Following a routine for your 5-6 month old baby will depend on her personal needs and pattern of feeding, sleeping and playing. However, knowing what other parents are doing is also helpful in creating a schedule for your 5-6 month old. This article will provide detailed feeding and sleeping schedule for your 5-6 month old so that the whole process would be easier.

What Does a 5-6 Month Old Baby Need?

At 5-6 months, majority of the babies will need the following:

• Feeding. In a 24 hour period they will require up to 32 ounces of either breast milk or formula milk. Most of them will start taking solid foods at this stage; however, their main nutrition source remains breast milk or formula milk.
• Sleeping. In a 24 hour period, they will need around 14 hours of sleep, including nighttime sleep and naps. Typically babies tend to take 2 naps (morning and afternoon) at this age; however, some may take three naps.
• Other activities. This is time for your baby’s important muscle development, playing, and working on new skill development. She will also start interacting with you. Try giving her a massage, reading a book or going for a walk in the stroller.

Sample Schedule for 5-6 Month Old Baby 

Sample Schedule 1: Baby-led and Parent-led Routine Combined

Note: This is a schedule of a breast-feeding work-at-home mother of a 6 month old baby.

6-6:30 a.m.: Baby wakes up, diaper is changed, and she is nursed

7-8:00 a.m.: Baby sits in rocker with mother, read books and play

8:00 a.m.: Naps for 1-1-1/2 hours

10:00 a.m.: Wakes up, diaper is changed, given breakfast of 2 tbsp rice cereal, 1 ounce breast milk and ½ jar of stage 2 fruit

10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: Play time

Noon: Naps for 1-1/2 to 2 hours

2 p.m.: Wakes up, diaper is changed, and she is nursed

2:30 to 4:00 p.m.: Playtime

4:00 p.m.: Naps for 30 to 45 minutes

4:30 to 6:00 p.m.: Playtime, mother and baby works on her crawling skills

6:00 p.m.: Dinner of 2 tbsp cereal mixed with 1 ounce breast milk and ½ jar of stage 2 veggies

6:30 to 7:30 p.m.: Playtime with father

7:30 p.m.: Baby is given bath

8:00 p.m.: Nursed, baby falls asleep

8:30 p.m.: Bed time

Sample Schedule 2: Parent-led Routine

Note: This is a schedule of a formula-feeding stay-at-home mother of a 5 month old baby.

6:00 a.m.: Baby wakes up, fed on an 8 ounce bottle of formula milk

6 to 7:00 a.m.: Playtime with father

7:00 a.m.: Baby is given cereal and baby food (pureed fruit)

8:30 to 10 a.m.: Naps

10 to 11:00 a.m.: Playtime

11:00 a.m.: Baby is given a jar of baby food (fruit) and 6-8 ounce of formula milk

Noon to 2 or 3:00 p.m.: Naps

3:00 p.m.: Baby is given 6-8 ounce formula milk

3 to 6:00 p.m.: Playtime

6 to 6:30 p.m.: Mother and baby go for a walk

6:30 p.m.: Baby is given cereal and veggies (baby food)

6:45 p.m.: Bath time

7 p.m.: Prays, given 8 ounce bottle of formula milk and brushes his teeth

7:15 p.m.: Sleep time

Feeding Schedule for 5-6 Month Old Baby

1. What to Feed Your Baby

Breast milk or formula milk along with: pureed foods such as squash, apples, sweet potatoes, bananas, pears or peaches or semi-liquid cereal that is fortified with iron.

2. Sample Meal Plan

Sample meal plan for a 5-6 month old baby

Watch a video for more on feeding schedule for 4-6 months old:

Sleeping Tips for 5-6 Month Old Baby

At the stage of 5-6 months, your baby’s nutritional needs are met by the feedings during the day; hence, nighttime feedings are usually not required. Your baby may wake up in the night but that is usually for comfort reason or because she is used to night feedings, unless, she has a health concern or was born before time.

In case your baby is still getting up in the middle of the night 2 or more times and require assistance to fall asleep again, it might be the right time to make her accustomed to some sleep training routine.

Before sleep training, you can take the following measures to form a beneficial routine for your baby:

• Follow a bedtime routine. According to experts, following consistent measures before bed such as bathing, massaging, story reading and feeding help your baby to get accustomed to sleep time.
• Rule out any medical reasons for restless sleep of your baby such as teething or a cold infection.
• Feed your baby regularly throughout the day so that her nutritional and calorie requirements are met.
• When your baby starts to make noise in the night, wait for a couple of minutes before comforting her as she may fall back asleep.

The approaches that you can take for sleep training includes:

The “cry it out” method: Associated with Dr Richard Ferber, in this method, the baby is put down to sleep while she is drowsy but still awake. You have to then check in at scheduled intervals to assure her that everything is okay. Do not comfort the babies when they cry, instead, let them soothe themselves to sleep.

The “no tears” method: It is a slower and gradual method in which the baby is put down to sleep by rocking and nursing or by reading and singing to her.