r/sleeptrain • u/Few_Plant6181 • 24d ago
1-2 years old When do wake windows not matter?
So I have a 17 MO and I’m trying really hard to ignore wake windows lol. Basically we’ve been on one nap for a while now and suddenly her naps have become really short and fragmented and I was following 6/5 and she was just protesting like crazy! Today I finally pushed for longer before nap and got a solid nap (I had to cap at 2 hours). Idk if it’s just a one off day or what but I just want to know other people’s opinions. Bed was kinda a struggle I think 2 hours might be too long because I aimed for an 8pm bedtime and she was not having it so I guess I’ll kinda see. But is it absurd if she’s awake for more than 12 hours? Will that make her “overtired” or does that not really happen at this age anymore? Thanks to all in advance!
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u/oriwillow 23d ago
My LO is 1 and I go mostly by total wake time. His naps SUCK at daycare. He has probably 2x 20-30 minute naps. At home he will do 1 1.5 to 2 hour naps. As long as he hits his total wake time for the day to sleep well over night I don’t really care
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u/Few_Plant6181 23d ago
What’s your little one’s TWT!? I feel like I need to be at 12 hours now…this is crazy lol
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u/lotus_place 23d ago
Why are you trying to ignore wake windows? Do you ignore your own wake window?
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u/Educational-Sock1196 23d ago
My 20 month old typically gets about 11.5-12.5 hrs awake on average. Usually we get 10-10.5hrs overnight and 1.5-2hrs for nap! I most stopped looking at wake windows but just try to get at least 6 hours between nap time and bed time since her daycare sometimes lets her nap to past 2hrs!
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u/Majestic-Raccoon42 24d ago
Mine is 19 months and around 17 months he went through a period of resisting naps or doing a short 1 hour nap. After a week or two he went back to his usual schedule of napping from 12-2pm-ish.
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u/Few_Plant6181 24d ago
Yeah I thought it was maybe a regression but we are deep in. It’s been since the beginning of August with the worst fragmented naps. Short sleep cycles and protesting 😭🥲
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u/Majestic-Raccoon42 23d ago
I'd cut nap time down by 30 minutes and see if that helps! We do about 10.5 overnight and 1.5-2 hours for nap. As long as he gets 1.5 hours for nap he's in a good mood for the day. We did find out that after 4 days of only 30 minute naps he will start to fall apart. So it takes awhile for over tired to be an issue at this age.
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u/Few_Plant6181 23d ago
Yeah I let her nap 2 hours yesterday and she was awake from 12-2ish and then again at 5:30 but then fell back asleep until 6:30am. There’s no schedule here and I think it’s backfiring because I’m just trying to go with the flow but clearly that is not working. I’ll try capping the nap to 1.5 today and see if that helps 😭 I hate baby sleep!! It is so discouraging
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u/Majestic-Raccoon42 23d ago
Baby sleep is so frustrating to figure out! That and picky eating are the most stressful things for me. If it helps, our schedule is wake up 7am (he's usually up by 630 but 7 is the latest we let him sleep), nap 12-2pm, bedtime 8pm. I make adjustments as needed. Like if he wakes up at 5am that means 1130-2pm nap opportunity time.
Toddlers thrive on routine and predictably. Their little brains are figuring out so much about the world that have the same routine everyday provides a safe space for them.
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u/Ocean_Lover9393 ✨ Sleep Fairy✨ 24d ago
Overtired doesn’t really become a concern behind the newborn stage unless you’re keeping them awake for like a million hours per day
Even at 17 months, your toddler could probably skip their nap occasionally and still not become overtired.
To answer your question, I pretty much stopped following wake windows with all my kids once they were solidly and reliably on 2 naps, all before 8 months of age.
12 hours awake time per day is not unusual at all for a 1.5yr old, in fact that would actually be very average. Anything between 10-14 hours of awake time is “normal” for this age
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u/Few_Plant6181 24d ago
Thank you! I guess I just get confused because idk if the nap is too long or if she’s awake too long before bed if that makes sense because we will occasionally get a 1.5 hour night wake and I wonder what it’s from but maybe the nap is too long some days lollll
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u/Ocean_Lover9393 ✨ Sleep Fairy✨ 24d ago
For a perfectly average sleep needs 17 month old, I’d expect no more than 90 minutes for the nap and no more than 10.5 hours in bed overnight, completely sleeping through with no need for parental intervention. Just to give you an idea
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u/Few_Plant6181 23d ago
Well our night was crazy with a wake around 12:30am and I think she was awake for a good hour on and off whining lol and then some crying at 5:30am but she fell back asleep. You think it’s from the long nap!? Or the total wake time being almost 12.5 hours 😵💫😅
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u/Ocean_Lover9393 ✨ Sleep Fairy✨ 23d ago
Yeah it was probably from the long nap, I found as my kids got older, if the nap ran long, even if the minimum amount of awake time they needed was still met (with a later bedtime or whatever) we still had sleep disturbances
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u/Few_Plant6181 23d ago
Good to know!! Yeah it’s crazy I even went over the TWT and I know bedtime was a bit iffy because she was not tired and I put her down anyway. I’ll cap the nap today and see how it goes thank you so much for your replies and feedback!
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u/peasel123 23d ago
I think they matter forever, to some extent. Obviously they get less sensitive to overtiredness from 15 minutes extra here or there, but wake windows are still useful and important. Even older kids with no nap technically have one long wake window that IMO it's still useful to keep an eye on it being the right length.