Wake windows by age
A wake window is the stretch of awake time between two sleeps. The chart below gives the usual range for each age and the number of naps that tends to go with it. The calculator turns it into a plan for today.
Set to 6 months, or your baby's age if you enter a birthday. Change the wake-up time to match this morning; if your baby looks sleepy before a nap time, go with the baby.
Wake window chart
| Age | Wake window | Naps a day |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4 weeks | 30–60 min | 5 or more, no set pattern |
| 1–2 months | 1–1½ h | 4–5 |
| 3 months | 1¼–1¾ h | 4 |
| 4 months | 1½–2 h | 4, some move to 3 |
| 5 months | 2–2¾ h | 3 |
| 6 months | 2¼–3 h | 3 |
| 7 months | 2½–3¼ h | 3, moving to 2 |
| 8 months | 2¾–3½ h | 2 |
| 9–10 months | 3–3½ h | 2 |
| 11–12 months | 3¼–4 h | 2 |
| 13–15 months | 3½–4½ h | 2, moving to 1 |
| 15–18 months | 4½–5½ h | 1 (some still 2) |
| 18 months–2 years | 5–6 h | 1 |
| 2–3 years | 5½–6 h | 1 |
These ranges follow Taking Cara Babies' published chart, split into narrower age steps. Other sources are wider: Cleveland Clinic gives 2 to 4 hours at 5 to 7 months, the Sleep Foundation 1½ to 4½ hours. Read the chart as a starting point, not a target to hit to the minute.
One wake window, start to finish
Example for a 6 month old with a 7:00 am wake-up, the same day as the 6 month sample schedule and what the calculator above gives. Sleepy cues from Huckleberry's pediatrician-reviewed guide to baby sleep cues.
How to use a wake window
Start counting when your baby wakes up, not when you start the nap routine. The first window of the day is usually the shortest and the one before bedtime the longest, so a 6 month old might manage 2¼ hours after the morning wake-up and closer to 3 hours before bed. Many parents start a short wind-down routine before the window ends: dim the room, change the diaper, a song or a feed.
Signs the window was off
These are the signs sleep consultants commonly describe; they are rules of thumb, not tests.
Too short: your baby lies in the crib chatting or rolling around for 20 minutes or more, or naps for a short time and wakes happy.
Too long: rubbing eyes and ears, staring off, arching, crying hard as you put them down, then falling asleep fast and waking after a single 30 to 45 minute cycle.
If something seems off, change the window by 10 to 15 minutes at a time and watch for a few days.
Where the numbers come from
Wake windows are a working rule from pediatric sleep consultants and nurses, not an official guideline, and no medical body publishes a wake window chart. What is official is total sleep: the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, with the AAP's endorsement, recommends 12 to 16 hours per 24 hours, naps included, for babies 4 to 12 months old, 11 to 14 hours for 1 and 2 year olds, and 10 to 13 hours for 3 to 5 year olds. There is no recommendation under 4 months because newborn sleep varies too much.
Other ages
Wake windows by age (full chart) · 5 months · 6 months · 7 months · Sleep schedule calculator, any age
Questions parents ask
At what age do you stop going by wake windows?
There is no set age. Many parents rely less on wake windows once their child is down to one nap; the Sleep Foundation notes that most children are napping twice a day or less somewhere between 12 and 18 months.
What age is the 3 hour wake window?
Three hours is the top of the 5 to 7 month range and the middle of the 7 to 10 month range (2½ to 3½ hours) in Taking Cara Babies' chart. Huckleberry says many babies need about 3 hours before bedtime as they get close to 6 months.
Do wake windows include feeding time?
Yes. A wake window is all of the awake time, feeds, diaper changes and the nap routine included.
Sources
Checked 4 November 2026. Wake windows are not an official medical guideline, and published ranges differ a lot from one source to another, so this site follows one chart and says where others differ.
- Taking Cara Babies, Wake windows and baby sleep: 0–4 weeks 30–60 min, 4–12 weeks 60–90 min, 3–4 months 75–120 min, 5–7 months 2–3 h, 7–10 months 2½–3½ h, 11–14 months 3–4 h, 14–24 months 4–6 h. The ranges on this site sit inside these.
- Huckleberry month-by-month guides (5, 6, 7 months) for naps, nap lengths and bedtimes, and its 2-year guide (5½–6 h) for the 2–3 year row.
- Huckleberry, Decoding baby sleep cues (reviewed by a board-certified pediatrician): yawning, droopy eyelids, eye rubbing and slowing down as early sleepy cues.
- Cleveland Clinic gives wider ranges (for example 2–4 h at 5–7 months), and the Sleep Foundation wider still (1½–4½ h at 5–7 months).
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine consensus statement (Paruthi et al., 2016, endorsed by the AAP) for total sleep hours.
- American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org, for safe sleep, swaddling, solid foods, teething and separation anxiety.
Safe sleep, every nap
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends putting babies down on their back, on a firm flat surface in their own sleep space, with no pillows, bumpers or loose blankets, for naps as well as nights. A schedule is never a reason to skip a feed. This page is general information, not medical advice; if you are worried about your baby's sleep or growth, talk to your pediatrician.