Wake window

What It Means

A wake window is the time a baby spends awake between one sleep and the next, counted from waking up to going back down. Cleveland Clinic describes wake windows as a way to time naps so a baby goes down sleepy but still awake. The windows lengthen as babies grow, from an hour or less in the newbornNewbornA baby in the first 28 days of life, the stage doctors also call the neonatal period. See more weeks to a few hours by around 5 months.

How Parents Say It

• "Her wake window's almost up, let's start winding down."
• "He's only been up an hour and he's already rubbing his eyes."
• "We pushed the wake window and got a short nap."

The Breakdown

Worked example. A 5-month-old wakes at 7:00 a.m., takes three naps that add up to 3 hours, and goes to bed at 7:00 p.m. These are example numbers.

What the result means. 135 minutes sits inside the 2 to 4 hours Cleveland Clinic gives as typical for a 5-month-old. An average blends the whole day, so one window may run shorter than 135 minutes and another longer.

Typical ranges from Cleveland Clinic

Sleepy signs to watch. Cleveland Clinic lists yawning, eye rubbing, extra blinking or a faraway stare, and less activity. HealthyChildren.org describes a baby drifting off with drooping eyelids, stretching, yawning or jerky arm and leg movements. When those signs show up before the clock says so, go with the signs.

Good to Know

Wake windows are a rule of thumb, and Cleveland Clinic pairs them with watching your baby's own cues. For total sleep, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), in guidance the AAP endorses, recommends 12 to 16 hours in every 24 for babies 4 to 12 months old, naps included. HealthyChildren.org suggests laying babies down drowsy but still awake so they learn to fall asleep on their own. The AAP's safe sleepSafe sleepThe AAP's rules for lowering the risk of SIDS and suffocation: baby on the back, alone, on a firm flat surface in their own sleep space, every sleep. See more rules cover naps as well as nights: on the back, on a firm, flat surface, with nothing in the space but a fitted sheet. If your baby's sleep worries you, bring a few days of wake and nap timesNap scheduleThe usual pattern of a baby's or toddler's daytime naps: how many, roughly when and for how long, which shifts as the child grows. See more to your pediatrician.

Related Terms and Categories

• Nap schedule

  The usual pattern of a baby's or toddler's daytime naps: how many, roughly when and for how long, which shifts as the child grows.

• Nap transition

  The stretch when a child drops a daytime nap, such as going from three naps to two, from two to one, or from one to none.

• Drowsy but awake

  Laying a baby down in the crib when they're sleepy but still awake, so they practice falling asleep on their own.

• Safe sleep

  The AAP's rules for lowering the risk of SIDS and suffocation: baby on the back, alone, on a firm flat surface in their own sleep space, every sleep.

• Newborn

  A baby in the first 28 days of life, the stage doctors also call the neonatal period.

• Sleep regression

  A stretch when a baby or toddler who was sleeping fairly well starts waking more at night or fighting sleep, usually for a week or two.

Baby and toddler