Do wake windows work for your baby?

amother

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 12:59 am

My baby is 2 months old, so wake windows "should be" 60-90 minutes long for him. But what actually happens seems so far off from that! Here's what happened today:

7:20 - he woke up, I assumed for the day, and I fed him. He fell back asleep nursing and slept for another 2 hours.
9:20 - ok up for real this time. I assumed he'd be ready for a nap between 10:30-11. He didn't fall asleep again till 11:30 (2+ hour window)
1:00 woke up
1:40 I fed him, he fell asleep again (40 min window) and slept till 3:30
4:00 I fed him, he fell asleep AGAIN (30 min window) and slept till 5:15!
Did not seem tired at all until 7:30 (2 hr 15 min window) when he took a cat nap till 8:00, then was up til 9:30 (ok finally a 90 minute window like he's "supposed" to have).

Anyone else's baby also all over the place like this? I'd love some semblance of predictability...

amother

Impatiens

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 1:04 am

You can try to be stricter about feeding him every 3 hours. If he’s sleeping then, make him a little uncomfortable so he’ll wake up. Like take off the swaddle or unbutton him, or change his location etc. It will help him figure out his schedule. Babies base their sleeping schedule on their eating schedule.

amother

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 1:47 am

amother Impatiens wrote:

Hmm that's interesting... I always found it hard to put babies on an eating schedule. Like if they're rooting away at me and seeming hungry I can't just not feed them...

amother

Impatiens

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 1:51 am

amother OP wrote:

Hmm that's interesting... I always found it hard to put babies on an eating schedule. Like if they're rooting away at me and seeming hungry I can't just not feed them...

Yeah it’s hard. But the sleep schedule really does follow the eating schedule.

And people will throw the tomatoes, but I really believe schedules are good for babies. They’re much happier when they know what to expect, too!

agreer

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 1:56 am

I found wake windows helped a lot, but not at 2 months... that's really young and still anything goes. I would say wake windows are more important at 3-4 months.

However, with wake windows, the number is the upper limit. So if they say 60-90 minutes for a 2 month old is the wake window, it doesn't mean that your baby MUST stay up for that long. It means by 60 minutes check if he's sleepy, but by 90 minutes he should definitely nap. If he can only go 50 minutes and looks tired, that's fine. Put him to bed!

Your baby seems to be doing AMAZING for a 2 month old. I wish my kids slept that much at so young.

And you too are doing a fabulous job!

amother

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 2:11 am

agreer wrote:

Right so I feel like I get stressed when he's up past the upper end of the wake window. Like it must not be good for him to be up for so long. But honestly he often seems like he DOESN'T get tired till well past the upper end! Just wondering how common that is...

And yeah he slept a lot today! More than usual... but I think in general he does have sleep needs on the higher end...

amother

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 2:12 am

amother Impatiens wrote:

Not throwing tomatoes and you're probably right but practically I need some guidance! Like it's been 2 hours, baby is fussy and rooting, he's probably also tired at that point but isn't going to fall asleep without nursing... what do you do?

stillnewlywed

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 7:19 am

I follow wake windows strictly but I only start at 3-4 months when they are more alert and stop falling asleep at every feed. Before that, anything goes. Just keep an eye on the times he's up very long so he doesn't get overtired.

amother

Aubergine

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 8:26 am

My baby is 8 weeks and we have been doing one hour wake window and feeding every three hours or if she wakes up earlier then that and hungry I obviously feed her then
But if she wakes up and it’s three hours and time to eat I feed her but make sure she doesn’t fall asleep
Bh she has older siblings who run to her so she doesn’t rlly have a chance to be a sleepy newborn anymore but she is def way more awake and alert then a few weeks ago
Ttly ready for a schedual
It works for us
7am up and eat- 8 nap
10- up and eat 11- nap ….
Later in the afternoon the cat naps start and the more frequent wating happens until bed time which is usually 12 hours after she wakes up
Bh Bli ayain hara been working great for us

AlwaysGrateful

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 8:36 am

I find my babies' wake windows were generally much shorter than what they were "supposed" to be. I went more by cues, when they started rubbing their eyes, or yawning, or just looking at me with glazed eyes...if I put them to sleep right then, they'd sleep well. If I waited, they often wouldn't sleep at all...

I did try to nurse them when they woke up instead of when they went to sleep. And I generally kept them up a little longer right before bedtime. But really, at two months, all of that was very, very flexible. They don't get on a real "schedule" until at least 3 months, often 4 months. Before then the only schedule I could really depend on most days was that if they needed to wake up around the same time in the morning (due to me needing to leave the house), their first naptime would be around the same time each day. That's it. It was hard not having a schedule to depend on, but I had to keep on reminding myslef that it would get better soon...

amother

Steel

Sun, Apr 07 2024, 10:34 am

You can keep a daily log to see if there’s any patterns, and follow that.
But you got to be flexible, every month things change!
With my last baby I tried following wake windows, but I kept forgetting that every few months they will sleep less and less….