Question 1

What is a wake window?

Accepted Answer

A wake window is how long your baby can comfortably stay awake between sleeps, measured from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep again — it includes the time it takes to settle. Windows are short in the newborn weeks, often under an hour, and stretch to five or six hours by toddlerhood. They are a guide to timing, not a target to hit exactly.

Question 2

How do I know if the wake window was too long?

Accepted Answer

An overtired baby fights the nap, takes a long time to settle despite obvious tiredness, wakes 30–45 minutes in and can't resettle, and often starts waking earlier in the morning. If you see that pattern for two or three days, pull the window in by 10–15 minutes rather than making a big change.

Question 3

Do wake windows get longer through the day?

Accepted Answer

Yes, for most babies. The first window after morning wake-up is usually the shortest, and the stretch before bedtime is the longest — sleep pressure has built all day and the drive to sleep is strongest at bedtime. A schedule with identical windows from morning to night tends to produce a late, difficult bedtime.

Question 4

What time should my baby go to bed?

Accepted Answer

Past the newborn stage, bedtime usually lands between 6:30pm and 8pm, and it is calculated backwards from the last nap rather than fixed to a clock. A bedtime that drifts later and later is usually a sign the last window is too long or the last nap ended too late. This calculator holds bedtime between 6pm and 8:30pm for exactly that reason.

Question 5

Should I use my baby's actual age or adjusted age?

Accepted Answer

If your baby was born prematurely, use the adjusted age — their age from their due date rather than their birth date — until at least 12 months. Wake windows follow neurological development, not the calendar. Your paediatrician can tell you when to switch to actual age.

Question 6

My baby's schedule doesn't match this. Is something wrong?

Accepted Answer

Almost certainly not. Published sleep guidance gives ranges, not schedules, and healthy babies vary enormously in how much sleep they need. If your baby is generally happy, feeding well and growing, a day that looks nothing like this one is fine. Use these numbers when something isn't working — not as a standard to measure your baby against.

Age	Wake window	Naps	Day sleep	Night sleep
Newborn	45m – 1h	5	7h 30m	8h – 9h
1 month	1h – 1h 30m	4	6h	9h – 10h
2 months	1h 15m – 1h 40m	4	5h 15m	9h – 10h
3 months	1h 30m – 1h 50m	4	4h 30m	10h – 11h
4 months	1h 55m – 2h 15m	3	3h 45m	10h – 11h
5 months	2h – 2h 20m	3	3h 40m	10h – 11h
6 months	2h 10m – 2h 30m	3	3h 30m	11h – 12h
7 months	2h 15m – 2h 30m	3	3h 30m	11h – 12h
8 months	2h 45m – 3h 15m	2	2h 45m	11h – 12h
9 months	2h 50m – 3h 20m	2	2h 45m	11h – 12h
10 months	3h – 3h 30m	2	2h 45m	11h – 12h
11 months	3h 5m – 3h 35m	2	2h 40m	11h – 12h
12 months	3h 15m – 3h 45m	2	2h 30m	11h – 12h
13 months	3h 20m – 3h 50m	2	2h 20m	11h – 12h
14 months	3h 25m – 3h 55m	2	2h 10m	11h – 12h
15 months	5h – 5h 30m	1	2h	11h – 12h
16 months	5h 5m – 5h 35m	1	2h	11h – 12h
17 months	5h 10m – 5h 40m	1	2h	11h – 12h
18 months	5h 15m – 5h 40m	1	2h	11h – 12h
19–24 months	5h 20m – 5h 40m	1	2h	11h – 12h
2 years+	5h 30m – 5h 45m	1	1h 45m	10h 30m – 11h 30m

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