How many naps your little one needs will be influenced by the length of their naps. For example, a child who naps for 30 – 45 minutes will ultimately end up with more naps than a child that consistently sleeps for 1 – 2 hours per nap.

Instead of focusing on how many naps, let’s focus on the max amount of time your little one should be awake before drifting back into dreamland. Even though each baby will be a little different, most often you will find at 4 months a baby can stay awake happily and engaged for about 1.5 – 2 hours. After 2 hours, you will probably see their mood deteriorate and more fussing will ensue. This means they need to rest.

Babies will usually require a shorter time awake during the morning hours and a longer time awake in the evening. If your little one awakens for the day at 7am, you might notice they are already tired by 8am or 8:30am. This is totally normal and you should go ahead put them back to sleep, even though the day has only just begun. You might also notice your little one can stay awake longer, maybe 2 – 2.5 hours in the evening hours (their last stretch of time awake before bed for the night). This is because the drive to be awake is strongest right before the drive to sleep hits in the evening. Interesting, right?

With an average awake time between naps being 1.5 hours, you will most likely wind up with around 4 naps a day. Some children will take more, some less. Keep in mind that over the next couple of months, your little one should be lengthening naps so that he or she is sleeping for 1 – 2 hours. The longer naps will ultimately lead to fewer naps as well. By 6 months, there should be 3 consolidated naps with the last nap of the day being the shortest.