Wake Windows: What They Are & How To Use Them
With the rise of modern parenting, many infant experts have hopped on the sleep training trend.
Do all babies need to sleep train? No. Could it be helpful if your child struggles with sleep training? Absolutely.
What is a Wake Window?
Perhaps one of the most useful aspects of sleep training is known as the “wake window.” Wake windows are the maximum amount of time your child can developmentally tolerate being awake between periods of sleep (whether at night or during a nap).
Put simply, any period of time your child spends awake is a wake window. Anything your child does while they are awake (like eating, playing, diaper changes, etc.) fall within their wake window.
Wake windows are based on your child’s age, and the developmental needs they have at that time. Because of this, wake windows change frequently throughout your child’s first few years of life, often confusing new parents.
But harnessing wake windows can be one of the most beneficial aspects of sleep training, and can often make or break a child’s sleep success.
Wake Windows by Age
So what are the wake windows for your child’s current developmental stage? How long can they healthily tolerate being awake at their age? We’ve put together a fancy chart for you.
And (just a reminder) this is how long your child should be AWAKE between periods of sleep, NOT how long they should be sleeping each time they go to bed or take a nap.
You’ll notice that the windows get longer and longer over time, which makes sense because children need less and less sleep as they grow older. You’ll also notice that the longer the wake windows get, the fewer naps your child will take (because if your child is staying awake for 6 hours between naps, but trying to take 3 naps a day, there’s not enough hours in the day for the math to work).
Because of this, we recommend eliminating naps one at a time, starting with the latest nap (we’ll get to that in a minute).
Using Wake Windows To Nap
Between 0-4 months, your child is developmentally unable to stay on any type of schedule, including with their sleep. Their stomachs aren’t even big enough to hold enough nutrition to make it through the night without feeding, so let them sleep when they sleep and wake when they wake.
However, later in their first year of life, you’ll want to structure things a bit. All children thrive with consistency and routine, and a sleep routine like the one above helps to initially establish their circadian rhythm.
Let’s say your child is 8 months old. They will get 3 naps a day.
Let’s say they wake up at 7:00 am.
They’ll spend about 2-2.5 hours awake before their first nap. That places their first nap at 9:00 am, and let’s say they sleep about an hour.
They’ll wake at 10:00 am, and they get 2.5 - 3 hours before their next nap. That places the second nap around 1:00pm, and they sleep another hour.
They wake up at 2:00 pm, and they get another 2.5 - 3 hours awake before their final nap. That places the final nap around 4:30 pm, and they sleep another hour.
They awake at 5:30, and guess what? Their bedtime is at 8:00 pm; another 2.5 hours from the time they woke up.
Using Wake Windows To Eliminate Naps
Once your child reaches 9-12 months though, they’ll stop needing quite so much sleep. They’ll also be able to stay awake longer, as we can see from the developmental chart. Because of this, the math (and the developmental needs) won’t line up if your child takes 3 naps a day, so it’s time to eliminate a nap from their sleep schedule.
When you feel your child is ready, you’ll stretch the wake window to its longest hour. Let’s say they’re 11 months old.
They wake up at 7:00 am.
They get 3 hours before their first nap, placing it at 10:00 am. They might sleep a little longer than an hour this time, because we’ve waited longer to put them down. Let’s say they sleep for an hour and 15 minutes.
They wake up at 11:15 am. This time, they get 3.5 hours before the next nap, placing it at 2:45 pm. They’ve been awake even longer this time, so they may sleep an hour and a half this time.
They wake up at 4:00 pm. And because of their longer wake windows, they don’t have time for their third nap.
Their bedtime is still 8:00 pm, which is 4 hours from their final wakeup. You’ll notice that 4 hours is also the wake window time frame for the upcoming age range, so try to stretch all the way to bedtime if you can.
If you can’t, that’s okay. Anytime between 7:00 - 8:00 pm is a great bedtime for infants, and you can expect them to sleep for 10.5 - 12 hours overnight.
You’ll do the same thing again when your children are toddlers to eliminate the second nap, and again before your child starts school to eliminate the final nap. By the time they start kindergarten, they should be able to spend the full day awake (and kindergarteners no longer get a naptime in school, so be sure to prep them)!
How To Stretch A Wake Window
Remember, no two babies are alike, so it may take some time to find what works best for your baby.
If you find they are frequently overtired, move to the shortest time frame in each wake window.
If you find they are never tired enough when nap time rolls around, stretch it to the longer time frame in each wake window. Or, consider bumping to the next age range if your baby is a few weeks away from that age anyway.
Remember, these are not rules, they are guidelines meant to help and assist you in sleep training. If your baby is doing fine sleeping without wake windows, then don’t use them. But if your baby is struggling with sleep, you might just find that adhering to their natural wake windows does the trick!
