Wake windows by age
How long can your baby stay awake between naps? Here are guideline wake windows and nap counts, from newborn to 2 years.
Written by Sebastian Mandelid, parent and developer of Blundi · Last updated November 5, 2026
A wake window, or awake time, is the time from when your baby wakes up until they sleep again. Awake times get longer as your baby grows. A baby who stays awake too long can get fussy and cry more.
Wake windows and naps by age
| Age | Wake window | Naps a day |
|---|---|---|
| 0–6 weeks | 35–60 minutes | 4–8 |
| 6–12 weeks | 1–1½ hours | 4–6 |
| 3–4½ months 12–20 weeks | 1¼–2 hours | 3–5 |
| 4½–7 months 20–32 weeks | 2–3 hours | 2–3 |
| 7–10 months 32–44 weeks | 2½–3½ hours | 2 |
| 10–15 months 44–64 weeks | 3–4 hours | 1–2 |
| 15–18 months 64–78 weeks | 3¼–4½ hours | 1–2 |
| 18 months–2 years 78–104 weeks | 4–6 hours | 1 |
| 2 years and up | 5–7 hours | 0–1 |
These numbers are a starting point, not a rule. Babies differ, and many do well at the short or the long end of the range.
How to use the table
- The first wake window of the morning is often the shortest, and the last one before bedtime the longest.
- In the first weeks, babies sleep in many short stretches around the clock, so the number of naps varies a lot.
- Between 15 and 18 months, many children go from two naps to one. For a while it can be two naps some days and one on others.
- If your baby was born early, you can ask your child health clinic whether to count their age from the due date.
Signs of tiredness
Babies often show you themselves that they are getting tired. Common signs are that your baby
- yawns
- rubs their eyes
- looks away or stares into space
- gets restless or fussy
- loses interest in toys and the people around them.
The signs differ from baby to baby. Follow your baby more than the clock: if you see the signs earlier than the table says, it’s fine to put your baby down then.
Sleep needs: how much does a baby sleep?
Wake windows are about the day. How much sleep a baby needs over the whole day and night varies a lot from baby to baby. Helsenorge, Norway’s public health portal, says most babies sleep 14–17 hours a day in their first three months, and most sleep 11–14 hours around their first birthday.
For more on sleep needs and safe sleep, such as always putting your baby on their back to sleep, see Helsenorge: Søvn hos barn 0-2 år (in Norwegian).
When to talk to your child health clinic
Talk to your child health clinic or your doctor if you are worried about your baby’s sleep, or that you are getting too little sleep yourself. If your baby seems ill, contact a doctor or an out-of-hours clinic (in Norway, legevakt on 116 117). In an emergency, call your local emergency number (113 in Norway).
Wake windows in Blundi
Blundi shows the next nap as a time window based on your baby’s age, not an exact time. With Pluss, Blundi also learns your baby’s own rhythm from the naps you log.
About the numbers
This is the same table Blundi bases its time window on before the app knows your baby’s own rhythm. The nap counts are checked against studies of how children sleep. There is little research on wake windows, so they follow common guidance and are meant as a starting point.
- Iglowstein I, Jenni OG, Molinari L, Largo RH. Sleep duration from infancy to adolescence: reference values and generational trends. Pediatrics 2003;111(2):302–307.
- Galland BC, Taylor BJ, Elder DE, Herbison P. Normal sleep patterns in infants and children: a systematic review of observational studies. Sleep Medicine Reviews 2012;16(3):213–222.
- Staton S, Rankin PS, Harding M, et al. Many naps, one nap, none: a systematic review and meta-analysis of napping patterns in children 0–12 years. Sleep Medicine Reviews 2020;50:101247.
- Helsenorge (Norwegian Directorate of Health). Søvn hos barn 0-2 år. Last updated August 21, 2025.
This page is general information and does not replace advice from your child health clinic or doctor. Blundi is not a medical device.
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