Baby Waketime Length – How long should my baby stay awake?

One of the most commonly held baby myths is that “babies will sleep when they are tired.” Life would be simpler if it were true….but it’s not. Most new moms are exhausted and want their babies to sleep as much as possible. However, there is a window of time after a baby wakes up when they should be encouraged to stay awake. This window is called waketime and it’s important for your baby’s physical and cognitive development. Learn how long your baby should stay awake and how you can make the most of it.

In this blog, we will cover the following about waketimes:

What Is Waketime?
How Does Waketime Lenght Change?
Finding The Waketime Sweet Spot
Problem Solving Waketime Length
Waketime Estimates
How Long Should Baby Be Wake?

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What Is Waketime?

Waketime length is how long your child can stay awake between sleep periods before he’s ready for another nap or bedtime. It includes any time baby is awake, including feeding time and wind-down time before naps/bed.

How Does Waketime Lenght Change?

Waketime is always changing so you need to be on the lookout for your baby’s cues and monitor how well your child’s naps and nighttime sleep are going since inappropriate waketimes can cause problems in these areas.

Here’s how the waketime generally goes:

In very young babies waketime is often the same length throughout the day with the exception of a fussy, long waketime in the evening for some babies
In older babies, waketime generally increases throughout the day.
The first nap in the morning is one of the main times a baby usually stays awake for less time compared to other times of the day (usually 15-60 minutes less). This is the case even with some very young babies.
It’s possible for waketime to decrease overall which may occur when baby has had a shorter than normal nap, is sick, is going through a growth spurt, is starting to take in more of his environment (newborn age), or is especially active one day
It is not uncommon for babies to have a sudden increase in waketime between 4-6 months.
As babies get older you will probably begin to have naps at a set time each day instead of after X amount of waketime. You may still need to put baby down early for a nap, though, if he didn’t sleep well for an earlier one, has had a particularly active day, or seems extra tired for whatever reason. In fact, I still put my 3-year-old Quaid down a bit early (15-30 minutes) for his afternoon nap if he wakes early in the morning.

Finding The Baby’s Waketime Sweet Spot

Your goal with waketime is to find that sweet spot so that baby goes to sleep quickly, easily, and with minimal to no crying. This doesn’t sound very complicated, but it’s pretty tricky to do. Keeping on a good schedule/routine and keeping a sleep log will make getting the right waketime easier. Some signs of the sweet spot are:

your baby goes to sleep easily for a nap with minimal or no crying and playing,
your child takes a long nap and then wakes up happy (is happy after being fed for a young baby)
your child seems to be happy and alert during his awake time.

If your child doesn’t go to sleep perfectly, don’t fret. Your waketime may still be right, some children just need a little more help to learn to sleep than others. And some babies simply like to fight a little before falling asleep and will cry even with perfect timing.

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Problem Solving Waketime Length

If your baby is playing before a nap he may be over or under tired. Some people find that if their baby plays for over 30 minutes then he is under tired but if he plays for less time than this or plays for a while and then starts crying then he is overtired. This may or may not be true for your baby. Keeping a sleep log and some trial and error will help you figure out what your baby does.

Pushing baby to stay awake longer than he is able can cause many sleep problems such as baby not being able to fall asleep for naps, baby waking early from naps, and baby waking up distressed and crying during sleep periods. At the same time, continuing a short waketime when baby can handle a longer one can also lead to sleep problems since baby won’t be tired enough to fall asleep when put down and may not sleep for as long as desired.

Situations can also occur when baby doesn’t seem to be able to handle a longer waketime (e.g. he gets cranky when kept up longer than a certain amount of time) but his sleep suffers because of such a short waketime. In this situation, baby needs to be helped to slowly stay awake for longer periods of time (probably no more than 10-15 minute increases at a time). This is pretty uncommon for very young babies and most of the time overtiredness from being awake too long will be your problem.

With newborns, you’ll have to work on having enough waketime (but not too much!) during the day to help you adjust the nights and days around. This can be done by doing a routine like eat/wake/sleep. As baby gets older (closer to 4-5 months) too short of waketimes and too much napping can cause problems with night sleep.

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Waketime Estimates

Below are some estimates of waketimes. They are averaged throughout the day. Remember that these wake times are all just estimates. Every baby is different (genes, weight, how long they sleep at night) so some will be able to stay awake for longer or shorter periods of time than other babies. If your baby’s waketime varies considerably from these guidelines then I would look closely at your baby to make sure he is not overtired or undertired.

Average waketimes I’ve observed. These are optimal lengths for a well-rested child, not what is necessarily common (since many children are overtired which would make these averages much more).

How long should baby be awake?

Always keep in mind that sleep begets sleep. People often want to keep baby awake for as long as possible so baby will sleep better at night, but an overtired baby does not sleep well consistently. An overtired baby crashes every once in a while and sleeps for a long time, but other times are just fussiness and/or lack of sleeping.

Final Thoughts

So, how much wake time is best for your baby? There’s no one definitive answer to this question. Every child is different and will need a different amount of waketime each day in order to be their happiest and healthiest. What’s important is that you pay attention to your baby and figure out what works best for them. You may have to experiment a little bit at first before finding the sweet spot, but it will be worth it when you see your little one thrive!

How does your baby’s wake time affect their sleep? Comment below and let us know!

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Sending sleepy vibes and sweet dreams your way!

Erin McCormick

Your Pediatric Sleep Specialist