Optimal Waketime Length: Finding Baby Wake Windows

Best baby wake times to get baby taking great naps. This post walks you through how long baby should be awake at each age (also known as wake windows) and how to know the signs that baby is ready for sleep.

One of the most important steps to establishing healthy sleep habits and getting your baby to sleep well is to have waketime length correct. It can take time to master, but I have put years of experience and many polls into posts to help you get there as fast as possible.

It might surprise you to realize there can be a wide variation of optimal lengths among babies. Below are some poll results from readers of this blog. These poll results really illustrate the fact that every baby is different. There are averages and there are most commons, but ultimately it is up to you to figure out what is the optimal waketime length for your individual baby.

Baby Wake Times (Wake Windows)

Your baby wake times are the amount of time your baby is awake between naps. Wake time will be from the time your baby wakes up until the time your baby goes back down for a nap or for bedtime.

Baby sleep is incredibly dependent on getting this wake time length correct. Babies sleep so much better when their wake time length is correct. They will fall asleep easier and they will sleep through the sleep transition easily if the wake time length was correct. Your little one will make it through the sleep cycle and wake up refreshed. Note that sleep transitions happen about every 45 minutes, so if your baby cannot make it through this transition, your baby will take 45 minute long naps.

If wake windows are correct, that means naps will be 1.5 to 2 hours long and baby will either sleep through the night or wake up less often in the night. For that purpose, I have written this post to help you get wake time length spot on. This post will help you get your Babywise wake time length down.

What is Optimal Waketime Length?

Optimal means your baby goes down for a nap relatively easily without much crying. This is more applicable for younger babies or babies just starting sleep training.

Some babies cry more than others during sleep training. Sometimes the non-criers randomly have a hard time settling down. Many times this is related to over-tiredness and over-stimulation. Keep notes of waketime lengths and activities to see if there is a pattern with good naps and not-so-good naps.

>>>Read: Gentle Sleep Training The Four S’s

Optimal means your baby takes the appropriate length of nap for the age and cycle length. If your baby is waking early, then she is likely awake too long before the nap and you will need to shorten the wake time length so baby has less time awake between naps. See Easy Nap Fix

Optimal means your baby goes to sleep rather quickly. This is more applicable to older babies who are past the sleep training process. If baby is falling asleep quietly and quickly, you know you have baby wake time length correct.

>>>Read: Sleep Pressure for Babies

If your baby suddenly starts playing for long periods before naps, then you likely need to extend your waketime. Baby will need a longer wake time to help get in that extra stimulation needed before nap or bedtime starts. Even just adding 5 minutes can do the trick.

>>>Read: How to Tell if Baby is Overtired vs. Undertired

I often get asked how quickly baby should fall asleep. That can vary from baby to baby. Pay attention to what is a good length for your baby. I often found my babies would fall asleep in 5-10 minutes when wake time lengths were correct. The Baby Whisperer says it can take up to 20 minutes. For all of my babies, 20 minutes meant I had things timed incorrectly, but that might be a good length for your baby.

Optimal means your baby wakes up from a nap and is happy. Granted many babies (especially newborns) wake up crying because they are hungry, but once you feed your baby, she should be a happy baby. Many babies will get fussy as the next nap approaches, which is fine.

Optimal means your baby can focus during playtime. A well-rested baby can focus while playing and not constantly be fussy or wanting to move to a new thing.

Optimal means your baby is able to maintain waketimes happily throughout the day. This does exclude any witching hour times of day. Evenings are often a fussy time of day for babies even if wake time lengths are perfect.

Typically, waketimes get longer throughout the day, not shorter. If waketimes are progressively getting shorter, then earlier waketimes might be too long. If you have a newborn, waketimes are typically about the same length all day long.

Read how to calculate baby wake time length here

To summarize, optimal wake time length means:

Baby falls asleep with little to no crying
Baby takes a long enough nap
Baby goes to sleep quickly
Baby wakes up happy from naps (starting between 4-6 months)
Baby can focus during playtime
Baby is happy during the wake time length throughout the day

I have a lot of posts to help you with all of your wake window questions. See them all here.

Approximate Optimal Waketime Lengths by Age

How long should a newborn stay awake? Most younger babies (newborns) need a really short waketime. Also, most newborns are going to be quite similar to each other in optimal lengths. Newborn sleep schedules do not vary very much.

As the babies get older, more of a variation happens for baby awake time. Take my children for example. At 6 months, Brayden was at about 2 hour waketime while Kaitlyn was at about 1 hour. Two kids, same mom, two very different waketimes.

See my chart of common baby wake times in my post Cornerstone for Good Naps.

Also, the same baby has extremely variable waketimes. Morning waketime might be 1 hour while the final waketime is 2. So the time of day affects the optimal waketime length, also. Here are some numbers to consider:

How Long Should a Newborn Stay Awake

0-4 Weeks old: 55% of responders reported that 30-50 minutes was optimal for a 0-4 week old. An additional 18% (total of 73%) extends this to 30-60 minutes. This is the range I would say most are in. In this age range, I would shoot for 30-45 minutes. If your baby seems to need more or less, tweak it slowly. I would take notes of what worked and what didn’t. You can buy my pre-made book of logs to keep track of baby wake times.

4-6 Weeks old: Most responders (62%) responded that 40-60 minutes was optimal for a 4 to 6 week old. This is completely in line with what my guess would be for an optimal waketime length. If you have a baby this age, I would shoot for 40-60 minutes. Again, take notes.

6-8 Weeks old: Now is when there starts to be more of a variable in waketime length for a 6 to 8 week old. Most responders (79%) reported that 40-70 minutes was optimal. These are the numbers I would work with, also. My guess is that most will be able to do about 60 minutes. Again, take notes, adjust as needed.

8-12 Weeks old: 70% of responders found waketime to be best from 50-80 minutes for a 8 to 12 week old. This is also the time frame I would think most babies would fall in. If your baby isn’t one of them, don’t stress about it or force your baby to be otherwise. 11% were less and 16% were more. That means there are babies out there who differ.

>>>Read: Sleep Begets Sleep? The Truth About Baby Sleep

How Long Should a Baby Stay Awake

3-4 Months old: 72% reported the optimal waketime was 60-90 minutes for a 3 to 4 month old. Once again, this is in line with where I think most babies would be. Kaitlyn was right at 60 minutes, but if I had to err it was better to err before 60 minutes. 2 minutes after would mean trouble sleeping. So for her, I chose 50-60 minutes. If I had chosen for Brayden, it would have been 60-70 or perhaps 70-80. Remember, these averages give you a good idea of where to shoot for, but each child is different and it is up to you to figure out optimal for your baby.

4-5 Months old: At this age, optimal really starts to vary with a larger gap from baby to baby. The poll results for this age group had most answers from 80 minutes to 2 hours. This is a large variation. At this age some babies are starting to stay awake longer while others are still holding on to their shorter waketime length. My guess is for most babies, 2 hours is too long for most in this age group. Most will be around a little over an hour to maybe 1.5 hours, but that doesn’t mean there are not exceptions to this.

5-6 Months old: Again, our optimal length is going to vary, and our poll results show it. Most babies can make it over an hour by now. The largest percentage in the results was 1.75-2 hours, at only 32%–obviously not a majority. My guess is most this age are really going to do best around 1.5 hours of waketime. Again, figure out what is best for your baby.

6-7 Months old: We now start to see more votes in a certain area. 64% of votes were in the 1.75-2.25 hours range. I would definitely agree with this as the most likely optimal waketime length for babies this age. Brayden was at 2 hours at this age, but Kaitlyn was still closer to 1.25-1.5 hours. I would say most this age can do about 2 hours, give or take 15 minutes or so. Note that when you drop that third nap, which ranges between 6-9 months for most babies, you will have one large chunk of time in the evenings when baby will be awake that is longer than the between naps in the day.

7-8 Months Old: The largest chunk of people say 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes is best for baby. I would definitely agree that this is true for most babies. But don’t ignore that about 18% needed less and 31 needed more. Both of my two older girls needed less. Brayden was at 2. At this age range, I would still stick with the 2 hours norm. This would apply to the first and second waketimes. Third will be longer–especially if you have dropped the third nap. If you are on a four hour schedule, you really don’t want to go beyond a 2 hour waketime because you want a 2 hour nap.

8-9 Months Old: I am still sticking to 2 hours as my recommendation for the first two waketimes. You want a two hour nap, so you can’t exceed a two hour waketime–unless you go beyond a four hour schedule a bit, which is fine so long as you still work in at least 4 feedings (which will mean you have at least one interval less than two hours). This poll had a lot of variation. The two largest categories at 22% each were 2-2 hr 15 min and 2.5-3 hr.

10-12 Months Old: For your 10-12 month old, you might be as short as 2 hours or as long as 2.5 hours.

Why the Variation in Wake Time Lengths?

All babies are different. Some babies need more, some need less. There is a wide range of sleep needs from baby to baby.

Some moms are wrong. I don’t intend to offend anyone. And I don’t mean that anyone outside the realm of my expectations is wrong. There are those extra sleepy and extra alert babies. But some moms will have answered what they thought was best and actually be getting it wrong.

If I were to do this poll thinking of Brayden as a baby and what I did with him as a newborn, I would have been way off. I kept him up much too long. I had his wake time length wrong.

Even with Kaitlyn, my second child, I think there were times that I kept her up too long as a newborn. It gets easier to tell the optimal length for moms as your baby gets older. You know your baby better. You know the sleep cues better. You have a better idea of the sleep needs of your baby. There will still be variations, though, because as babies get older, their different sleep needs become more obvious, as I stated above with my two older children.

A Note On Sleep Regression

A sleep regression is when your baby’s sleep is not as ideal as it used to be. Baby might start taking short naps, taking a long time to fall asleep before naps, or crying before naps. Your baby might stop sleeping through the night or start waking early in the morning. There are many sleep regressions your baby will face throughout the first year of life and even through the toddler years.

>>>Read: Sleep Disruptions You Will Face as a Babywise Mom and How to Handle Them

Sometimes baby is not sleeping as well because of something like a growth spurt. A growth spurt is not a sleep regression.

When your baby is having a sleep regression, there is really nothing you can do to solve the sleep issue. Even getting awake times correct will not end the sleep regression. Sometimes moms start messing with baby’s wake time length during a sleep regression and end up throwing the baby sleep schedule so off wack that once the regression is over, baby still does not sleep well rather than snapping right back into it.

If you are familiar with the Wonder Weeks, you can prepare yourself for sleep regressions. Read all about Wonder Weeks and how they impact sleep here.

The most significant of all the sleep regressions is the 4 month sleep regression. This one really causes a lot of sleep troubles for babies. This corresponds with Wonder Week 19.

5 to 8 months old is a sleep regression time, also. Read all about the common reasons for poor sleep in the 5-8 month old age range here.

>>>Read: Sleep Regressions: Causes, Ages, and What to Do

Baby Wake Times Questions

Here are some common questions people have with wake times.

Should I wake my baby in the morning?

Yes. Wake your baby up at a consistent time each morning. This helps set a consistent sleep schedule each day.

What time should a baby go to bed?

An ideal bedtime is around 7-8 PM. Then you will start your day the next day around 7-8 AM. There might be some night feedings in between depending on the age of your baby.

Starting and ending your day helps with the daily schedule, which helps you get waketime length correct each day.

How do I tell the difference between overstimulated and understimulated?

This is a great question. I have an entire post dedicated to answering it. See your answer here: How to Tell if Baby is Overtired vs. Undertired

Waketime Length Conclusion

As you are trying to get baby to take great naps and sleep through the night, be sure to figure out the best amount of waketime for your baby. Once you have that down, baby’s naps and night sleep will be amazing!

Other Posts to Help you Figure out “Optimal”

Some were linked above, but I will link all of them here also.

• The Babywise Mom Nap Guide
• Chronicles of a Babywise Mom Log eBook
• Waking Up Happy
• What to do When Baby Wakes Early From Naps or Won’t Fall Asleep For Naps
• Waking After Only 20 Minutes
• How to Know When it is Time to Extend Waketime Length Between Naps
• The Cornerstone for Good Naps
• Optimal Waketime Lengths for Toddlers (12-24 Months)

Frequently Asked Waketime Length Questions:

Ruth Lee said…My name is Ruth Lee McLain and I have two boys. Hudson just turned 3 and Landon is 6 months. I have been trying to follow the BabyWise program since Hudson was a baby and it has been so helpful. I wish I had written more down so that I would remember how to do things with Landon. 🙂 Landon is down to 4 feedings a day, but I am struggling with nap times. He is waking up between 6:30am and 7am and then he eats every 5 hours: around 12 for lunch, 5 for dinner and then 9:30 and down for the night. About how much wake time should he be getting? I have also been concerned that I might should start putting him down earlier at night, but I would like your thoughts. I would appreciate any advice. 🙂

Babywise Mom said…I agree with writing down–you don’t realize how much you will forget! As for waketime, that is going to have to be something you will need to figure out for him. At that age, my daughter had waketime for 1 hour, while my son was 2 hours. Since you are on a longer schedule, you might even be able to go longer; however, I think 2 hours would likely be your max for a six month old. I would start to put him down for bed earlier and see how he does. Earlier bedtime is always nice 😉

Todd and Noelle: Could you (or anyone else reading) give me an idea of average waketime lengths for a 5 month old? I have tried putting my son down earlier, AND keeping him up longer…nothing is consistently working. He is taking up to an hour to fall asleep, and sometimes waking after just 45 minutes. I have a 2 year old who would get very overtired and not sleep well in her first few months of life, after that she could handle longer waketimes and they did not seem to disturb her sleep. My youngest has always been extremely laid back and happy – a great sleeper until several weeks ago. I am trying to keep feeding times consistent as I mess with his naps. Any advice on average waketime lengths would be great!~Noelle

IzzysMama: Noelle, these are times I found listed on another website…maybe they can help. My daughter’s wake time is not as long as what this says it should be for her age, so as with everything else I just remember every baby is different and use this as a general guide.Newborn 50-60 mins1 month 60 mins-hour and 152 months 1 hour and 15 – 20 mins3 months 1 hour and 20 – 30 mins4 months 1 hour and 45 – 2 hours5 months 2 hours – 2.25 hoursLate 5 months/early 6 months 2.25-2.5 hours6.5 – 7 months 2.75-3 hours. Some are getting more.8 – 10 months 3 – 4 hours. Some are getting more.11 – 12 months 3.5 -4.5 hours. Some are getting more if moved early to 1 nap

Babywise MomSome information I have lists 45-75 minutes for a 5 month old. At that age, Kaitlyn did 1 hour. I think Brayden was closer to 2 hours, though I don’t remember for sure. From what I have heard, I would say 1-2 hours is more accurate for a 5 month old. In calculating waketime, consider your schedule and nap length needed. If you are on a 3 hour schedule and baby takes a 2 hour nap, then you have 1 hour waketime. If baby takes 1.5 hour nap, you have 1.5 hour waketime. Even on a 4 hour schedule, the shortest a nap should be is 1.5 hours, and up to 2.5 hours. If baby is a 1.5 hour sleeper, that would give longest of 2.5 hours waketime between wakeup and nap one and also nap one and nap two. If nap three is dropped at the time, then you could have a longer waketime period in the day (up to about 4.5 hours). However, the youngest you drop that third nap is 6 months. Good luck figuring out the right waketime for your baby! Each baby is so different, so take these numbers and consider them, but don’t be concerned if they don’t match up with what your baby really needs.

Babywise Mom:thanks Izzysmamma for your input!IzzysMama: You’re welcome, although your estimate of 1-2 hours sounds more accurate then the list I gave. I had a question about picking your naptimes w/o sleep ques. How did you decide what time worked? Was it just trial and error.Babywise Mom: It was a combo a few things:1-knowing how long she should be sleeping (the ranges)2-knowing her sleep type. She is a sleeper, so she has always slept on the longer end of the spectrum.3-then trial and error. Taking the first two into account helped shorten the length of time trial and error went on. But it repeats itself each time she needs to increase her length time.Todd and Noelle: Thanks Izzysmama and Plowmanators! Hopefully we will find our groove soon before our entire household is run ragged! 😀Gabby: My 5/12 month old usually naps on the shorter end of the length they should be, but we are still on a 3 hr schedule. He is usually awake about 1 – 1/2 hours, except in the late afternoon when his nap is usually a 45min power nap. Hope this helps.

LEM: I have a question about trail and error for waketimes. If you try to shorten you LO’s waketime for one of his naps and it doesn’t fix your issue does that mean that wasn’t the solution? Or do you need to keep at for a few naps? In other words, how many trails do you need to do in order to conclude that it did/did not work? I think I need to play with my 12 week old’s waketime.

Babywise Mom: I would give it a few days to try it, then try something else. I think in many cases it will be fixed pretty fast, but you just never know. It is a good idea to give it a few tries before moving on.

Brynn: I have a nap question. My 2 month old little boy is having some issues. We tried your quick nap fix yesterday morning and it worked awesome. He slept for two hours and I had to wake him up from both naps for his feeding. But when I did the exact same thing for his afternoon naps he only slept for 20 minutes and no matter what I did he wouldn’t go back to sleep. Do babies need longer waketime in the afternoon? Do you have any suggestions on how to get him to sleep better and longer, especially for his last nap before bedtime? Sometimes he can soothe himself back to sleep but he doesn’t seem to be able to soothe himself back to sleep, he is just wide awake! It is really messing up his bedtime too because he gets over stimulated. Any help would be awesome!

BabywiseMom: As they get older, they definitely need longer waketimes later in the day than earlier in the day.Also, expect that last nap to only be 30-60 minutes. That is totally normal.

Julie said: I really need some help!! I am a first time mom with a 12 week old. I moved him to his crib at 10 1/2 weeks and he was getting up once a night for feeding. Now he is getting up every hour. I do not want to have to put his passy in every time….so I am really thinking about getting rid of it. I didn’t know it was a sleep prop until I read the BACK of the book! So I tried to do it today and he went to sleep fine with 10 minutes of crying- but when he wakes up 30 minutes into his nap- he is not going back to sleep. I let him cry 30 minutes and then gave up! I put his passy back in and he went back to sleep….what should I do??? Will he ever be able to go back to sleep without the passy??? Also when do you eliminate the middle of the night feeding if they don’t eliminate themselves?

Babywise Mom said: It sounds like he is addicted to the paci. He will get there, but it will take some time. It is normal for him to wake after a short nap since he is used to the paci. You could put it in to finsh out the nap for now, or you can take it away all together cold turkey. See this post: Waking Early From Naps/Won’t Fall Asleep For Naps  and How To Solve Your Baby’s Nighttime Sleep Issues

Jennifer said: My baby is 11 weeks and am transitioning into a 3 hour feed schedule. I’m still working on the optimal waketime length and which yawn is her sleeping cue. Can putting her down for a nap too early cause her to nap less? Sometimes she is babbling in her crib and doesn’t fall asleep until 20, sometimes 30 minutes later.

Babywise Mom said: Jennifer, Going down too early can interfere with the nap. Baby will often play for a long time and then go to sleep too late. If you get it right, they go to sleep well and stay asleep well (pending any extenuating circumstances). If you decide to lengthen, I suggest doing so in 5 minute increments. Sometimes 5 minutes does the trick.

A said: I need some advice with my 10 week old baby….She has been sleeping through the night since she was about 7 weeks old and is still sleeping through the nights great. At one point she was napping great in the day too – most naps being 1.5 to 2 hours in length – I was able to do a flexible 2.5-3 hour schedule.For the last 2 weeks though she is napping for only 30-45 minutes on most naps. Occasionally she will do a long nap for the first nap of the day…I know it is not hunger – I’ve tried that. I’ve tried letting her cry it out in the middle of her nap – but this does not seem to work to put her back to sleep. Nothing does – i’ve tried it all! I’ve tried a swing and tried getting her up, giving some wake time and then putting back down.So lately I let her stay in the crib for at least 15 min to try to cry herself back to sleep and then I get her up and she has quiet waketime until the next feed. However, it seems that I have to fed her on a 2.5 hr schedule rather than a 3 to prevent overdoing the waketime. Is it better to just keep her on a 2.5 hr schedule meaning that sometimes she’ll have more waketime than usual or should I be feeding her earlier? I wonder if its best to keep them on some kind of regular schedule so that their body and metabolism adjust to some sort of routine?I’ve tried just giving her some waketime when she wakes and then shorter waketime after eating so she doesn’t get too much waketime, but the problem is then when she naps only 40 min – she ends up with too much waketime on the other side just to meet the 2.5 hr minimum!The other dilemma is that she seems to prefer eating on a 3 hour schedule (has better feeds than on a 2.5) – but because her naps are so short she ends up with a lot of waketime and I’m worried that will overstimulate her? What would you reccomend that I do?Is this just a phase that passes? How long can I expect it to last?Thanks, A

Babywise Mom said: A, I would do the 2.5 hour schedule to get the metabolism stabelized. This is probably a phase. Have you seen the troubleshooting naps post? You have tried everything, I would keep her up (if you can) for 1.5 hours before naptime so when she wakes from her short nap she will be at 2.5 hours. Good luck~

Tim and Steph said: My baby will be 4 months old in just 4 days. She is sleeping great and doesn’t cry at all when going down for naps or at bedtime. We started CIO at 8 weeks and she would cry for about 10 minutes before falling asleep. Now, no tears (YEA!). Anyway, my question is how long should it take for my baby to fall asleep? What does “fall asleep rather quickly” mean? After clear sleep cues (eye rub, fussy), we read a short book in the rocking chair for a few minutes, cuddle, then I swaddle her (she still likes to be swaddled), and put her in her crib. All of this takes only 5 minutes. It’s quiet in her room, but she is awake for about 10, sometimes up to 15 minutes after I put her down. She doesn’t talk to herself (she used to), or anything, she just lays there, mostly still, staring, until she falls asleep. Is this okay? Is that too long for her to fall asleep? Should I think about changing her awake time? Everything else listed for the “optimal wake time” fits her, except for falling asleep quickly. I’ve heard from some moms that their babies fall asleep in less than 5 minutes, my baby rarley does this. Your thoughts? PS – I LOVE your blog… so helpful! Thank you.

Babywise Mom said: My guess is it is fine. I was just reading in The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems today that the average length of time for baby to fall asleep is 20 minutes. That sounded like a lot to me because both of mine fall asleep within 5 minutes if all things are right. But I trust Hogg’s experience and believe that for some babies, that is fine. She does say that is average and some will be longer, some shorter.So long as her nap is at least 1.5 hours long, I would say it is all just fine.

Emily said: My daughter is 6 months now and I can tell she’s ready for longer awake time. I’m trying to figure out how long now. Lately she’ll lay in her crib and make a grunting noise before she falls asleep. How long is it okay for a baby to take to fall asleep? For example, if she does this for 10minutes am I laying her down too early?… What about 15minutes?

Babywise Mom said: I think 10 to 15 minutes should be okay so long as the nap is okay. If the nap is too short, then she is playing too long before the nap and then overly tired. So, if you think she needs a longer waketime, I would lengthen by 5 minutes and work up until you find the right time. Good luck!

JessC said: I’m hoping I can get some insights regarding waketime for my 19 week old. He is still on a 3 hour feeding schedule, although some days he will go about 3 hours and 15 minutes. He has not started solids yet. He is exclusively breastfed. Right now his schedule looks like the following: 8:00 nurse8:45 nap (usually squirms for about 15 minutes, then sleeps for about an hour, then squirms/sleeps for the second hour)11:00 nurse12:15 nap (squirm 15, sleep an hour, squirm/sleep for the last 30 minutes)2:00 nurse3:00/3:15 nap (squirm 15, sleep a little over an hour, squirm/sleep for whatever is left)5:00 nurse6:00 nap in swing (awake for about 30-45 minutes, sleep for about 30 minutes)7:30 nurse then bedI’m wondering if I need to be giving him more waketime because he doesn’t go right to sleep, or less waketime because he is waking early? When I say he’s squirming/sleeping, I’m not even sure he’s completely awake, but it doesn’t seem like it’s restful sleep, either. He has also been REALLY distracted while nursing and has been super hungry at night when we put him to bed. For example, he began STTN at 10 weeks, and for the last 3 nights has been up 2-3 times between when he gets to bed (8 PM) to around 11-midnight to eat some more. Is this a result of his naps being weird, or is it that he’s not getting enough food during the day? Thanks!

Babywise Mom said: JessC, If the baby plays a lot in bed before falling asleep, it is usuallsy a sign of too short of waketime length or not enough stimulation during waketime.You were also at the 19 week wonder week, which is a bad one and can attribute to the behavior also.

Lubbers said: my question is: does waketime include the amount of time it takes baby to fall asleep after they are put in bed? My daughter is 4.5 months old and keeps waking early out of naps. I sincerely doubt she is staying up to long. I just started keeping her up more than an hour at a time because she started waking early from naps and was waking up in the middle of the night, and I ruled out the hunger problem. I few weeks ago I increased wake time to 1.25 hours (not including the time it took her to fall asleep), but I’m thinking of moving that up to 1.5 hours. Thanks for your help!

Babywise Mom said: Lubbers, I don’t usually count that, but you should definitely take note of it. If waketime is optimal, they should fall asleep quickly after being put down. If they take a long time to fall asleep, it might be that waketime is too short. If they fall asleep quickly but then wake early, there is a good chance waketime is too long. So I would find optimal waketime out of the crib, then note how long it takes to fall asleep and be sure all is well there. I hope that makes sense

BreeG said: Love the blog! My first son was BW all the way and fell right in line with the plan. My second son, currently 6 months, is all over the map. He is on approx a 3 hr schedule and I have never been able to get him to 4 hrs because he has been a chronic 40 min napper since birth. I think I’ve finally figured out that I’ve been keeping him up too long, but now that I’m working on that, here’s what’s happening: Up at 7am, down at 8am (no fuss, falls asleep in 5-10 mins), sleeps for 1hr 20 mins. Possibly seems sleepy after waking. Awake for another hr, back down for an hr. After that, I’m not sure where to go. He just plays if I put him back down after an hour, but then gets fussy quickly if I get him up. IF/when he finally goes to sleep (around the 1.5-2.5 hr mark with some fuss), he sleeps for a good 2 hrs. Do I need to let him CIO to extend his 1st nap? Then maybe his waketimes will extend? He has slept thru the night for the past 4 nights with little/no effort on our part. Thanks!

Babywise Mom said: BreeG, It sounds like your first waketime is okay for him since he is taking a longer nap. I would stick with that and then work on waketime lengths that follow. Try 65 minutes for waketime 2 and see how it goes. An 80 minute nap is a good length. It is doubtful that he would be tired enough to fall back asleep if you left him to CIO. You can leave him for 5-10 minutes to see if he will go back to sleep, but if not, I would just continue forward and work on perfecting that second waketime. Once that is down, work on the third. etc. Good luck!

Camille said: My little boy is 10 days shy of 6 months and doesn’t seem to be able to handle waketimes longer than an hour. It’s pretty frustrating for me because he ends up spending so much time in his crib all day, and the time he spends awake is half taken up by nursing so I don’t feel like I get very much time at all to interact with him, play, stimulate learning, etc. To complicate matters, it sometimes seems like I am putting him down pretty much right after he nurses when I take into account the waketime he has had in his crib before I go and get him when he wakes early. This has been happening more frequently lately because he will wake up to an hour early and just babble or lightly fuss, so I leave him for a few minutes to see if he will settle back down. I keep thinking, “just another few minutes and I am sure he will sleep..” and the next thing I know, he’s been up for 45 minutes to an hour already i nhis crib and it’s time to feed him. Meanwhile, I end up feeling like I’ve just wasted all of his waketime for that cycle. Any advice? Please help! 🙁

Babywise Mom said: Camille Stevens,See the posts “waketime when they wake early” and “waketime when baby wakes early”. By 6 months old, you can almost ignore time awake in the crib. This is a time when you can start having naps at set times each day no matter what else is going on. There will still be exceptions, but for the most part, you can do that. Since he is waking early, I would suggest you try keeping him up a little longer. I usually say to add 5 minutes at a time. You might be able to add 15 at first and then do an additional 5 after that as you troubleshoot.

Tiffany said: My son, 6 months old, has an average waketime of 2 hours but in the evening it is 4 hours. Is this too long? He wakes from his nap at 3 goes to bed at 7. I have tried extending his nap but he will not sleep past 3. f I put him down for a 30 min nap at 5 and extend his bed time to 7:30 he does not seem to sleep well. When he stays up from 3-7 he does get pretty cranky between 6:15 and 6:30 but I am not sure what else to do b/c I want him to have good night time sleep.

Babywise Mom said: Tiffany, if he sleeps well then it is totally fine!

Maureen said: Val, can I ask how long Kaitlyn’s waketime at 15 months? I know she is a sleepy head like Lucas, but this poll really has me questioning his waketime. He is 15 months and is only awake for an hour and 45 minutes before both of his naps. He does seem tired. He will stare off into space and rub his eyes. But sometimes he struggles a bit before going down. I have thought about lengthening it to 2 hours, but if most babies were over 2 hours at 7-8 months, we are way off! Is he just a sleepy baby? Could this have to do with the fact that he has such a long waketime before bed? It’s usually 5 hours between waking up from his afternoon nap and bedtime. But we are usually on the go, so he does fine. Some days, I put him down for a third nap still. Am I doing something wrong? Or is he just a sleepy baby?

Babywise Mom said: Maureen, 15 months, she was over two hours for waketime. It was about 2 hours 15 minutes. Maybe a bit more. If he can do 5 hours later in the day, then my guess is he can do longer earlier in the day. Kaitlyn’s naps were spread out such that the last waketime was only about 3 hours. A third nap at that age is really uncommon. My guess is he only would need it because of the 5 hours. If he had longer waketimes earlier, naps would end later and the last waketime wouldn’t be so long. I think I would try to do that and get that third nap gone for good. He is only 7 months away from the oldest babies usually drop the morning nap (and a couple of months away from when most drop the morning nap).

lauriella86 said: I need help! I have a 13 mth old that has not napped well since he started walking at 11 mths. I have read and tried everything I can find on this site. Including dropping his a.m. nap (I know it was too early but I was desperate). He takes an hour, sometimes 2, to fall asleep for his am nap and if I let him sleep more than 40 min. he won’t fall asleep for his pm nap. His schedule we had before all the trouble was he would wake in the morning at 7:30, nap from 10-11:30 then 2-3:30 and that worked great. I kept a log to find another pattern and found that he most often fell asleep around 10:30 but the pm nap never fell into place. So I put him down at 10:30 and he’ll play for 1 hour or more. His crib is completely empty and I don’t even put socks on him cause he takes them off and plays with those. I can’t keep him up much longer than 10:30 if we are home because he is SO FUSSY! Sometimes after the hour of being in his crib he’ll then lay down on his own and others I have to help him. IF by chance he does fall asleep easily he wakes 10 mins. later from having a bowel movement and I have to start all over. I guess my 2 questions are: 1) is there a way to change his bowel movement schedule so it stops interfering with his nap schedule?2)How do I get him to fall asleep without taking an hour or more?

Babywise Mom said: lauriella,He could be overly tired by 10:30–reached his “second wind.” I think I would go back to putting him down at 10 and see if he will go back to falling asleep at 10:30.1-No, there isn’t anything I know of to change that.2-Try first going back to 10 AM. Then go in after a certain length of time, lay him down, and tell him it is time to sleep. The other day Kaitlyn was up for an hour after I put her down, which was so weird. I walked in, put her down, and told her it was not time to play but time to go to sleep. She went right to sleep after that.

LEM said: My son is now 9 months old. It looks like his optimal waketime right now has just increased to 2.5 hours. My question is, as they’re waketime starts increase are they then taking shorter naps to accommodate the feeding schedule? He eats every four hours, but as he’s awake longer, I have to wake him from his nap to feed him on schedule. I’m wondering if I should let him sleep longer and maybe feed every 4.5 hours. But then then dinner time and the last feeding become so close together. I’m not sure if they are supposed to be taking shorter naps as their waketime increases. What will happen when his waketime increases even more and he is still on 2 naps a day? I don’t know why I’m so confused about this!

Babywise Mom said: As waketime increases, you will move more to aligning meals with the family and having three meals a day instead of 4. This is a hard call. He is probably a little ahead of his time to be doing such long waketime at this age. If it were me, I would do 2 hours so there could be a 2 hour nap unless baby just wouldn’t sleep after only 2 hours.Another option would be to let him have one 4.5 hour interval so he can have one longer nap a day. But if you did 4.5/4.5/3 hours, he might be okay. I think both of mine would have done just fine with 3 hours between the last two feedings. See the sample schedules for ideas on what I did. Good luck deciding!

Kelly said: We have been doing BW since birth. My daugther is 10 months old and for the past month we’ve had napping issues. I can’t seem to figure out the culprit. I’m guessing it’s waketime but shorter and longer times haven’t been working. Her schedule now is 7:15, 9:45 nap (ranges 1-1.75 hours), 11:30 eat, 1:45 nap (ranges 45 min – 2 hours), 3:30 snack, 5:15 bf/dinner, 7:30 bf & bed. Any suggestions? I’m going crazy without consistent nap lengths.

Babywise Mom said: Kelly, Has life been busy and disrupted with summer activities? Has temperature changed? Has she been working on new skills? The best thing to do in these situations is to think back to what things were like when she was sleeping well and what they are like now. What is different? If nothing is different, try extending waketime, but add only 5 minutes at a time and go from there. Also, be sure she isn’t waking early in the morning. If so, she would need to go down earlier and be overly tired by the time morning nap comes around.

Sarah said: My daughter is 9 months old, and her waketime is usually about 1 hour 45 minutes or 2 hours before she gets really fussy and tired acting. A good nap for her is about 1 hour 45 minutes, though most are shorter. Do I need to work on stretching out her waketime? Otherwise, I’m not sure that we’ll ever get to a 4 hour schedule!

Babywise Mom said: Sarah, you can try it, but be careful. An overly tired baby will often wake early, so if naps get shorter, then go back to the shorter waketime.

Amber said: I have a question about these waketime lengths. My daughter will be 10 months on the 5th, and she is extending her waketime to about 2.25-2.5 hours. Shorter waketimes for her were giving us shorter naps (she’s always been this way when she needs to extend her waketime…she’s one of the rare ones 🙂 ). When she’s up for 2.25 hours, she will consistently take the minimum nap and will actually sleep for 2 hours for at least one nap. This can put us at 5 hours between nursing sessions, though, and I don’t really like that. How would you handle this?

Babywise Mom said: If she is up for 2.25 hours, then sleep 2 hours, that should put her at eating 4.25 hours right? I would just be sure to get her up at 2 hour of a nap. I think 4.25 hours is fine.

Kelly Ford said: I have a question about waketimes/naptimes. My DD is 6.5 months and has been doing great on a 4 hour since about 4.5-5months 🙂 But as she is getting older she can stay awake more. Will there come a time when we break w/ the eat/play/sleep cycle b/c waketimes get longer and she’ll need longer naps than would be allowed under that cycle? B/c if she continues extending waketimes, as i understand she will still take 2 naps (after she drops her last shorter nap) and i cant imagine them being short (<1.5hrs) but maybe they will be until they are condensed into one? IDK. Help. Thanks.

Babywise Mom said: Kelly, yes, you break the cycle once you drop the third nap. She will most likely take 2 two hour naps until she is somewhere between 14-22 months, with most dropping the morning nap around 18 months.

Kelly said: So, to make sure i understand, would i keep her on a 4 hour or would it be more of a lose 4 hour? Now we do 7, 11, 3 and 7 but she (just this week) started dropping her 3rd nap fairly consistently and we just put her to bed a little early. We broke the e/p/s pattern in the evening but does the rest of the day change? I’m wondering when the meals line up w/ the family, is that solids or bottle AND solids? B/c i dont think i’d want to give time between bottle and solids as that could lead to snacking…Thanks!!

Babywise Mom said: Kelly, Meals lining up with family kind of depend on when the family eats. There are BW moms of preschoolers who don’t have all meals lined up for the family because Dad gets home late and eats at 8 PM…but a 4 year old isn’t going to make it that late.SO, I assume that eating breakfast at 7 is doable for your family? 11 might be doable for lunch. 3 is an early dinner. So I would feed at 3, then feed baby finger foods at the family’s dinner. Then nurse/liquid feed at 7 and to bed.But if your baby can go longer, by this age you could go longer. So you could do 7, 11:30, 4:00, 7:00 (or whatever)

Kelly said: Thanks!!!We’re getting closer to the age of dropping the bottle/formula and i’m just trying to wrap my brain around what life will look like. So i’m sorry for repeating ?’s. I should have clarified that she’s currently eating breakfast closer to 7:30 just because thats when we get to her sitters. Not that it matters, but Anyways…Would it mess up her metabolism to do breakfast at 7:30, lunch around 11:30 (if she can make it), a snack around 3:30 and then dinner with the family around 6pm? That would be doable for us and i’m just trying to figure out if i can move her to more of that before she drops the bottle or if i should wait (IF it would be an okay schedule).

Babywise Mom said: Kelly, do a liquid feeding at 3:30. I would probably feed her a fruit and veggie at that time, then give her samples from what the family is eating at 6. But if you want to stick with how you are doing it, that is fine.

Need help with naps? Get my eBook here to get baby taking great naps: The Babywise Mom Sleep Guide

Poll Results on Optimal Waketime

Here are the results of polls taken on this blog:

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 0-4 Weeks? (waketime length includes feeding time)

Results:
15-20 minutes: 10 votes (7%)
20-30 minutes: 13 votes (10%)
30-40 minutes: 27 votes (20%)
40-50 minutes: 46 votes (35%)
50-60 minutes: 24 votes (18%)
60 minutes or more: 9 votes (6%)
Total of 129 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 4-6 Weeks? (waketime length includes feeding time)?

30 minutes: 5 votes (5%)
30-40 minutes: 6 votes (6%)
40-50 minutes: 27 votes (31%)
50-60 minutes: 27 votes (31%)
60- 70 minutes: 10 votes (11%)
70 minutes or more: 11 votes (12%)
Total of 86 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 6-8 Weeks? (waketime length includes feeding time)?

Results:
30-40 minutes: 8 votes (10%)
40-50 minutes: 17 votes (22%)
50-60 minutes: 28 votes (35%)
60- 70 minutes: 17 votes (22%)
70-80 minutes: 5 votes (6%)
80 minutes or more: 4 votes (5%)
Total of 79 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 8-12 Weeks? (waketime length includes feeding time)?

Results:
30-50 minutes: 15 votes (11%)
50-60 minutes: 39 votes (29%)
60-70 minutes: 33 votes (24%)
70-80 minutes: 24 votes (17%)
80-90 minutes: 13 votes (9%)
90 minutes or more: 10 votes (7%)
Total of 134 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 3-4 Months? (waketime length includes feeding time)?

Results:
50-60 minutes: 14 votes (8%)
60-70 minutes: 45 votes (28%)
70-80 minutes: 32 votes (20%)
80-90 minutes: 39 votes (24%)
90-100 minutes: 20 votes (12%)
1 hour 45 minutes or longer: 7 votes (4%)
Total of 157 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 4-5 Months? (waketime length includes feeding time)?

Results:
50-60 minutes: 9 votes (6%)
60-70 minutes: 14 votes (9%)
70-80 minutes: 14 votes (9%)
80-90 minutes: 36 votes (24%)
1.5-1.75 hours: 29 votes (19%)
1.75-2 hours: 35 votes (23%)
2 hours or more: 12 votes (8%)
Total of 149 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 5-6 Months? (waketime length includes feeding time)?

Results:
60 minutes or less: 2 votes (1%)
60-75 minutes: 12 votes (10%)
75-90 minutes: 19 votes (16%)
1.5-1.75 hours: 21 votes (18%)
1.75-2 hours: 37 votes (32%)
2-2.25 hours: 17 votes (14%)
2 hours 15 minutes or more: 7 votes (6%)
Total of 115 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for ages 6-7 Months? (waketime length includes feeding time)?

Results:
60-75 minutes: 1 vote (1%)
75-90 minutes: 7 votes (8%)
1.5-1.75 hours: 9 votes (10%)
1.75-2 hours: 30 votes (34%)
2-2.25 hours: 26 votes (30%)
2.25-2.5 hours: 7 votes (8%)
2.5 hours or more: 6 votes (6%)
Total of 86 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for 7-8 months? (includes feeding time)

Results:
60-75 minutes: 4 votes (3%)
75-90 minutes: 9 votes (6%)
1.5-1.75 hours: 15 votes (9%)
1.75-2 hours: 33 votes (21%)
2-2.25 hours: 49 votes (30%)
2.25-2.5 hours: 23 votes (14%)
2.5 hours or more: 28 votes (17%)
Total of 161 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for 8-9 months? (includes feeding time)

Results:
60-75 minutes: 1 votes (1%)
75-90 minutes: 10 votes (7%)
1.5-1.75 hours: 9 votes (6%)
1.75-2 hours: 21 votes (15%)
2-2.25 hours: 31 votes (22%)
2.25-2.5 hours: 18 votes (13%)
2.5-3 hours: 30 votes (22%)
3 hours or more: 19 votes (14%)
Total of 139 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for 9-10 months? (includes feeding time)

Results:
75-90 minutes: 6 votes (4%)
1.5-1.75 hours: 11 votes (8%)
1.75-2 hours: 10 votes (7%)
2-2.25 hours: 20 votes (15%)
2.25-2.5 hours: 23 votes (17%)
2.5-3 hours: 35 votes (26%)
3-3.5 hours: 21 votes (15%)
3.5 hours or more: 6 votes (4%)
Total of 132 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for 10-11 months? (includes feeding time)

Results:
75-90 minutes: 4 votes (2%)
1.5-2 hours 18 votes (9%)
2-2.5 hours 78 votes (38%)
2.5-3 hours 41 votes (20%)
3-3.5 hours 44 votes (21%)
3.5 hours or more 22 votes (11%)
Total of 207 votes

What was/is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for 11-12 months? (includes feeding time)

Results:
75-90 minutes 3 (1%)
1.5-2 hours 13 (8%)
2-2.5 hours 36 (23%)
2.5-3 hours 51 (33%)
3-3.5 hours 38 (24%)
3.5 hours or more 13 (8%)
Total of 154 votes

What was or is baby’s approximate optimal waketime length for 12-13 months? (includes feeding time)

Results:
2 hours: 20 votes (6%)
2-2.5 hours: 57 votes (17%)
2.5-3 hours: 86 votes (26%)
3-3.5 hours: 84 votes (26%)
3.5 hours or more: 74 votes (23%)
Votes so far: 321

This post first appeared on this blog in 2008