By Nourish Baby Sleep Infant and Child Sleep Consultant, Meg Townsend.

Want to know an easy way to help your baby fall asleep and stay asleep for longer stretches?

Know their age-appropriate wake windows.

A wake window is the amount of time your baby is awake from one sleep to the next. It starts when your baby wakes from their last nap and it ends when you place them down for their next sleep.

A wake window includes everything that happens while your baby is awake, such as; feeds, nappy changes, playing, getting outside and arguably most importantly - cuddles. In the first three months of your baby’s life, their wake windows will be very short, so you might only have time for a feed, nappy change and a quick cuddle before it is time to put them down again.

Wake windows are important because they allow a baby to build up just the right amount of sleep pressure to fall asleep and stay asleep. If your baby is awake for too long, they will become overtired, which can make it hard for them to settle to sleep and then stay asleep.

On the other hand, if a wake window is too short your baby will struggle to fall asleep and when they do, they will probably only sleep for a very short period of time.

But how do you know what the right wake window is for YOUR baby?

A good place to start is to work with the recommended wake window for your baby’s age. Then you need to watch your baby and adjust to suit them. You know your baby best, so trust your judgement. If your baby seems to be getting unsettled, fussy or disengaged, start with the shorter end of the wake window range. If they appear alert, happy and engaged then start with the longer end of the wake window range.

Baby’s Age Wake Window

0 - 4 weeks 40 - 60 minutes

5 -12 weeks 1 hour - 1.5 hours

3 - 4 months 1.5 - 2 hours

5 - 6 months 2 - 2.5 hours

7 - 9 months 2.5 - 3 hours

10 -12 months 3 - 4 hours

12 -18 months 4 - 5.5 hours

When will my baby fall into a more predictable routine/schedule?

Newborn sleep is often quite unpredictable, until their sleep matures at the 3-4 month mark. It is from here that sleep times often become more predictable. If wake windows are working well for you and your baby, then you can keep following these, but if you would like to move towards getting your baby to nap at more predictable times, you can start from around 4 months.

To do this, it is important to still work off wake windows, to optimise sleep pressure, but you can choose set times for your baby to sleep, see example below. If your baby wakes early from their sleep, or they are tired and you don’t think they will make it to their next nap time, you can use a bridging nap. A bridging nap is a short 10-15 minute nap, which aims to tide your baby over until their next sleep. It is important to make sure your baby is awake at least 30 minutes before their scheduled nap time, to ensure they have enough sleep pressure to actually fall asleep at this time. Bridging naps are effective up until about 8 months of age, when they can begin to impact the next sleep, so we don’t suggest you use them for babies older than 8 months.

This is a great question, and the answer is whichever works best for you and your baby. A set nap schedule can help put some predictability into your day, just make sure the schedule is based off wake windows that are appropriate for your baby’s age. If you prefer to let your baby take the lead, and you don’t need set nap times, then wake windows are the way to go. For more sleep tips and education follow @nourishbabysleep on Instagram and Facebook or visit our website www.nourishbabysleep.com.au.