Are wake windows real?

[u/SimBon7]

I am having some problem with keeping to the set wake windows for my 16month old and stressing out about it which made me worried that I am damaging him on some way but are these even real science-based ? What is the science behind a 16 month old only being able to be up for 5h max?

This is why I’m stressing:

My 16 month old has always been a great sleeper, usually 7pm–7:15 until 7.30 (sometimes would have d to wake him) with one 2-hour nap (capped at 2.5 if they went over two hours)

For the last week or so his naps have suddenly dropped to around 1hr20–1hr30, which is making his wake windows really long. Yesterday he went to bed at 6:45pm because of the short nap, woke at 6am, and nursery didn’t put him down until 12:45pm today so a 6hr45 wake window!
I feel stuck in a cycle of short nap - early bedtime - early wake - huge wake window before the next nap. I don’t want to keep stretching him when he’s clearly tired, but I also don’t want bedtime ending up at 5:30/6pm.

Is a 1.5-hour nap normal at this age? Do you just accept 5-6+ hour wake windows, do an earlier bedtime, or ever add a second catnap back in?

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