It is very normal for your baby’s nap lengths to fluctuate, sometimes significantly. Particularly in the first six to seven months of life, when your little one’s sleep-wake cycles have still not fully matured. Their naps could be short or long, looking different from nap to nap period, and different from day to day.

Strict schedules don’t work – use wake windows instead

Nap lengths are influenced by so much. Stimulation, activities outside of the house, feedings, illness, the conditions and the environment for sleep are just the beginning. If these factors are slightly different from day to day, then nap lengths will likely look different from day to day too. So, getting a baby to sleep at specific times for specific lengths will only serve to make you feel frustrated and confused. 

The other reason strict sleep schedules don’t work is that they don’t account for how long your baby was awake. Instead, they assume you can force your baby to sleep for certain amounts of time. If your little one is awake for too long, they become overtired. Overtired babies do not sleep well. They don’t sleep well for the specific sleep period they were overtired for. But they will also not sleep well that night and potentially the following nights. Therefore, strict sleep schedules are not recommended. You do not need to follow one. You also don’t need to stress out about following one to get your little one to sleep better.

Respect wake window timing for your little one

On the other hand, you do need to respect the timing that works best for your little one. This is a much more flexible approach than following a clock-based schedule. It will match up with your little one’s rhythm of melatonin (the sleepy hormone), and avoid the build-up of cortisol (the stress hormone) much better. 

This more flexible approach follows age-appropriate wake windows. These are the amounts of time that your baby can spend being awake in one stretch before they become overtired. These windows are very conservative in the first month of life, only about 45-60 minutes, and extend by about 15 minutes each month as your baby grows and develops.

Wake windows are magic. Figuring out your baby’s specific wake windows, the timing that helps them settle easily and quickly and take a great nap or sleep really well at night, really does feel like magic. But it’s not magic. It’s sleep science. And, it’s pretty amazing.

Do you want to work on fine-tuning the timing that works best for your little one? I highly recommend checking out my Better Sleep Bundle for Babies – it will take all the guesswork out of nailing your little one’s nap and bedtimes.

You can also more about the magic of wake windows here.

Happy sleeping, parents!

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