The Basics of Baby Naps

Naps are necessary for babies to stay rested because of all the growing they're doing! Napping plays a key role in restoring your baby's mental and physical body. So why is it notoriously challenging for many families to get their babies to take adequate naps?

Let’s dive into the basics of baby naps, how long and how often they should be napping according to their age, what to do if your baby skips a nap and when to be concerned about the amount of daytime sleep your baby is getting.

Baby Naps By Age

Baby’s age plays a huge role in how often and how long they are napping. Your baby's wake windows change as they get older, but these should be used as a general guideline as every child is different.

What Are Wake Windows?

Wake windows are the times in between naps that your baby is awake. Wake windows are important to track because it can help us make sure that baby is actually tired enough to have another nap, or to prevent baby from becoming overtired from being awake too long.

Months 0-1

Your newborn, up until 6-8 weeks of age, is napping constantly. They can’t tell the difference between daytime and nighttime, so they are waking up to feed, and going back to sleep (more or less). They usually nap with relative ease but some may have longer wake windows on occasion.

• Wake Windows: 45 minutes - 1 hour
• Naps: Frequently 
• Ideal Nap Length: 20 minutes - 3 hours+ (wide range!)

Months 2-3

As your baby gets a bit older, their wake windows start to stretch a bit. Oftentimes the wake windows are shorter earlier in the day, and get longer toward the evening.

• Wake Windows: 45 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes
• Naps: Up to 5-6 per day depending on length
• Ideal Nap Length: 30 minutes - 2+ hours (anything goes!)

Months 4-5

In the 4th and 5th month, you’ll usually start seeing a more regular sleep schedule. You may start to have a 10-12 hour stretch at night (with some wake-ups for feedings) then a morning nap, a midday nap, 1-2 catnaps in the afternoon, and then bedtime again. Be aware of the “4 month sleep regression” that may happen (read below!).

• Wake Windows: 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes
• Naps: 3 or 4 per day
• Ideal Nap Length: Try to aim for 2 longer naps (first 2 of the day), and 1-2 shorter “cat naps” Please note: Many babies still have short naps here and it’s SUPER common!

Months 6-8

Wake windows are steadily stretching. Sometimes they have longer wake windows in the late afternoon than they do in the morning. Around this time you will start to see biological sleep waves around 9am and 12pm, where your baby will often fall asleep faster and/or stay asleep longer around those times.

• Wake Windows: 1 hour 30 minutes to 3 hours
• Naps: 3 naps, going down to 2 
• Ideal Nap Length: At least 1 hour - 1 hour 30 minutes

Months 9-12

Usually babies are having 2 naps a day around the 9-12 month mark, and their wake windows are pretty regular. 

• Wake Windows: 2-3 hours, followed by a nap, 3 hours, followed by a nap, 4 hours, followed by bedtime
• Naps: 2 per day
• Ideal Nap Length: At least 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes long each

Months 13-18

Most of the time, baby is headed to daycare in this period, which can make naps challenging! Usually they are dropping down to just one afternoon nap somewhere between 15-18 months of age.

• Naps: 2->1 per day, usually around 12pm
• Ideal Nap Length: Ideally, when on 1 nap per day, Baby will get at least 1 hour 30 minutes for their nap. However, it can be shorter (especially at first when transitioning to daycare).

4 Month Sleep Regression

Around 4 months of age, your baby is meeting developmental milestones and their world is expanding. They are more aware of their surroundings and interested in the people and things around them! All that excitement can make it hard for your baby to sleep.

Before 4 months of age,  some babies may nap quite easily, either falling asleep quickly and/or having long naps. But after this 4 month developmental milestone, naps can often take a hit and the long naps may become short, or they may not fall asleep as easily as they used to.

Know that this sleep regression is totally normal!

What To Do If Your Baby Skips Their Nap

If your baby skips their nap, you’re going to have to bring the next sleep time forward by an hour or more (nap time or bedtime). You should not just keep them awake until their next “scheduled” nap time because they will get overtired, and it will be much more difficult for them to fall asleep.

What If It’s Close To Bedtime?

If a nap is falling too close to bedtime, you’re probably wondering what to do. It is important to have a cut-off time to differentiate between day time sleep and night time sleep.

After 4 months of age, the cut off should be 5 or 5:30pm. If your baby can’t have their nap and wake up before 5:30pm (for those 4-5month olds) or 5pm (for babies over 6 months of age), then you should help them extend their last wake window just a little bit and aim for an early bedtime --> as early as 6pm. You don't want them to get too over tired, but giving that little extra push at the end of the day will help your baby differentiate bedtime from a nap.

By the way, 8pm is the latest bedtime I would recommend for most kiddos under 8 years of age!

When Should I Be Concerned?

Because every baby is different, it can be hard to know when to be concerned about the amount of sleep your baby is getting.

Ask yourself these questions

1. How is my baby’s behaviour throughout the day?
2. How easy or challenging is it to get my baby to sleep?
3. Is their overnight sleep being impacted (such as more frequent wake-ups, difficulty getting back to sleep, or early morning wake-ups)?

Babies who are well rested will fall asleep with relative ease within roughly 15 minutes of putting them down and have a mostly happy or pleasant demeanour during waking hours - unless they’re in the middle of another developmental leap of course ;)

Final Thoughts On Naps

Naps are a huge topic, and since every baby is different, it can be hard to know if they are getting enough sleep or are capable of better sleep.

There's no need to count or restrict naps before four months of age. After about four months of age, your baby would ideally be getting 2 to 2 hours 30 minutes of daytime sleep at a minimum. You don’t need to limit day time sleep unless it is causing a problem with overnight sleep.

If you're not sure, or you think some changes need to happen in the nap department, and you'd like a bit of help with that, send me an email at ashley@birthbabysleep.ca and we can chat about your specific situation.

You can also read more about preparing for your baby to go to daycare, and tips to help when your baby is waking up too early.