6 months: what becomes possible

You have read that babies sleep through the night at six months. Some do. Many do not, and the ones who do not are not behind. Here is what actually changes, and what remains optional.

3 min read

Six months is a genuine threshold in several ways. Most babies are now physiologically capable of going long stretches without a feed, the body clock is well established, sleep cycles are consolidated, and solid food is being introduced. Capability is not the same as necessity, though, and this is where most of the pressure at this age comes from.

The statistics are worth knowing. Somewhere around a third to a half of six-month-olds are still waking at night regularly, and night feeds at this age remain common and appropriate. A baby waking twice at six months is inside the normal range, not outside it.

What has become possible

Solids and sleep

Starting solids does not reliably improve sleep, and it is worth saying plainly because the belief is widespread. What solids can do in the short term is disturb it - new foods, a changing digestive system, and occasionally constipation all show up at night for a week or two.

Milk remains the main source of nutrition throughout the first year. A baby eating three meals a day at seven months may still need a night feed, and that is not a contradiction.

Six months makes a lot of things possible. It makes none of them a deadline.

Rough expectations

Twelve to fifteen hours total, with two and a half to three and a half in the day across two or three naps. Wake windows of two to three hours. Anywhere between nought and three night wakes, all within the normal spread.

This is also the month when many babies drop the third nap, which produces a fortnight of a difficult late afternoon and an unusually early bedtime.

The pressure around this age

Six months is when the questions start - at baby group, from relatives, sometimes at appointments. Is she sleeping through yet. It is worth having an answer ready, because the question is asked so often that it becomes a running commentary on something you cannot control.

The honest position is that a substantial proportion of six-month-olds wake at night, that night feeds at this age are normal, and that where your baby sits in that range says very little about anything. If the arrangement is working for your household, it is working. If it is not, that is a reason to change something - but the reason is your household, not the calendar.

The third nap, around now

Somewhere between six and nine months the third nap stops fitting the day, and six months is where it commonly starts. The signs are a nap that is refused several days running, or one that pushes bedtime past eight o’clock when it does happen.

The transition takes a fortnight and it is carried by an early bedtime rather than by rearranging the other naps. Six or half past six is normal during it, and an unusually early night on a nap-free day is the replacement for the nap rather than a problem in itself.

When to stop troubleshooting

Poor weight gain, difficulty with solids or persistent gagging, snoring or pauses in breathing, or a baby who seems tired constantly despite adequate sleep, all belong with your GP or health visitor rather than in a sleep plan.

General guidance, not medical advice. Your paediatrician's advice takes precedence.