Sleep basics

A nap is any stretch of daytime sleep, separate from the long sleep at night. In the early months babies tend to take several short naps a day, and over time those usually consolidate into fewer, longer ones as your baby grows. Good daytime sleep takes some pressure off the night, so naps and night sleep really work together as one connected picture rather than two separate problems.

In Ceddie, a catnap — also known as a bridge nap — is a short, strategic nap late in the day that bridges the gap to bedtime. When too long a stretch would otherwise build before night sleep, a brief catnap takes the edge off so your baby isn't overtired by bedtime. Short naps are common in the early months generally, but Ceddie uses 'catnap' specifically for this deliberate late-day top-up.

The shift from more naps to fewer — four to three, three to two, and eventually two to one — as a baby's sleep consolidates with age. Transitions happen in rough age windows and unfold gradually over a few weeks, with uneven days along the way: some days the old count still fits, some days the new one does. Ceddie watches for the real readiness signs in your logged days, checks them against your baby's own recent baseline, and shifts the schedule day by day when a transition is genuinely underway — telling you which stage you're in rather than flipping the schedule on a month birthday.

A temporary rough patch — shorter naps, harder bedtimes, more night waking — that shows up at roughly predictable ages, often around developmental leaps. From the trenches it can look a lot like a nap transition, but it's the opposite: disruption rather than progress, and it passes. Ceddie expects regressions and holds the schedule steady through them instead of dropping a nap your baby still needs. When sleep quality has dipped against your baby's own recent baseline, Ceddie treats a rough patch as a rough patch — not a reason to change the plan.

A wake window is the amount of time your baby can comfortably stay awake between sleeps before tiredness tips into overtiredness. These windows naturally get longer as your baby grows. Getting them right is one of the biggest levers for easier naps and smoother bedtimes — too short and your baby isn't tired enough to settle, too long and an overtired baby fights sleep. Ceddie builds the day's schedule around your baby's wake windows.

Awake time is how long your baby has actually been awake since their last sleep ended — the running clock, not the goal. Holding it next to the target wake window is what tells you whether the next nap is still a way off or coming up soon. Watching awake time alongside your baby's tired cues helps you reach for that nap before things slide into overtired territory.

Wind-down is the short, calming stretch right before sleep — dimming the lights, lowering voices, moving through a familiar routine — that helps your baby shift from awake to asleep. Think of it as the on-ramp to sleep rather than sleep itself, and even a few quiet minutes can make settling easier. Ceddie flags when wind-down should begin before bedtime, so the cue to start isn't one more thing to track in your head.

Settling is the gap between putting your baby down and them actually falling asleep. It's optional to track, but it can be quietly informative: a settle that's regularly long may be a sign the wake window beforehand was slightly off — too short and your baby isn't ready, too long and they're wired. Over time, how quickly your baby drifts off can hint at whether the timing around sleep needs a small adjustment.

Bedtime is the start of night sleep — the longest and most restorative stretch in your baby's day. A workable bedtime usually depends on how the day's naps actually went and how long your baby has been awake since the last one, so it isn't a single fixed time carved in stone. Ceddie suggests a bedtime each evening from the day's naps and wake windows, nudging it earlier or later as the day calls for it.

Night sleep is the long overnight stretch, from bedtime through to the morning wake-up. It's where the deepest, most restorative sleep happens, and for most babies it makes up the biggest share of their sleep across the whole day. Because daytime and night sleep draw on the same overall need, how the day goes and how the night goes tend to be closely linked — a rough day often shows up after dark, and the other way around.

A night waking is any time your baby stirs and wakes during the night. Some are completely normal — especially for younger babies who still need night feeds — while others can point to wake windows, naps, or bedtime timing being slightly off. Tracking them over time helps you see whether they're improving and what tends to trigger them.

Net sleep is how much your baby was actually asleep overnight, once any time spent awake during night wakings is taken out. A night can look long from bedtime to morning, but a few drawn-out wakes in the middle mean the real total is lower — net sleep is that real total. Seeing it next to the full overnight span makes it clearer how restful the night truly was, not just how long it lasted.

Expected wake is Ceddie's estimate of roughly when your baby will wake in the morning, based on when bedtime started and how long babies their age typically sleep overnight. It's a best guess, not a promise — every baby keeps their own clock, and plenty of mornings won't match it exactly. Having a rough anchor still helps, giving you a sensible starting point for planning the next day rather than a blank unknown.

Your schedule is Ceddie's plan for the rest of the day — the upcoming naps, the wake windows between them, and a suggested bedtime. It's built from the sleep you've already logged today and your baby's recent patterns, so it reflects the day you're actually having rather than a fixed timetable. When something shifts — a nap runs long, or gets skipped — Ceddie reworks the rest of the day so the plan keeps up.

Ceddie's note is the short, plain-language explanation that sits alongside your schedule, spelling out the reasoning behind it. It might cover why a nap is best wrapped up around a certain time, why bedtime moved a little tonight, or what to keep an eye on as the day unfolds. The idea is that you're never just handed times — you can see the thinking, weigh it against the baby in front of you, and adjust.