The First Few Months-Only 1 Hour Awake Time!

Quick Tip: Months 0-3 Have your baby ASLEEP BY the 1 hour mark to create optimal nap lengths, prevent over tiredness and to work toward better night sleep.

The length of time your baby can stay awake before needing a nap truly does not vary much from child to child, especially in the 0-3 month age range. There are several books written by a range of experts that offer charts outlining suggested wake times for every age group. And many great blogs have done polls with their readers to offer typical optimal wake times as well. I never knew the sleep thing could be such a science, but it really is!

This information is so important because studies and experience have shown that helping your baby to be asleep within a certain window of time:

• Reduces or eliminates crying during pre-nap and nap times
• Helps nap lengths be long enough to actually be restorative
• Prevents a cycle of over tiredness from beginning
• Has a direct correlation to better night sleep

My favorite book is Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child by Marc Weisbluth. He is a pediatrician with about 40 years experience who specializes in pediatric sleep. I personally had great success using his suggestions with both of my little ones. I also used information from my favorite blog's wake time polls by comparing that data to Dr. Weisbluth's and always erring on the side of caution, which is the shorter end of the wake time recommendation.

This formula had me making sure my newborn daughter was in her room and beginning her nap time routine by the 40 minute mark from the time she last awoke. It allowed for about 10 minutes of nap time rituals and left another 10 minutes or so for her to finish falling asleep on her own if necessary.

Did it "work" every time? Nope. But often enough for me to know that it was a good wake time for her. For the record, I will add that your baby may be able to do a little longer. My son probably could have if I knew about and was using these guidelines when he was an infant. However I am comfortable suggesting that a total of 70 minutes including nap routine and about 10 minutes to finish falling asleep is probably pushing it at this age.

As your baby moves closer to the 3-4 month mark, you may begin experimenting with adding wake time in 10 minute increments. To give you an idea, your baby will probably be 6 months old before she can comfortably stay awake for 1.5-2hours. My daughter is 9.5 months old and is still at about 2.25 hours. It sounds conservative, but the data is there to support the method. And remember, although all babies are different, the data is based on thousands of parents' experience with thousands of different babies!

Also as your baby gets older, you can look forward to allowing some flexibility in your plan by considering sleep cues while watching the clock for minutes awake. And by the time your baby is 5-6 months old you may have success with a pretty strictly by the clock nap schedule! How exciting is that?!

Plan in action - So here is what our morning would look like:

5-6am First waking which was long before our desired wake time (DWT) of 7am. So I would treat this as a night waking by changing her diaper in the dim, quiet (white noise) room, and nursing her back to sleep.
8:00am Up for the day-Nurse, and then some low key wake time just hanging out with me and her brother.
8:40am Into her room for nap time routine; close curtains, turn on sound machine, change diaper, hold closely, gently sway and sing or hum.
8:50am Lay down in crib drowsy but awake OR completely asleep if she had fallen asleep.

And on the day would go! I encourage you to try this method as soon as you bring your new baby home. If you find that he needs a little LESS wake time or a little more, you can certainly make adjustments until you find the best window for your baby. I strongly believe if I had had this information and applied this method with my son when he was a newborn, we may have completely avoided the vicious cycle of over tired and been able to help him get the proper rest he needed a lot sooner and with less crying!

Key Points: 

• Have baby asleep or almost asleep by the 1 hour mark
• Develop and stick to a simple nap time routine
• A restorative nap should be a minimum of one hour with a goal of two hours per nap at this age
• If baby is napping short (20,30 or 45 minutes) she was probably up too long before the nap!

Remember: At this age, baby taking a nice long nap usually does NOT enable them to handle a longer wake time after the good nap! Do not trick yourself into believing they can. Also note that the first wake time of the day is VERY important to get right. Don't push it too long. Even if your baby slept very well the night before, she still will need to be asleep for her first nap BY the hour mark!

Upcoming Posts:

Short Naps-How To Help Baby Nap Longer
Cry It Out-What's It All About, Anyway?