Wake windows: what the research actually says

Updated 24 October 2026 · Written by the Lullsong team. General information, not medical advice.

Where wake windows come from

The idea is simple: the longer a baby is awake, the more sleep pressure builds, and young babies build it faster. That part is basic sleep science. What hasn’t been studied is whether following a fixed timetable, such as 2 to 3 hours at six months, helps babies sleep better than responding to their cues.

Paediatric sleep physician Craig Canapari makes the same point: wake windows aren’t taught or researched in paediatric sleep medicine.

What studies do measure

A 2012 review pooled 34 studies of healthy children (Galland et al.). Babies up to two months slept 14.6 hours a day on average, but anything from about 9 to 20 hours fell within the normal spread. At one year, the average was 12.9 hours.

Naps followed the same path: about 3 a day up to five months, 2 between six and eleven months, and just over 1 between one and two years.

A 2020 review of napping (Staton et al.) found that fewer than 2.5% of children stop napping before age two. Taking two or more naps a day drops off sharply between 12 and 18 months, and by age five, 94% of children have stopped napping.

How to use wake windows sensibly

• Start with the range for your baby’s age, then watch: yawning, staring off, rubbing eyes and fussing are the real signals.
• Change one thing at a time, by about 15 minutes, and give it a few days.
• Look at the whole day. Total sleep inside the wide normal range matters more than any single nap.
• Expect change. Windows stretch quickly in the first year, and dropping a nap can take a few weeks.

For a starting point by age, try the wake window calculator or the nap schedule maker.

Sources

1. Galland BC, Taylor BJ, Elder DE, Herbison P. Normal sleep patterns in infants and children: a systematic review of observational studies. Sleep Med Rev 2012;16:213-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2011.06.001
2. Staton S, Rankin PS, Harding M, et al. Many naps, one nap, none: a systematic review and meta-analysis of napping patterns in children 0-12 years. Sleep Med Rev 2020;50:101247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2019.101247

More sleep guides

• Wake window calculator
• Nap schedule maker
• Safe sleep: the essentials
• Sleeping through the night: what’s normal
• The 4-month sleep regression: what’s actually known
• Is white noise safe for babies?
• When to stop swaddling
• Room temperature and what to wear
• Contact naps: what’s safe and what’s known
• Dream feeds: do they work?
• Lullabies and singing: what the research shows