Your baby has one more wake window than naps
Almost every sleep chart gives one number per age. But the same baby, on the same day, lasts differently depending on where they're coming from — and that difference is what decides whether the last nap turns into a fight.
A wake window is how long your baby can stay awake before sleeping again without becoming overtired. And the day isn't a list of naps: it's a chain that starts with a window and ends with one, plus another between every two naps.
Which gives you the arithmetic almost nobody spells out: there is always one more window than naps. Four naps, five windows. One nap, two.
And they don't all measure the same. What changes them is their position in the day: waking from twelve hours of night is not the same as having been up since the last nap.
Three positions, three durations
Three, not one: the first of the day, the middle ones, and the last before bed. These are the ranges by stage.
| Age | Naps | First of the day | Middle ones | Last before bed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 – 3 months | 4 | 45 – 75 min | 60 – 90 min | 60 – 80 min |
| 3 – 7 months | 3 | 1 h 15 – 1 h 45 | 1 h 30 – 2 h | 1 h 30 – 1 h 50 |
| 7 – 13 months | 2 | 2 h – 2 h 45 | 2 h 30 – 3 h | 2 h 30 – 3 h 30 |
| 13 – 36 months | 1 | 4 h – 5 h | — | 4 h 30 – 6 h 30 |
With a single nap there is no «middle» window: there are no two naps for one to sit between. That cell is empty on purpose, rather than carrying a number.
Two rules almost nobody tells you
1. The first of the day is always the shortest
At any age. It comes after a whole night's sleep, so they tire sooner than you'd expect. If you wait for «their» window — the one you use for the rest of the day — you're late, and an overtired baby doesn't sleep better: they sleep worse.
2. From 7 months, the last one becomes the longest
Before that age the longest is a middle one, not the last. Stretching the last one too early, hoping they'll reach bedtime more tired, is what ends up ruining the night.
If the last nap is a fight every single day, it's rarely that the baby «doesn't want to sleep any more». Usually the window you're using belongs to a different position in the day.
In NomiNest this isn't a table, it's your baby
The app works from the data you already log, and compares your baby against themselves rather than against an average.
Meet NomiNestSources. Ranges from NomiNest's sleep stage table, built on the wake-window ranges used by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the infant sleep literature.
NomiNest is not a medical device and this guide does not replace your paediatrician's guidance. The information is general and orientative: every baby is different, and the professional who sees yours is the one who knows them.