How to find your baby’s Ideal Wake Window
“what time should I put my baby to sleep?”
This is one of the most common questions I’m asked on my Q&A Mondays! It can be hard to figure out the right time for baby’s nap or bedtime! Sometimes parents try to put baby down for a nap as soon as they appear tired or fussy, and others try for a more consistent, clock-based schedule. The truth is that both of these scenarios can easily lead to an over or undertired baby, resulting in a short nap or tough put down. A much better strategy to determine your baby’s ideal sleep timing is to use age average wake windows!
What is a age average wake window?
A wake window is the time your little one is awake between sleep periods. Personally, I calculate wake windows as the amount of time between your baby getting out of bed, to the time they are being placed back into bed. If you calculate your baby’s wake time of “eyes open” to “eyes closed” that’s fine too- just be consistent.
Unlike a clock based schedule, wake windows recognize that babies and toddlers have different sleep needs and varying sleep patterns in their day. Using an age average wake window for your baby can help avoid:
Overtiredness: Often referred to as the killer of baby sleep, overtiredness can lead to rough put downs, short naps, and early mornings. When a baby has been kept awake for too long their body begins to produce stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline. Higher levels of these hormones make it difficult for their body to relax for sleep, and impact overnight melatonin production (where the early morning comes from!).
Undertiredness: Putting baby down too early is less spoken about in the baby sleep world, but its just as problematic. We need baby to be awake long enough between sleep periods in order to build up the appropriate amount of sleep pressure. If baby doesn’t have enough they will struggle to fall asleep easily, and may have a short nap, night wakings, or early mornings.
How do I find the ideal wake window for my baby?
The best place to start is with an age average wake window chart! There are plenty floating around the internet, with enough slight differences to drive a parent crazy! This is because every sleep consultant has their own definition of how a wake window is calculated, and presents the age ranges in a slightly different way. At the end of the day, they are all fairly similar so just choose one and stick with it! Here is mine:
In my experience, these wake windows tend to work for most little ones. This chart is where I start when working 1:1 with a family, and then together we tweak things as necessary! It’s TOTALLY okay if your little one is currently doing shorter or longer windows than what this chart recommends. Every baby is different and sometimes what the wake window chart says isn’t what your baby needs! Some children need more or less sleep than others, and at what age your baby makes nap transitions also plays a role in where they sit on the chart! Many babies need a shorter wake window first thing in the morning with windows increasing as the day moves on, and others do best when the wake window is the same throughout the day.
How to adjust and tweak your baby’s wake window:
While your baby’s tired cues and overall mood can help us determine whether or not an age average wake window is working for them, we also need to balance this with how sleep is going! Here are some guidelines I use with my clients:
If baby’s nap is under 30 minutes long, they may need a shorter wake window beforehand.
If a nap is 30-45 minutes long, baby may need a longer wake window beforehand.
If baby is taking longer than 15 minutes to fall asleep and the nap is short, they may need a shorter wake window beforehand.
If baby is taking longer than 15 minutes to fall asleep but nap is 45 minutes or longer, they may need a longer wake window beforehand.
If a nap or bedtime time was working well and all of a sudden it’s not- time to increase that wake window!
It’s SUPER important to note that I use these general rules when reviewing sleep logs from babies who are well into the process of developing independent sleep skills through sleep training. Its pretty typical for babies who are assisted to sleep to have short naps regardless of wake window timing, making these guidelines difficult to use! If you are ready to help your baby learn the skill of independent sleep, you can find out more about how I work 1:1 with families here.
Resist the urge to constantly change things, and adjust slowly!
Take it from an ex-schedule tweaker…if you change something every day you wont ever figure out what works! Make sure you are making changes strategically and aren’t jumping to tweak windows every time baby has an off nap! I like to work in three’s. If your baby has a short nap three days in a row it may be time for a wake window increase. If you are trying a new wake window, give it three tries before determining if its working or not- this is where sleep tracking can be helpful! I also recommend only moving a wake window by 10-15 minutes at a time, unless you are extending wake windows as part of a nap transition (big increases are often necessary when we eliminate an entire sleep period!).
It can be hard to extend your baby’s wake window!
Often I speak with parents who believe their little one needs more awake time (based on age averages, and how poorly naps are going) but they just can’t seem to stretch baby to stay awake any longer! This was something I struggled with too! I was convinced that my 8 month old could only stay up for 2 hours at a time.. because that’s when she would start to become fussy! Looking back, I know that 2 hours just wasn’t long enough for her to build enough sleep pressure to nap easily, hence our pattern of short naps.. and more tiredness!
Think of it like that mid morning lull in energy you have while at work. once you get up and move around, drink some water, maybe have a snack, you’re okay again! We just need to do the equivalent for baby.
Here are some things you can do to help your little while stretching that wake window:
Get some sunshine! Going outdoors is best, but even just opening the curtains can help baby feel more energized.
Change rooms, activities, or caregiver.
Play with water, even just in your sink! I love running the water over baby’s toes for a sensory (and energizing) play experience.
Snacks- if age appropriate! Fruit is a great option because of the natural sugars.
I have found my baby’s ideal wake window…when will it change?
Baby sleep is unfortunately ever-changing, and generally wake windows will increase as your baby ages! Their overall sleep needs slowly decrease too, hence the need for nap transitions. BUT age alone isn’t a reason to increase your baby’s wake windows…nothing special happens the day they transition from 4 to 5 months old!
Instead of doing any type of planned increases, I prefer to watch for these signs they are ready for a change:
Baby appears to have more stamina, less sleepy cues at regular sleep times.
Baby is taking longer to fall asleep at put downs with or without more crying (15-20 minutes+).
You are seeing sudden night waking or early mornings.
You have seen these signs a few times a week, for at least a week (we want to rule out developmental milestones playing a role!)
There you have it, all of my best tips to find the ideal wake window for your baby! If you are struggling with how to use wake windows to create a full day schedule, download my free “three steps to create your baby’s ideal schedule” here. If you are just tired of navigating wake windows and baby sleep on your own, I would love to take away the stress and overwhelm! Book a free sleep evaluation call to chat about how I can help your family find better sleep!