What is a wake window?

A wake window is the amount of time your baby is awake between sleep sessions. For example, if your baby woke at 9am and fell asleep at 11am, their wake window is 2 hours. Wake windows are important when a baby is under 4 months old. At this point in your baby's life, your baby does not have a body clock and it's better to follow more of a "routine" with wake windows.

Wake windows extend as your baby ages and each wake window is unique to your baby. Use the following as a guide to get started:

- Under 1 month: ⁠Wake window = 45-60 minutes⁠. ⁠‍

- 1-2 months: ⁠Wake window = 45-75 minutes. ⁠⁠‍

- 2-4 months: ⁠Wake window = 45-90 minutes.⁠

As you can see, the ranges are fairly broad. It's best for you to track when your baby is sleeping and waking up and find your baby's own wake window. As your baby ages, you will want to extend their wake window until they move to a body clock schedule at around 4 months. ⁠At 4 months, your baby will graduate from wake windows and move to clock times because now your baby has a body clock. YAY! At this point, your baby’s body wants 3-4 naps per day. ⁠At 4 months, total sleep should be around 14 hours with ~25% during the day.⁠⁠

Wake Windows are awesome because following proper wake windows will help your baby go to sleep easier, saving you a lot of time. Use the Lovebug app to find your wake windows and we will help you find the optimal wake window for your baby!