Baby Sleep Log

Who this is for

A line for every stretch of sleep, day or night. You write the time they went down and the time they woke; the length is the difference between the two, worked out for you in the browser and spreadsheet versions. Where they slept, who settled them and what happened go in the columns beside it.

Parents keeping a record for themselves or because somebody asked for one, partners splitting the nights who need to know what already happened, and anyone trying to give an honest account of a week rather than an impression of it.

What this helps you track

• Every stretch of sleep with the time down and the time awake
• How long each stretch lasted, worked out by subtraction
• Where they slept — cot, pram, car, somebody's arms
• Who settled them and how it went, in your own words
• The total hours recorded and the longest stretch you logged

How to use it

1. Fill in the baby's details and the period the sheet covers, and copy into the box anything you were asked to note, in the words it was said to you.
2. Write the times as decimal hours on a 24-hour clock: 13.25 is quarter past one in the afternoon, 21.5 is half past nine at night.
3. Enter the time they went down and the time they woke; the length column subtracts one from the other and handles a stretch that runs past midnight.
4. Say where they slept and who settled them, because those two columns are usually what somebody wants to know afterwards.
5. Use the notes for what actually happened — woke twice, fed back to sleep, slept in the car on the way home.
6. On paper, work the lengths out in the column yourself; the browser and spreadsheet versions do it as you type.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How much sleep should a baby be getting?

This sheet does not say. It carries no schedule, no expected hours and nothing about naps or bedtimes. It records what happened. What it should look like is a question for your health visitor or doctor, not for a printable.

Why decimal hours rather than 9:45?

Because subtraction has to work in the browser, in the spreadsheet and on paper. Writing 9.75 for quarter to ten keeps every version of the sheet agreeing with itself, and takes a day to get used to.

What happens to a stretch that crosses midnight?

The length column adds the twenty-four hours back on, so a sleep from 22.5 to 5.25 comes out as six hours and three quarters rather than a negative number.

Is this a sleep training sheet?

No. There is no routine, no method and no plan on it, and none is implied by the columns. It is a record of when a baby slept, where, and who was up.

Can I use it for naps as well as nights?

Yes — one row per stretch, whatever time of day. The where column earns its keep with naps, because they happen in prams, slings and cars as often as in cots.