Nap Guide!
This is the good stuff here, the one you’ll want to screenshot and save for later
because having a general guideline for naps and wake times is a great tool to have in your back pocket. No matter what age your child is, if they are still doing naps this is the resource you need.
I wanted to quickly talk about a few things, the first being wake windows. What are they? So a wake-window is how long a child is awake between sleeps. This can be between morning wake and first nap, or between second and third nap… etc.
When the topic of nap schedules comes up, the first thing I recommend and work on, is looking at wake windows and not going off of a set time based schedule. Why is this? It’s not flexible.
As your child gets older, their time based schedule will not work. Yes you can change the times they nap, however if you aren’t versed in wake windows… you won’t know how much to move those times by.
A time based schedule can encourage overtired cycles. Let’s say your child usually wakes at 6:30am. This morning, they awoke at 5am. Now their first nap is usually at 8:30am, however now that they woke up an hour and a half earlier than normal… an 8:30am nap does not work because the child will have a wake window 1 hour longer than normal. Now the whole day is a-muck.
Now before I show you the wake window/nap time guide, I want to put out a HUGE reminder.
Every. Child. Is. Unique.
Their sleeping habits are unique too. So no matter what you see on any blog or social media… they are all just averages and ranges. If you have a more awake baby, they may push the boundaries of their wake window and still get great sleeps. On the other hand, if you have a sleepy baby they might be pushing the opposite, lower end of the wake window range and that’s OK! Obviously you want to stay super vigilant and if they show overtired signs then you might have to reevaluate, but if there are any troubles that’s why I’m here. Like I always say, you know your child better than anyone, so always do what feels right for your family.
Without further adieu, here is your nap guide:
So I want to give a couple examples for you:
A 5 month old, wakes at 6:30am. They eat and play for 2 hours and then go down for their first nap around 8:30am. They sleep for 2 hours and are up at 10:30am ready to eat and play again for 2 ish hours until their second nap at 12:45pm. They sleep for 1 hour and are up and ready to play for a bit and go down for their cat nap around 4pm and they nap for 30 mins. Back up at 4:30pm babe is ready for play time and dinner! Then some wind down time before bedtime routine and into bed around 6:45/7pm.
Everything in that example is flexible, if the child wakes a little earlier you can keep an eye on their wake windows and still get their naps in. I find that when the child doesn’t wake up at their “usual” time (this can happen for a number of reasons) the parent thinks the whole day will be thrown off. This is not true, if you are flexible with your schedule, and have the knowledge to plan around their wake windows! Now I know sometimes it doesn’t work that way… you have baby yoga or swim lessons planned and schedules don’t always line up and that’s okay! But if you have the opportunity to be flexible, it is possible to not have their whole day thrown off.
Okay so that’s it! Use the guide above as needed, and if you have any questions about how to use it or maybe your child is outside the average ranges and you want to make sure they are getting enough sleep, shoot me an email!
Here is a PDF copy again for you if you’d like to download it.
Cheers,
-Marina
