"Why Isn't My Baby Sleeping": How I Assess Wake Windows, Naps, and Night Feeds
- Nefertia Jones
- Dec 21, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 27, 2025
“Why isn’t my baby sleeping?” is one of the most common, and frustrating, questions parents ask.
If you’re wondering why your baby isn’t sleeping, it’s rarely one single thing.
Most parents I work with feel stuck in a loop: frequent night wakings, short naps, and a baby who seems exhausted, but won’t stay asleep.
If your baby wakes every 1–2 hours, fights naps, or relies on feeding or rocking to fall asleep, you’ve probably tried everything: earlier bedtime, later bedtime, longer wake windows, shorter ones, feeding more, feeding less.
And yet… nothing sticks.
That’s because sleep is a system. When wake windows, naps, and night feeds aren’t working together, sleep fragments, even when parents are doing their best.
When families come to me, I don’t hand out generic advice. I follow a clear, step-by-step assessment process that looks at wake windows, naps, and night feeds together. This is how we stop guessing and start fixing what’s actually breaking sleep.
Sleep doesn’t improve by accident, it improves when the right pattern is understood.
Step 1: Wake Windows (The Most Common Misalignment)
Wake windows are the amount of time your baby is awake between sleeps. If they’re off, by even 15–20 minutes, it can cause:
Short naps
Bedtime resistance
Frequent night wakings
Early morning wakes
Many parents are told to “stretch wake windows” to fix sleep. But overtired babies don’t sleep better—they sleep worse.
I assess:
Your baby’s age and temperament
How long it takes them to fall asleep
Whether naps end happy or upset
Patterns across the day, not just one rough nap
This tells me whether your baby is undertired, overtired, or chronically misaligned, which directly impacts night sleep.
Step 2: Naps Don't Exist in Isolation
Already seeing your baby in this? If you want help connecting the dots and figuring out what’s actually driving your baby’s sleep, a Personalized Sleep Snapshot gives you clarity on the next steps.
Naps are one of the biggest drivers of night sleep problems.
I don’t just look at how long naps are—I look at:
How naps are initiated (independent vs assisted)
Which naps are restorative vs catnaps
Total daytime sleep
Whether late-day naps are helping or hurting bedtime
For example, a baby who takes long morning naps but struggles at bedtime may actually be stealing sleep pressure from the night. On the other hand, a baby with short naps all day may be going into bedtime overtired and wired.
Naps don’t exist in isolation. They set the stage for the entire night.
If you’re already recognizing your baby in these patterns and want help connecting the dots, a Personalized Sleep Snapshot can help clarify what to adjust first.
Step 3: Night Wakings are Often Blamed on Hunger
Night wakings are often blamed on hunger—but hunger is only one piece of the puzzle.
I assess:
Your baby’s age and growth
Daytime calorie intake
Timing and consistency of night feeds
Whether feeds are used to initiate sleep or resume sleep
Some babies genuinely need night feeds. Others wake because they don’t know how to fall back asleep without help, and feeding has become the fastest solution.
The goal is never to withhold feeds blindly, but to understand why your baby is waking and respond intentionally, rather than automatically.
Why This Holistic Approach Works
Most sleep struggles persist because parents are given fragmented advice:
Cap naps
Stretch wake windows
Feed more before bed
But sleep is a system. When wake windows, naps, and night feeds are misaligned, babies wake frequently, and parents feel stuck in survival mode.
By assessing all three together, patterns become clear. And once the root cause is identified, sleep improves faster and more sustainably.
What This Means For Your Family
The goal of sleep support is not perfection. It’s clarity, confidence, and calm decision-making.
When parents understand why sleep is breaking down, they stop second-guessing every nap and night waking. They respond consistently, and babies feel that consistency.
If your baby’s sleep feels unpredictable or exhausting, it may not be that you’re doing something wrong. You may just be missing the full picture.
Not sure what’s actually driving your baby’s sleep?
If sleep still feels unpredictable or exhausting, you don’t need more generic advice, you need clarity.
The $49 Personalized Sleep Snapshot is designed to help you understand exactly what’s driving your baby’s sleep struggles and what to adjust first, without committing to a full program.
You’ll receive:
• A professional review of your baby’s sleep patterns
• Clear insight into what’s working, what’s not, and why
• Gentle next steps tailored to your baby and your comfort level
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