 40min- 1.5 hours so the schedule can sometimes be a little off depending on the naps. But I always try to feed him about 4 hours apart regardless.
Thank you for your help!
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Christina, thanks for writing to us! I am sorry you’ve been struggling with multiple wake ups at night and inconsistent naps. We have a free guide available for you to download with tips for helping your baby sleep through the night that you can sign up to receive here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/
You may try bringing his bedtime earlier to see if that helps, it’s a pretty long stretch he’s having between his second nap and bedtime, and overtired babies actually sleep less than well rested babies believe it or not. If you need additional help with the schedule, let us know. We have a team of sleep consultants that would love to help you create a schedule that works well for you and your baby. To see the different options to work with a consultant you can visit this page: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
I hope this helps!
Christina says
Hi Janelle,
I’m sorry, I completely forgot to put another nap on there. He will sometimes take a short nap around 5 or 6pm.
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Christina, that definitely makes more sense, that would be a long stretch for such a little guy! If it was my baby, I would still try for the earlier bedtime and see if it helps. Unfortunately it may mean you don’t get the 8am wake up, but at least he’d be getting a full 12 hours. If you’re really set on an 8am wake up and need help to get there (or moving bedtime back still leaves you with more than 1 wake up each night – as 1 is sometimes needed until 12 months for some babies) then let us know and we can help you further!
Rachel says
Hi,
My 9 month old’s sleep has been all over the place for the past few months. He’s been popping out teeth so I feel that’s caused quite a few interruptions.
Currently (the last week) we are struggling with the fact that we can’t keep him up for longer than 2-2.5 hours. He just loses it, this means he’s having 3 or 4 naps a day :/ these naps are all 20-40mins long and he’s been almost constantly cranky 🙁
He sleeps fine at night, just wakes once when it gets to the colder part of the night and we just pop his dummy in and he falls back asleep.
How do I help him nap longer so he can stay awake longer
Neosha says
@Rachel – Thank you for stopping by our sleepy little village and for your comment. Teething can definitely upset a baby’s sleep for a while, for sure! It sounds like your little guy is having a bit of trouble staying asleep or sleeping in longer stretches during the daytime. Have you been able to read our free nap guide – it goes over common napping issues and suggests ideas for improving them. If not, you can find it here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/free-baby-nap-guide/ I hope this helps, Rachel. Hang in there!