The Baby Sleep Site® is dedicated to helping your baby sleep better – of course – but there are a few times it is a good strategy to wake your baby. I know it might feel crazy to wake your baby when you are working so hard on helping him sleep better, but in some cases, not waking your baby can actually lead to other sleep problems. Here are 5 times waking your baby can help with sleep problems:
1. Wake for Safety – Ensure Safety First!
As much as we want our babies to sleep, if your baby is sleeping in an unsafe manner, it is best to wake them rather than let them continue to sleep unsafely. The safest way for your baby to sleep is on their back in a separate sleep space with nothing else in the bed with them. Review all of the safe sleep guidelines by the AAP so you are up-to-date on best practices.
2. Naps are too long
Once you’ve learned to avoid common baby nap mistakes and mastered your baby’s naps and schedule, believe it or not, naps can get too long. Many people who frequent this site may not have this issue (most are trying to lengthen naps), but sometimes this does come up!
Except for newborns, your baby or toddler’s napping should not surpass 3 hours total for a day, on average. Of course, there will be exceptions, but many times if naps get too long during the day, it will impact night sleep, since the amount of total sleep in a day will remain relatively constant. If you feel bad waking your baby because she is sleeping horribly at night, but let her make up a lot of lost sleep during the day, it could reinforce the very sleep problems you are trying to resolve at night. It can become a chicken and egg problem. Instead, you should solve the nighttime sleep problem and keep naps properly balanced. After all, night sleep is more restorative.
3. Sorting out day / night confusion
When your baby is a newborn, he may be confused about days and nights. Since most people say “Never wake a sleeping baby.” many new parents will let their newborn sleep 8 hours straight during the day if they want to, but then wonder why he is up all night, sleeping on and off one hour here and there. Although I do agree with the adage to never wake a sleeping baby, there are exceptions to that rule, and this is one of them. In order to help your newborn sort out day and night, he needs to be awake during the day for his internal clock, or circadian rhythms, to adjust to life outside the womb. Therefore, it is best to limit any single nap to two hours and keep your baby up for at least 30 minutes to an hour after each nap to help “reset” his clock.
4. Long waking at night
If you have a toddler whose schedule is being thrown off with a long night-waking, or insomnia, in the middle of the night, the worst thing you can do is let her sleep in late the next morning. Now, I don’t mean one “off” day here or there. Of course, then, you’d let her sleep in. What I mean is if your toddler is staying awake for long periods night after night, you need to be proactive and help her sort out her schedule. Although there are a few exceptions, long waking at night is usually caused by a schedule problem, especially if she is sleeping enough, but in multiple fragments. When you let her sleep in, this only exacerbates the schedule problem.
5. Wake to manage naps before a nap transition
Along the same lines of naps getting too long, sometimes right before a nap transition, it is necessary to manage your baby or toddlers naps by waking him from one of his naps in order for there to be time for subsequent naps or to stop bedtime from being “too late.”
Nap transitions can be tricky and difficult in that babies or toddlers who are over-tired at bedtime tend to have more difficulty falling asleep at bedtime and staying asleep all night. Most of the time, bedtimes should be between 6 and 8 p.m. for most babies older than 3-4 months old and young toddlers. There are exceptions and all families need to find what works for their specific dynamics, but most babies have a biological need/rhythm to go to sleep early and wake early (before 8 a.m.). Quite often, a baby waking too early is due to bedtime being too late.
BONUS REASON: Wake To Feed
There is one other time you need to consider waking your baby, but it only applies to the youngest of babies.
If your baby is just a few weeks old, you should wake him from sleep to feed if he is sleeping 4 hours or longer.
Sleeping longer than 4 hours is usually too long for newborns and you need to make sure you are feeding your baby so you won’t have slow weight gain issues. Once your baby is around 6 weeks old, your doctor will likely tell you that you can let your baby sleep in longer stretches of more than 5 hours, but until you get the approval from your doctor, you should wake your baby to feed him or her. Once your baby is doing well with weight-gain, you will no longer need to wake for a feeding.
Waking your baby from sleep should not need to be a long-term strategy, but more of a temporary one to fix a specific problem. There have been a few rare cases I’ve had a family who needed to wake their baby from their morning nap, long-term, in order to have time for a second at a young age, but it is not the norm. If you are finding you are waking your baby longer than a week, maybe two, to fix a specific sleep problem, there may be something else at work. On the other hand, if your baby or toddler has only had this specific sleep problem for a short time (less than 1-2 weeks), then it might be a phase and you should see if she self-corrects her schedule before you start taking action and waking her.
Eliza says
I have a question I can’t seem to figure out… if my 14 month old sleeps for 5 hours then wakes up in the middle of the night for 3 hours, then falls back asleep, should I let him sleep in past his usual wake up time? Because if I shouldn’t make up his sleep during his naps then he will be sleep deprived.However if he sleeps in, he ends up going to bed much later. So I’m in a pickle lol.
When he only gets 8 hours at night and I only let him sleep 3 hours during the day, he has restless night I assume due to over tiredness and we are stuck in an endless loop.
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi @Eliza – Thanks for writing and sorry to hear that your little guy is having some insomnia at night! Yes, this is a bit of a pickle and it’s tricky to figure out the right balance of letting him get enough sleep and helping him get that sleep at the right times! Likely a balance of both – letting him sleep in a little bit longer, but not making all of that sleep up in the morning – is the goal, but without a full sleep history and having an expert sleep consultant take a good look at everything sleep related, it’s hard to diagnose and come up with a solid plan. Have you checked out our sample schedules for toddlers?:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/toddler-schedule/
If you are interested in help from a consultant, please check out our offerings here:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services
Good luck Eliza!
Grace says
Hello,
I have a 7 month boy and he is sleep and nap trained. He goes down to sleep for both by himself. He used to do 30 min short naps and I would put him back to sleep for all of his naps, but recently he has been able to connect his nap cycles together. He is now doing 2 hour nap for his first nap. Should I wake him up after the 2 hour mark?
If I wake him up after 2 hours, does that mean he has only 2 more naps that are 30 minutes in length left for the remainder of the day?
Also, he wakes around 6:30am every day. How can I try to make his morning wake up time a little later?
Any help will be greatly appreciated!!
Danielle says
Hi Grace,
Thank you for visiting The Baby Sleep Site, and congratulations on your sleep coaching success this far! Although some babies do fine with one long nap and two short ones, generally we’re looking for the first two naps of the day to be at least an hour, and then the last nap can be short. We have a sample 7 month-old schedule that you can compare to yours here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/7-month-old-baby-schedule/
Assuming your son is getting enough sleep every day, you can try to nudge his wake time later by moving his entire schedule back a few minutes every couple of days, until he is waking later. This works for some babies, but not all, and it can take a couple of weeks for the later waking to really kick in, so be patient.
I hope this helps – good luck!
Erynn says
Great article! I have a 7 month old who I’ve been waking up around 7:30-8am every morning. She goes to bed around 6:30-7pm. She is getting up a few times a night. I usually nurse her around 11pm before i go to bed. She is up again at 4am and I will comfort her while she’s in her crib and she will go back to sleep. I believe she is currently going through the 3-2 nap transition. She will get about 3.5-4 hours in naps per day. Any suggestions as to how I can help her not need the soothing at night? I’ve found that she sleeps much better when I feed her before I go to bed but she always gets up at least onces again during the night. Im also wondering – is she getting too much sleep at night? Should I not be waking her up in the mornings? (Other moms – dont worry we’ve had our share of sleepless nights!! Lol)
Danielle says
Hi Erynn,
Thanks for your comment – I’m so glad to hear the article was helpful for you! Based on your description, it does sound like your baby could be napping too much during the day, which could be affecting her night sleep. We have a chart on how much daytime sleep a baby needs by age that I think will help you here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/naps/baby-naps-chart-how-many-how-long/
And a different chart on how many night feeds is average by age here 🙂 https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/baby-night-feedings-age-chart/
I hope these will help you with your questions, but please let us know how it goes!
JAMIE MORRIS says
For How long should I be waling up my 14 months toddler in his naps? If sleeps klre than an hour on his 2 naps then he goes to late to bed . He sleeps 11 hours
Allison says
I have a 4 month old that was sleeping well at night. One or two night feedings. With a few 45 min naps durning the day. Now he is taking two three hour naps and waking four times at night. Always 45 mins after falling asleep and then multiple times after that. My husband and sitter don’t want to wake him. But I think the day sleeping is causing him to eat less and then wake more. Please help what should I do?
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi @Allison – Thanks for visiting! If you suspect that the long 3 hour naps are disrupting the night sleep, or disrupting how much he is feeding during the day, then yes, do feel free to wake him early to see if this helps, and continue to offer more feeds in the day! Without having an expert sleep consultant take a good look at his sleep history and overall schedule it would be hard to say, but yes, too much day sleep can disrupt night sleep! For more help, please consider a sleep consultation package. You can learn more here:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services
Good luck Allison!!!
Polly says
When sleep training my 9 month old, if it takes him 25 minutes to fall asleep should I wake him at the regular “end of nap” time or let him sleep? For example his normal nap time is 9am to 10am. During sleep training if it takes him 25 minutes to soothe himself to sleep should I still wake him at 10am so as not to push out his afternoon nap later? Thank you, this is a great website by the way
Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site says
Hi @Polly – Thank you for writing to us! I would recommend making the suggested schedule your own, and if he is not falling asleep until 9:25am, to go ahead and let him sleep for the full hour, so that he can get a restful one hour nap. You can then push the second nap back a bit to compensate. You can try for the first nap sooner too, in hopes of getting him to be asleep at 9am!
Good luck and thanks for reading! We’re glad you’re here!!
Amber says
My baby turns 7 months old this week but he was 2 months premature so his adjusted age would be 5 months old. He sleeps 12 hours a night waking once around 4 to eat and falls right back to sleep. However when he wakes up in the morning he wants to go back to sleep within an hour of being awake and will sleep for 3+ hours if I let him. He will stay awake for close to 2 hours before wanting to take another 2 hour nap. His final nap of the day is 30 minutes or so. That puts his sleep at around 17 hours a day. Is this too much? Should I be waking him up and pushing him to stay awake?
Neosha says
@Amber – Thank you for reading and for sharing with us. Worrying about sleep – too much or too little – is a parent’s most “pleasant” past time when they have young babies. Generally, 12-16 hours of sleep at this age is “normal” with a little more or less being okay, too. If your little guy’s total sleep is truly worrying you, we’d urge you to contact his healthcare provider to get his/her say and/or to reassure you by ruling out any medical reason that could cause drowsiness. Best of luck to you, Amber – hang in there!
Lynn says
My 7 months old started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks. We’ve had a couple sleep regressions, but always gotten back on track. The past couple of weeks have been tough though- due to painful teething, but I’m worried there is a sleep issue too. He has been taking a LOT longer to fall asleep at night, waking after only sleeping 30-60 minutes, and waking again 2-4 more times throughout the night. As a side note, he still needs 3 naps a day. He’s able to only be awake 2-2.5 hours between each nap. And I have to wake him after most naps (1st nap=1 hr, 2nd nap=1.5 hr, 3rd nap=45 min). How can I help him sleep better at night?
Neosha says
@Lynn – Thank you for reading and for sharing with us! We’re sorry to hear you guys have been having such a tough time with sleep! For some babies this age, the sleep schedule is fundamental to helping them sleep well. Some babies are more adaptable or less sensitive and not need a very regimented schedule, though for a lot of parents it’s a sanity saver! You may want to start there as you problem solve this. Please consider connecting with one of our sleep consultants who are better trained to help with the specific questions you have – she’ll be able to help identify any issues/problems and get you all back on track to better sleep. You may even want to consider one of our 15-min free evaluations to get a better idea. You can read more about our team here:https://www.babysleepsite.com/about Hope this helps, Lynn – hang in there!
Candice says
Hi, I have a 10 week old and every sleep schedule says to wake him after 45 minute morning nap. But he sleeps fine during the night even if I let him nap for 2 hours or more. Should I still be waking him? I have noticed lately if he sleeps longer on his morning nap his lunchtime nap is broken by catnapping….
Janelle Reid says
Hi @Candice, congratulations on your new baby! I am honestly not familiar with the idea of waking the baby up after 45 minutes. I have always been advised to make sure my newborn was eating every 2 hours so to wake the baby up at that point. If your doctor has advised you that for some reason, I would make sure to find out the reason why in case it was something specific for your baby/the way they advise their patients. Here is a link to a free guide with tips for newborn sleep that may help you be able to navigate these early changing weeks even more confidently: https://www.babysleepsite.com//15-free-baby-sleep-facts-new-parents-must-know/
If you need more help, let us know! We are here and have a ton of resources for you as your little one grows. 🙂
Christina says
I have a 12 week old who will not fall asleep before midnight no matter what we do. Then he sleeps in until at least 10am. I’ve tried waking him early but then he is super crabby all day and it doesn’t even seem to make a big difference in when he goes down at night. Should I keep trying to wake him early or just leave it as is ? It’s hard for mom and dad because we have to wake up early for work.
Danielle says
Hi Christina,
Thank you for visiting The Baby Sleep Site! I’m sorry to hear you’re having scheduling trouble with your baby. This late-to-bed late-to-rise schedule is really common for this age group. My first was like this and it was really hard. The good news is that most babies will start going to bed much earlier around 4 months-old, so you’re really close! You can help him gradually shift his schedule earlier by putting him to bed and waking him a little earlier as time goes on, giving him time to adjust in between shifts, until he’s ready to start bedtime around 6-7PM. Hang in there, and please let us know if you have any other questions!