12 months
12 month old sleep: schedule, naps & wake windows
One year! At 12 months most babies still do better on 2 naps, though the schedule starts to strain: windows up to 4.5 hours and the odd single-nap day. The real 1-nap transition usually happens between 13 and 18 months.
How much sleep does a 12 month old need?
Between 11–14 h in total across the day: about 10–12 h at night and 2–3 h during the day, spread over 2 (→1) naps. These are guide ranges: if your baby wakes rested and cheerful, they’re probably getting what they need. Compare all stages in the baby sleep chart by age.
A bump of night wakings and broken naps is common at this age: check the sleep regressions guide before changing the schedule.
Wake windows at 12 months
The wake window at 12 months is 3.5–4.5 h: the time they can comfortably stay awake before needing sleep again. Overshooting the window usually means overtiredness, crying and shorter naps; undershooting means bedtime resistance. The first window of the day is usually the shortest and the last one the longest.
Don’t feel like clock-watching? The wake windows calculator gives you the exact range for the next nap.
Naps at 12 months
Expect 2 (→1) naps of 45 min – 1.5 h each. Two-nap days: both rather short. One-nap days: a single long midday nap and an earlier bedtime. Alternating both formats for a few weeks is the gentlest way to transition. Nap transitions and lengths by age are in the baby naps guide.
Sample schedule for a 12 month old
Based on a 7:00 am wake-up. Shift the times to your baby’s real wake-up, keeping the windows.
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 7:00 | Wake up & breakfast |
| 10:30 | Nap 1 (45 min – 1 h) |
| 11:30 | Awake, play & lunch |
| 15:15 | Nap 2 (45 min – 1 h) |
| 16:15 | Awake, snack & walk |
| 19:00 | Dinner, bath & routine |
| 20:00 | Bedtime |
The 12 month regression (first steps, language) can shake things up for a couple of weeks: don’t change the underlying schedule over a rough patch.
What time should bedtime be?
The usual range at 12 months is 7:30–8:30 pm. More than a fixed time, what matters is the window from the end of the last nap. A short, repeated bedtime routine (bath, pyjamas, story or song) helps them anticipate that sleep is coming.