Can wake windows suddenly and drastically shrink?

[fivesenses]

My almost 7 month old has always had consistent wake windows, I would mostly watch for his tired cues to put him down for naps, but the resulting wake windows stayed pretty consistent and they were getting longer with his age (between 2 and 2.5h at 6 months).

However, lately the wake windows seem to be all over the place, especially the first one of the day: he starts rubbing his eyes and yawning even only 1 hour after waking up, which I find way too early.. A few times he was not tired at all after 2.5h, but that does not happen too often, it's usually the shorter ww that happen.

I am not really bothered by this as he is a unicorn and now sleeps 12h straight at night (sometimes would sleep even longer, but I wake him up at the 12h mark). Just wondering if the wake windows getting shorter is something that normally happens (e.g. due to a regression or 3-2 nap transition or just because) and if anyone had the same experience.

 

[gdemoss]

@fivesenses Does being tired after 1hr coincide with the days you are waking him up at the 12hr mark? Because if they are getting tired that soon, it's more like they are finishing up their night sleep then.

If you have the ability to let him sleep longer than the 12hrs in your schedule, let him do so when he needs to. My daughter from maybe about 8-18 months would often sleep 12+hours when our schedule allowed. When she couldn't, she would often get sleepy earlier in the day and it would affect her naps.

 

[fivesenses]

@gdemoss That's interesting, I hadn't noticed any correlation, but I'll pay attention from now on. Thanks a lot for the tip!